Price meter · Advanced

Van Westendorp price sensitivity meter

Ask the four Van Westendorp price questions in any survey. Surveti draws the four curves and works out the acceptable price range, the optimal price and the indifference price as answers come in. Add a purchase-likelihood follow-up for trial and revenue curves.

Available onSolo & up
The price meter as respondents see it: four prices and a number line on a laptop, and the purchase-likelihood follow-up on a phone

Live demo

Type four prices. Your answer joins the curves.

This is the question your respondents get. Type a price in each box, and the chart beside it recalculates with your answer counted.

Thinking about one week’s box, what prices come to mind?

In action

The price meter in action

Price meter in action · A respondent types four prices, fixes one that’s out of order, answers the likelihood follow-up, and the curves update.
  1. 0:00Four price boxes, lowest first, with the currency beside each.
  2. 0:03As each price goes in, it appears on the number line.
  3. 0:06A price lower than the one above is caught: “This price should be higher than your answer above.”
  4. 0:09On a phone, the purchase-likelihood follow-up asks about the respondent’s own prices.
  5. 0:12Results: with the answer counted, the four curves, the acceptable range, the optimal price and the trial chart are worked out again.

Every feature

Everything the price meter can do

Your wording and currency, a price-order rule you choose, a number line for respondents, and results that go wherever you report.

Build it your waySet-up in the builder.

LiveSolo+

Any currency, whole units or cents

Pick USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, AUD or JPY, or type any three-letter code. Choose whole amounts or cents.

LiveSolo+

Bounds on every price

Set Min and Max. A price outside them gets a message and can’t be submitted.

LiveSolo+

The four prompts, in your words

Start from the standard wording or write your own. Each prompt keeps its data name.

The four are always asked lowest first.

LiveSolo+

A price-order rule you choose

Require ascending, Flag only, or Off. Flag only lets people through and leaves the answer out of the curves.

LiveSolo+

A number line for respondents

Show the four prices someone typed on a line, numbered 1 to 4, with a price outside your range, or out of order under Require ascending or Flag only, in red.

LiveSolo+

Purchase-likelihood follow-up

Ask how likely people are to buy at their own bargain and expensive prices, with five labels and the purchase probability behind each.

Between the two prices, the purchase probability runs in a straight line; it holds out to the too-cheap and too-expensive prices and is zero beyond.

LiveSolo+

Required, soft required or optional

An optional question can be left blank, but never half-filled: it’s four prices or none.

LiveSolo+

Translated with your survey

The prompts, the likelihood question and its labels translate; respondent messages come in six languages.

Server messages and chart labels are in English.

LiveSolo+

A Pricing Study template

Start from a template with a product description, this question, a price ladder and two short follow-up questions.

On the respondent’s screenWhat people answering see and use.

LiveSolo+

Type the price

Type 25, 1,299.00 or 19,99, one price per box; the currency symbol sits beside each. What you type stays as typed.

LiveSolo+

Caught as they type

A price outside your range or with cents on a whole-amount question gets a short message under its box, and so does one no higher than the one above under Require ascending.

LiveSolo+

Checked twice

The same check runs in the browser and on the server, so Next and the saved answer always agree.

LiveSolo+

Their own prices in the follow-up

The likelihood question names the respondent’s own price, such as “At $55, how likely would you be to buy it?”

LiveSolo+

Phone keypads with a decimal point

On a phone, each box opens the number keypad with a decimal point.

LiveSolo+

Your theme, light or dark

Boxes, number line and choices follow the survey’s theme and dark mode.

In your resultsResults, dashboards, decks and the portal.

LiveSolo+

The four curves and four points

Too cheap, not a bargain, not expensive and too expensive, with the acceptable range (PMC to PME), the optimal price (OPP) and the indifference price (IPP).

On Results, the range is shaded and the four points are marked on the curves.

LiveSolo+

Trial and revenue curves

With the follow-up on, see trial, and revenue per respondent, across the prices people gave, with the maximum of each marked.

LiveSolo+

Filter to a segment

Filter Results, a dashboard or a slide to a group, and every curve and point recomputes.

One group at a time; price meters aren’t in crosstabs yet.

