Pricing table optimization
In this article, we’ll show you how to get the most out of your PandaDoc pricing table. We’ll cover all the different settings as well as how to add flat fees, show one time vs. recurring costs, present multiple options, and more!
Adding flat fees
If you need to add a flat fee but don’t want it to be included in the subtotal amount, just add a “total tax” set to USD (instead of %). This comes in handy for things like delivery or freight fees which need to be added after taxes, etc.
One-time vs. recurring fees
If you have both one-time and recurring costs, your pricing table can messy quickly. There are a few ways to present a mix of one time and recurring fees to your customers clearly.
Total taxes to the rescue (again)
List all the recurring costs as line items in the pricing table. Add a total tax (or more) and choose between a flat fee (USD) or a percent (%):
Use sections to separate different types of fees
If you’re not adding a simple one-time fee (or %) on top of the subtotal, add all your line items into the pricing table and separate them by section. To add a section click “add section” at the bottom of the table.
Give the section a label and add the corresponding line items underneath. Toggle on the “show section subtotal” option to display a subtotal for each of your sections:
Use multiple pricing tables & your grand total token
For maximum flexibility, use two separate tables to present pricing: one table for recurring fees and another for one-time fees.
Rename the “Total” label for each pricing table so it’s clear if the amount is recurring or one-time. Use tokens to create a summary underneath: the [document.total] token to list the total amount due and the recurring fees pricing table token to clearly note the recurring cost.
Presenting multiple options
If you’re sending over a first proposal, you might want to present several different options for pricing packages. Here are a few different styles of presenting multiple options using PandaDoc pricing tables:
Multiple choice sections
These aren’t your boring old PDFs, people! Let your customers interact with your documents by using pricing tables with multiple-choice sections. List the options for your customers and let them pick the one that suits them best.
To each their own
Create separate pricing tables to neatly present each option and let your customers choose between them.
In order for the customer to indicate which package they’d like, you need to include some sort of selection mechanism. You can use a dropdown field (Option A, B or C) or create yet another pricing table with a multiple-choice section.
Important note: for recipients to be able to interact with pricing tables, you must assign at least one field to them. If they don’t already have a field assigned to them in the document, add a quick initials field for them below the pricing table.
It’s all about the add-ons
You know how grocery stores stock magazines, gum, and candy by the checkout counter? Do you ever add any of those items to your cart? I do (all the time). This genius design, called point-of-purchase merchandising, uses strategically placed products to spur impulse buying and create exposure for new products. And so can you!
Optional items allow you to offer add-ons without slowing down the deal. If your customer wants to purchase additional products or services, they can easily add them to their total. If not, they can just skip them – no back-and-forth or revisions necessary.
Other tips
There are a few other tricks our pricing table has up its sleeve like the ability to hide columns or add a multiplier column, display profit/margin, and for admins: the ability to lock down certain columns to prevent editing.
Hiding columns
Customize your table by hiding columns for a cleaner look. For example: if you want to display the line item subtotal and not the price per item, just click on the “price” column and hide it!
You can also hide the subtotal column or the QTY and discount columns if you want to do some multiplication but not have it displayed in the table for your recipients.
Using the multiplier column
If you need additional columns to multiply your line item price by (ex: price x QTY x duration), add in a multiplier column. Just add a new column and select the “multiplier” option.
Pro tip: use the multiplier column to divide by entering a decimal number less than 1.
Calculating profit/margin
Enable the profit/margin setting to display the profit and margin internally (recipients will not be able to see this!) Cost is the sum of all items in the table and Profit is determined by calculating (Price-Cost) / Price.
If you are not using the pricing catalog to add items, you can also input cost by clicking on the line item and adding the amount in your table settings:
Locking your pricing table (or specific columns)
Admins: do you have a few reps who tend to get “creative” when it comes to pricing? Just click the “…” next to the pricing table and click on “restrict editing” to prevent unwanted edits.
Choose to lock down the entire pricing table or just certain columns (if you want your reps to be able to edit descriptions but not price, for example). You also have the option to lock the block position to prevent users from moving or deleting the pricing table entirely.
Grand total
Track your document value by enabling the grand total function. Grand totals will be displayed in your dashboard, document list, and advanced reporting (for you Enterprise users!)
PandaDoc will automatically calculate the total value of all pricing tables. To customize which pricing tables are included in your grand total, just click on grand total settings and select the ones you want to include. You can also enter a custom amount if needed.
Tip: if you’re presenting multiple pricing tables as options, select the lowest value pricing table to avoid inflating your pipeline.
Let your CRM do the work
For those of you with CRM integrations (Salesforce, Pipedrive, HubSpot, etc.), you can set up your pricing tables to automatically populate with product data from your CRM records. Insert a pricing table into your template, set up the columns and headers/footers, and check “automatically add products to this table” in the settings.
Pro tip: remove all blank rows from your pricing table to avoid having blank rows in your document.
Get paid faster
And last but not least: PandaDoc Payments. Add the payment block to collect payments right after your customer signs (via Stripe, Square, PayPal, Authorize.net, or QuickBooks Payments). You take care of your collections process and get paid sooner and your customers have an easy, secure way to pay. That’s what we call a win-win!
To sum this up…
There are many, many ways to set up your pricing tables in PandaDoc. We recommend playing around with your settings and thinking outside the box to use taxes, discounts, and multiplier columns to do extra math for you. If you haven’t already, add a multiple-choice section or optional & quantity editable line items to provide an interactive pricing experience. You might end up increasing your overall deal value as a result.