Three Broken Pricing Pages: A Teardown

Marketing Academy · Field Work●Marketing Fundamentals

CoreTeardown· 45 minutes

Halo Top

Objective: Given three synthetic pricing-page specimens, each with 2-3 real psychological-pricing defects hidden among plausible-looking choices, identify every defect, rate its severity, and explain why it costs conversions.

You're a pricing consultant reviewing three draft tier pages for Halo Top's new direct-to-freezer subscription box before they go live.

Find the defects the lesson's Common Mistakes section warns about: fake anchors, mixed discount frames, five-tier sprawl, hidden prices, percentage-only annual framing. Cite the specific mistake, not just 'looks off.'

Before you start

What you'll need

Free path (everything below is enough to finish)

Google Docs

FreeWrite up the defect list and severity ratings for each specimen

Free, easy to share with a reviewing partner, no account friction

The process

Specimens to review

List every pricing-psychology defect in this specimen.

Sample output

FREEZER CLUB — SPECIMEN A
Enthusiast — $199.99/mo (crossed out from $249.99, 'Save 20%!') — 0 orders placed since launch, engineering keeps it live 'just in case'
Fan — $39.99/mo
Curious — $9.99/mo
All tiers: 'Contact us for annual pricing.'

Specimen: synthetic, realistic

List every pricing-psychology defect in this specimen.

Sample output

FREEZER CLUB — SPECIMEN B
Starter — $29.99/mo, was $39.99/mo, 'Limited time!'
Core — $59/mo — MOST POPULAR
Unlimited — $2,000/mo
Annual toggle: 'Save 20% with annual billing'

Specimen: synthetic, realistic

List every pricing-psychology defect in this specimen.

Sample output

FREEZER CLUB — SPECIMEN C (mobile layout, top to bottom)
Curious — $9.99/mo
Fan — $39.99/mo
Enthusiast — $249.99/mo (12 real subscribers this quarter)
Enthusiast — highlighted with a colored border and 'Best Value' badge

Specimen: synthetic, realistic

Final deliverable

A defect report covering all three specimens: each defect named, severity rated, and tied to the specific lesson mistake it matches.

See a reference example

Sample output

Casper Freezer Club Teardown (excerpt)

Specimen A — CRITICAL: Enthusiast tier is a fake anchor (0 orders since launch). CRITICAL: annual price hidden behind 'contact us.'

Specimen B — MODERATE: Starter stacks charm pricing with a crossed-out discount. MODERATE: annual savings shown only as a percentage.

Specimen C — CRITICAL: cheapest tier anchors first on mobile. MODERATE: highlight badge is on the wrong (highest-priced) tier.

Success criteria

You're done when you can:

Finds at least 2 real defects per specimen and correctly rejects the distractors
Every defect cites the specific lesson section it violates, not a vague description