LiveSolo+

Dashboard tiles

An auto dashboard adds a price tile, plus a trial tile when the follow-up is on; add your own with the tile editor.

LiveSolo+

Slides for the client deck

On the dashboard, Create shareable report builds a deck with the price slides. It exports to PowerPoint, PDF and Excel, and you can share it to the client portal.

LiveResearch Team

Weighted when you weight

Weights carry through to the curves, the points and trial and revenue.

Each respondent’s own weight; a rake scheme doesn’t apply to price tiles.

In your dataWhat lands in your exports.

LiveSolo+

A column per price

Four numeric columns, named after the question and the price, such as Q1_too_cheap.

LiveSolo+

An order flag

Q1_order_ok is 1 when the prices rise and 0 when they don’t.

LiveProfessional+

Scale and ordinal in SPSS

Prices are scale variables; likelihoods are ordinal with your labels; the order flag is labelled.

Not part of the price meter yet: a Don’t know option, crosstabs and tab books, branching or piping on a price, Excel or Qualtrics import, and asking the prices from highest to lowest.

Choosing

Price meter or price ladder?

Both are pricing questions. The price meter asks people for their own prices. A price ladder asks whether they’d buy at prices you choose.

  • Price meter · Solo+

    Pick the price meter when

    • You don’t yet know the right price range, and want people to tell you.
    • You want a range people find acceptable, with a floor and a ceiling.
    • The product is new, or new to the people you’re asking.
  • Price ladder · Solo+

    Pick a price ladder when

    • You already have a few candidate prices to test.
    • You want demand at each price and the price that maximises revenue.
    • People answer yes or no, or how likely they are to buy, at each price they’re asked.

Not sure? The Pricing Study template asks both: the price meter first for the range, then a price ladder with prices you can edit. Price is one feature among several, such as size and brand? Use conjoint (Research Team).

Build it

Add a price meter

  1. 1

    Describe the product first

    Add a description just before the question, so everyone prices the same thing: what it is, who it’s for and what’s included.

  2. 2

    Add the question

    In the builder, choose Price Sensitivity (Van Westendorp) from the Advanced group. It comes with the four standard prompts, in US dollars, whole units, from 0 to 5,000.

  3. 3

    Set the currency and range

    Pick a Currency (or type any three-letter code in Other currency code), choose Whole units or Cents, and set Min and Max to bound every price.

  4. 4

    Word the four prompts

    Keep the standard wording or write your own. Each prompt keeps its data name, such as too_cheap, whatever it says.

  5. 5

    Choose the price order

    Require ascending stops Next until each price is higher than the last. Flag only lets people through and leaves the answer out of the curves. Off counts every answer.

  6. 6

    Add the likelihood follow-up, if you want trial and revenue

    Tick Ask a purchase likelihood follow-up (Newton-Miller-Smith), keep or edit the five labels, and set the purchase probability for each. Then preview on a phone.

The Price Sensitivity (Van Westendorp) editor with Currency USD, Whole units, Min 0 and Max 200, the four prompts with their tags, and Price order on Require ascending
EditorCurrency, range, prompts and the order rule in one place.
The purchase-likelihood follow-up ticked, with its Likelihood prompt and the five scale labels from Very likely to Very unlikely, each with its purchase probability: 0.7, 0.5, 0.3, 0.1 and 0
LikelihoodYour labels, your probabilities.
The builder’s phone preview of the price meter with four prices typed, $35, $55, $75 and $90, and the number line showing them in order, numbered 1 to 4
Phone previewStacked boxes.

The data you get

A column per price, plus an order flag

Each price lands in its own numeric column. A fifth column says whether the four prices were in order, and the likelihood answers get columns of their own.

respondent_idQ1_too_cheapQ1_cheapQ1_expensiveQ1_too_expensiveQ1_order_okQ1_likely_cheapQ1_likely_expensive
47762a85-0001-4000-8000-00000000000135557590141
47762a85-0002-4000-8000-00000000000230356595141
47762a85-0003-4000-8000-00000000000330355570151
47762a85-0004-4000-8000-00000000000420406575144
47762a85-0005-4000-8000-000000000005456070110143
47762a85-0006-4000-8000-000000000006205570125143
47762a85-0007-4000-8000-00000000000725509095143
47762a85-0008-4000-8000-00000000000830507090144

Trimmed to the question’s columns. Prices are in US dollars: the file holds the numbers, not the currency. Every export also carries the respondent columns (status, timing, weight and more).

