Chapter 4
Design the economics and capacity
Part of How to Build an Offer Ladder.
Finish this chapter with a capacity and unit-economics model you can use immediately to design the economics and capacity, while avoiding creating price tiers that do not represent real customer progress.
What you’ll get
- A completed capacity and unit-economics model, not a list of abstract ideas.
- One explicit decision rule for design the economics and capacity.
- A 45-minute execution sequence you can repeat yourself or hand to a teammate.
- A quality gate that tells you whether to move forward, run one small test, or revise the input.
Use this chapter as a working session
Open the document, spreadsheet, or Tapmy workspace where this decision will live. Replace sample language with the exact offer, buyer, channel, price, and evidence you have today. If a fact is missing, label it as an assumption and assign the smallest test that can resolve it.
| Time | Work | Concrete output |
|---|---|---|
| 0–10 min | Collect buyer words, traffic data, sales conversations, support questions, and current page copy. | A short evidence list with source and date. |
| 10–20 min | Make the single decision this chapter is designed to resolve. | A one-sentence decision and reason. |
| 20–35 min | Build the capacity and unit-economics model with real names, numbers, links, and owners. | A usable operating asset. |
| 35–45 min | Review it from the buyer’s point of view and run the quality gate. | A keep, test, or revise decision. |
Separate scalable and capacity-limited offers
Digital downloads can usually serve additional buyers with little direct fulfillment time, but support and maintenance still exist. Coaching, reviews, services, and communities consume calendar capacity.
For each step, estimate:
Check for price and promise collisions
If a low-price offer promises the same outcome and support as the highest one, the ladder is unclear. If the highest offer is merely the lowest one with a call attached, explain the call’s concrete output.
Keep the next step optional
Customers should be able to stop at the outcome they need. Your ladder is a navigation system, not a pressure sequence.
Decision gates
| Evidence state | What it means | What to do next |
|---|---|---|
| The input is specific, current, and tied to a real buyer action | The capacity and unit-economics model is ready to use. | Put it into the Tapmy journey and measure the next observable behavior. |
| One important input is assumed | The direction is testable, not yet proven. | Run the smallest test that can confirm or reject that assumption. |
| The asset serves several audiences, offers, or goals | The scope is too broad. | Narrow to one buyer, one job, one offer, and one reporting window. |
| The result depends on a claim you cannot show or deliver | Trust and delivery risk are higher than the upside. | Rewrite the promise around a supportable outcome. |
Quality standard
- The capacity and unit-economics model names one buyer and one job.
- Every number has a timeframe, currency, or denominator where needed.
- Every link and handoff has an owner.
- The next action is visible without rereading the chapter.
- The decision can be measured through customer behavior.
- No claim is stronger than the evidence.