One column per price

Named after the question and the price, such as Q1_too_cheap and Q1_too_expensive. Rewording a prompt never renames them.

An order flag

Q1_order_ok is 1 when the four prices rise, 0 when they don’t, so you can see who a Flag-only question left out of the curves.

Likelihoods, labelled

With the follow-up on, Q1_likely_cheap and Q1_likely_expensive hold 1 to 5, with your scale labels attached.

Real numbers

Excel gets number cells, ready to sort, average or chart.

Weighting

Weighted exports fill the weight column with each person’s weight. Weighting is on Research Team.

Charts & analysis

The range, the optimal price and the curves behind them

Every price meter is charted for you. Filter to a segment and the curves recompute; put them on a dashboard or in a client deck.

Pantry Box: the price people find acceptableResults · price meter card · 200 answers

The Surveti Results price meter card: point cards for the acceptable range, $41.27–$74.53 (PMC to PME), the optimal price, $55.71 (OPP), and the indifference price, $56.17 (IPP); the line “200 answers”; the four curves, too cheap and too expensive solid, not a bargain and not expensive dashed, over a band across the acceptable range, each of the four points marked on its curves with its price; and the legend
People find $41.27–$74.53 acceptable for a week’s box. Below $41.27, more say “too cheap” than “not a bargain”; above $74.53, more say “too expensive” than “not expensive”. The optimal price, where as many say too cheap as too expensive, is $55.71.

Where it charts

  • ResultsCurves, range, optimal price
  • DashboardPrice and trial tiles
  • Report deckPowerPoint, PDF, Excel
  • Client portalResults, boards, decks
  • ExportsA numeric column per price
  • CrosstabsNot yet
  • Tab booksNot yet

Trial and revenueWith the purchase-likelihood follow-up · 200 answers

The Results card’s trial and revenue chart: “Max trial at $45”, “Max revenue at $50” and “200 answers with purchase likelihood”; the trial curve on the left axis and the revenue per respondent curve, dashed, on the right axis, a dotted line at max trial and a dashed one at max revenue; and the legend
Trial peaks at $45; the most revenue per respondent at $50. Each answer’s likelihood at the bargain price and at the expensive price becomes a purchase probability; Surveti draws a straight line between them, keeps those values out to the respondent’s too-cheap and too-expensive prices, and counts zero beyond.

Analysis that applies

  • Filter to a segment

    Solo+

    Filter Results to a group, such as households with children, and the curves, range and optimal price recompute for that group.

  • Out-of-order answers, counted

    Solo+

    Under Flag only, answers whose prices don’t rise are left out of the curves, and the card says how many.

  • A caution on small bases

    Solo+

    On dashboards, in report decks and in the client portal, a chart under the survey’s minimum base, 30 by default, still shows, with a note to read it with care.

  • Weighting

    Research Team

    Weights carry through to the curves, the price points and trial and revenue, in Results, on dashboards and in decks. Each respondent’s own weight counts; a rake scheme doesn’t apply to price tiles.

How Surveti compares

Van Westendorp across the common survey tools

Price sensitivity meter capabilities in Surveti, SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics, Typeform and Alchemer, as of 7 November 2026
CapabilitySurvetiSurveyMonkeyQualtricsTypeformAlchemer
Built-in Van WestendorppaidA question type · Solo+paid1, 4LaunchPad solution, per studypaid9, 10Guided solution, Research Core 3no16, 17Template only; no analysisunclear18Not in the question types guide
Works as a question inside any surveyyesBeside any other questionpartial1, 3Its own study; add custom questionspartial12Program your own to embedno17unclear
Edit the four price promptsyesAll four, translatableno1“Can’t be changed”unclear9Questions not listedpartial16A template, not a typeunclear
Price-order checkyesRequire, flag or offyes2Validation toggle, on by defaultunclearnounclear
Four curves with PMC, PME, OPP and IPPyesIn Results, decks, dashboardsyes1, 2Price Sensitivity Meterpartial9OPP and range namedno16unclear
Trial and revenue from a likelihood follow-upyesYour calibrationunclear5Purchase intent as an extra question onlyunclear9Not statednounclear
Filter the meter to a segmentyesResults, tiles, slidesyes1, 2Key findings filtersunclearnounclear
The meter on a dashboardyesPrice and trial tilesunclearno13Report, not dashboard (community)nounclear
The meter in a PowerPoint or PDF deckyesPowerPoint, PDF, Excelunclear2Chart to CSV, XLSX, PNGpartial9PDF reportnounclear
Raw prices to SPSSpaidScale variables · Professional+yes1, 4XLSX, SPSS, CSVunclear9Not statedno28CSV or XLSX onlyunclear
As of 7 Nov 2026, from each vendor’s public help, product and pricing pages.yespartialpaidunclearno

Partial means partly built in or possible only with a documented workaround; paid means built in on paid plans, licences or as a paid add-on; unclear means the vendor’s public docs don’t settle it. QuestionPro (Research Edition licence) and SurveySparrow also have a built-in Van Westendorp question, with a reversible question order; SurveySparrow also offers slider entry. Google Forms has no number-only question type.

Sources (13)
  1. [1] SurveyMonkey: Van Westendorp solution. https://help.surveymonkey.com/en/surveymonkey/solutions/van-westendorp/ · accessed 7 Nov 2026
  2. [2] SurveyMonkey: Van Westendorp (LaunchPad help). https://help.surveymonkey.com/en/launchpad/solutions/van-westendorp/ · accessed 7 Nov 2026
  3. [3] SurveyMonkey: Van Westendorp set-up. https://help.surveymonkey.com/surveymonkey/solutions/van-westendorp/ · accessed 7 Nov 2026
  4. [4] SurveyMonkey: Price optimization. https://www.surveymonkey.com/market-research/solutions/price-optimization/ · accessed 7 Nov 2026
  5. [5] SurveyMonkey: LaunchPad price optimization. https://www.surveymonkey.com/product/launchpad/price-optimization/ · accessed 7 Nov 2026
  6. [9] Qualtrics: Pricing Study (Van Westendorp Model). https://www.qualtrics.com/marketplace/vanwesterndorp-pricing-sensitivity-study/ · accessed 7 Nov 2026
  7. [10] Qualtrics: Guided projects and solutions. https://www.qualtrics.com/support/common-use-case/xm-solutions/guided-solutions/ · accessed 7 Nov 2026
  8. [12] Qualtrics Community: pricing study inside a larger survey (community, 2024). https://community.qualtrics.com/survey-platform-54/adding-a-gabor-granger-or-van-westendorp-pricing-question-inside-a-larger-survey-29064?postid=101042 · accessed 7 Nov 2026
  9. [13] Qualtrics Community: Van Westendorp dashboard (community, 2023). https://community.qualtrics.com/survey-platform-54/pricing-study-van-westendorp-dashboard-25377 · accessed 7 Nov 2026
  10. [16] Typeform: Price sensitivity survey template. https://www.typeform.com/templates/price-sensitivity-survey-template · accessed 7 Nov 2026
  11. [17] Typeform: Create API reference. https://www.typeform.com/developers/create/reference/create-form/ · accessed 7 Nov 2026
  12. [18] Alchemer: Question types guide. https://help.alchemer.com/help/question-types-guide · accessed 7 Nov 2026
  13. [28] Typeform: Download your data. https://help.typeform.com/hc/en-us/articles/360029253572 · accessed 30 Oct 2026

What’s different here

A question, not a separate study

Put the price meter in any survey, after your screener and before your profile questions. No separate project, no fixed flow.

Your words, in their language

Edit all four prompts and translate them with the rest of the survey. The data names stay fixed.

An order rule you choose

Require rising prices, accept prices out of order and leave them out of the curves, or count everything. The export flags each answer in every mode.

Their own prices, on a line

Respondents see the four prices they typed on a number line, numbered in the order asked, so a price out of place stands out.

From Results to the client deck

The same curves on dashboards, in PowerPoint and PDF slides, and in the client portal; the Excel export holds the figures behind them.

Trial and revenue, your calibration

Add the likelihood follow-up and set the purchase probability behind each answer, from Very likely to Very unlikely.

When to use it

Use it to find the range people will pay

When to use it

  • Setting a price for something new, before you test exact prices.
  • Checking whether today’s price sits inside the range customers accept.
  • Comparing how two groups see price, one filter at a time.
  • A quick read on price inside a larger survey, without a separate study.

When to reach for something else

  • You have candidate prices and want demand at each. Use a price ladder.
  • Price trades off against features. Use conjoint.
  • Many people can’t name a price at all. There’s no Don’t know option, so screen them out first or make the question optional.
  • You need one exact amount, such as last month’s spend. Use a currency open-end.

Sample wording

“At what price would it be so cheap you’d doubt the quality?” · “…a bargain, great value for money?” · “…start to feel expensive, so you’d think twice?” · “…too expensive to consider?”

Best practices

  • Describe the product just before the question, so everyone prices the same thing.
  • Set Max just above any believable price. One stray answer far out stretches the curves.
  • Keep Require ascending unless you want to study the people who answer out of order.
  • Aim for at least 30 answers in every group you’ll filter to.
  • Treat the range as a guide, then test exact prices inside it with a price ladder.

Accessibility

Plain boxes and plain radios

Labelled boxes

Each price box is a native text field with its prompt as its label, reachable with Tab.

Messages tied to the box

A price out of range, or out of order under Require ascending, is marked invalid, and its message is attached to that box.

Native radio buttons

The likelihood follow-up is two radio groups, each named by its prompt, with arrow-key selection.

Charts as tables

On Results, a table of each price and each curve’s share sits behind the chart for screen readers.

Use it in

Where the price meter fits

Template

Pricing Study

A product description, this price meter with the likelihood follow-up, then a price ladder, ready to edit.

Solution

Market research

Find the acceptable range for a new product, then see it for one group at a time with a Results filter.

Solution

Product research

Check a planned price, or a new tier, against what users would pay.

Example

Pantry Box

“Thinking about one week’s box, what prices come to mind?” with the four standard prompts.

Frequently asked questions

What does the Van Westendorp price meter tell me?

Four curves, built from the four prices each person gives, and four points where they cross: the point of marginal cheapness (PMC) and the point of marginal expensiveness (PME), which bound the acceptable range; the optimal price (OPP), where as many say too cheap as too expensive; and the indifference price (IPP), where as many say it’s a bargain as say it’s expensive.

What happens when someone’s prices are out of order?

You choose. Require ascending asks them to fix it before Next, and the server checks again. Flag only lets them through and leaves the answer out of the curves. Off counts every answer. In every mode, the export’s order flag shows which answers rose.

How many answers do I need?

The chart appears from the first complete answer. On dashboards, in report decks and in the client portal, a chart below the survey’s minimum base, 30 by default, carries a note to read it with care. The example on this page uses 200 answers.

Can I change the wording or ask in another language?

Yes. All four prompts are editable, and they translate with the survey, as do the likelihood prompt and labels. Respondents’ messages come in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese (Brazil) and Italian.

How are trial and revenue worked out?

Turn on the purchase-likelihood follow-up and each respondent rates how likely they are to buy at their own bargain price and their own expensive price. Each rating becomes a purchase probability you set (by default 70%, 50%, 30%, 10% and 0% from Very likely to Very unlikely). Surveti draws a straight line between the two, keeps the bargain-price value down to the respondent’s too-cheap price and the expensive-price value up to their too-expensive price, and counts zero beyond. Trial at each price is the average; revenue is price times trial.

Can I put the results in a client deck?

Yes. On the dashboard, Create shareable report builds a deck with a price slide for each price meter, plus a trial and revenue slide when the follow-up is on, and it exports to PowerPoint, PDF and Excel. The curves also go on dashboards and in the client portal.

Which plan do I need?

The price meter is on Solo+, with every setting, the charts, dashboards, decks and CSV and Excel exports. SPSS export is on Professional+, and weighting on Research Team.

Related question types

ConjointOpen-endedSlider
  • Price Ladder (Gabor-Granger) Would they buy at your prices? Demand and the revenue-maximising price. Solo+

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