Welcome to Nue, the ultimate Revenue Lifecycle Management platform that streamlines your quote-to-revenue process across multiple sales channels. With Nue, you can create and manage product catalogs, generate quotes, process orders, and manage upsell, cross-sell and the entire revenue lifecycle of customers - all from one centralized platform.
In this guide, we will walk you through the process of creating your first product catalog and using it to generate your first quote, order, and subscription. You will learn to do the following:
-
Configure products and pricing
-
Create quotes, orders and subscriptions
-
Upsell, renew, cross-sell and co-term subscriptions, entitlements and assets
We will provide practical examples using a hypothetical company named Vroom, which will serve as a guide to help you understand how to apply the concepts and techniques being discussed. Vroom is a fictional company that closely resembles your own business model, as it sells a comprehensive range of video conferencing hardware and software with a variety of pricing options.
Vroom sells a suite of product bundles named:
-
VROOM BASIC Edition
-
VROOM PRO Edition
-
VROOM BUSINESS Edition
At the end of this tutorial, we'll create products, bundles and pricing required for the following Vroom bundle offerings:
Let's get started!
System Setup
Before starting this tutorial, you should have the following systems ready:
-
Salesforce (sandbox) Org with Nue on Salesforce installed and configured
-
Nue requires Salesforce Professional Edition + API Access, or Salesforce Enterprise Edition
-
-
A Nue instance connected with the Salesforce Org
After your Nue instance is connected with your Salesforce Org, the products and pricing you create in Nue application will be saved directly in your Salesforce Org, which can be later used to create quotes, orders, subscriptions and manage customers' lifecycle in Salesforce.
Create Products and Pricing
In this step, we are going to create the following products and assemble them into bundles:
Products
Group Meetings
Private and Group Chat
Webinar
Vroom Phone as a Service
Professional Service
Bundles
VROOM BASIC
VROOM PRO
VROOM BUSINESS
Among these products, there are physical goods (Vroom Phone as a Service), subscription-based services (e.g., Unlimited Group Meetings, Private and Group Chat), usage-based services (Webinar) and one-time services (Professional Service).
Unit of Measures (UOM)
Before creating any products, the first thing you need to do is defining UOMs. Unit of Measure (UOM) is a central concept in Nue. It carries information on how much the company needs to fulfill or provision the order products, and how the prices should be calculated.
Please follow the steps below to create a few UOMs used by VROOM PROducts.
- Navigate to Price Builder > UOMs
- Create a few active UOMs:
- User/Month
- User/Year
- Participants
- Hour
| License/Month | License/Year | Participants | Each | Hour |
|
Quantity Dimension: License Term Dimension: Month |
Quantity Dimension: License Term Dimension: Year |
Quantity Dimension: Participants Term Dimension: Month |
Quantity Dimension: Each Term Dimension: None |
Quantity Dimension: User Term Dimension: None |
We'll use these UOMs to create products and bundles later.
Price Books
Price Books contain the list prices of products. Each product in Nue may have one or more price book entries in a price book. By default, Nue provides a Standard Price Book. Users can create additional custom price books.
In this tutorial, we are going to use the Standard Price Book.
- Navigate to Price Builder > Price Books
- If your Standard Price Book is not active, click 'Edit' icon to open the price book. Check the 'Active' checkbox, and save.
Create Products with Features
In Nue, the Product Catalog contains all products and bundles. A bundle product is just a special, configurable product. In this step, we are going to quickly create a few products.
- Navigate to Revenue Builder > Product Catalog
- Click ‘New Product’ button
Note that we're creating a new product in Simple Mode by default. This allows you to create products quickly.
Create First Product: "Private and Group Chat"
"Private and Group Chat' is a simple subscription-based product that is bundled in the VROOM BASIC Edition.
Fill up the Create Product form with the following values:
| Product Name | Private and Group Chat |
| SKU | ZM/Chat |
| Description | Private and Group Chats |
| Default UOM | License/Month |
| Standard Price | $3 |
| Product Category | Recurring Services |
| Revenue Model | Recurring |
| Status | Active |
| Start Date | 01/01/2023 |
| Can be sold independently | Unchecked |
You can also upload a product image before clicking "Save and Create New".
Please note that the following attributes are important when creating a new product:
Standard Price
This is the list price defined in the Standard Price Book. Nue requires a standard price to be available even though the product may not be independently sellable.
Product Category
In Nue, you can sell products in different categories, including Recurring Services, Physical Services, Professional Services, Customer Support, and any custom-defined categories. We use Product Category values to provision product lines when an order is activated. For example, a Recurring Services product will be provisioned into a Subscription, a Professional Services product will be provisioned into an Entitlement, and a Physical Asset product will be provisioned into an Asset.
Revenue Model
The Revenue Model field of a product refers to the method by which the product generates revenue for the business. You can select from the following 5 revenue models:
-
Recurring: This revenue model involves customers paying a set amount at regular intervals, such as monthly or annually, for ongoing access to the product or service. Examples of products using this model include subscription-based services, such as streaming platforms or software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions.
-
One-time: This revenue model involves customers making a single payment for the product or service, with no ongoing charges. This is typically used for products that do not require ongoing maintenance or support, such as physical products like a book or software that is purchased for a one-time fee.
-
Overage Usage: This revenue model involves customers paying an additional fee when they exceed a certain usage threshold, such as going over a set amount of data usage or exceeding a specific number of users. This is common in SaaS products that charge based on usage or consumption.
-
Credit Burndown: This revenue model involves customers paying a set amount up front regularly, which is then used as credit for future usage of the product or service. As the customer uses the product or service, the credit is gradually depleted until it is fully used up. This model is commonly used in products or services that have variable usage patterns or unpredictable usage over time.
- Credit: Unlike Credit Burndown, this revenue model involves customers paying a set amount up front once, which can then be used as credit for future usage of the product or service.
Create More Products
Now we will create a few more products with the following information:
| Product Name | SKU | Default UOM | Standard Price | Product Category | Revenue Model | Can be sold independently | Start Date |
| Group Meetings | ZM/ParticipantCapacity | Participants | 0.1 | Recurring Services | Overage Usage | Unchecked | 01/01/2023 |
| Professional Services | ZM/PS | Hour | 250 | Professional Services | One Time | Checked | 01/01/2023 |
| Vroom Phone Hardware as a Service | ZM/Phone | Each | 6 | Physical Goods | One Time | Unchecked | 01/01/2023 |
Create a Product with Features
Well done! You have completed the creation of your first a few products. Now we're going to create a complex product (VRoom Webinar) with features. In the same Create Product flow, switch to Advanced Mode. Now you can see a 3-step flow:
- Fill up the Create Product form with the following information:
| Product Name | Webinar (Overage by Attendee) |
| SKU | ZM/Webinar |
| Description | Webinar (Overage by Attendee) |
| Default UOM | Participants |
| Standard Price | $0.79 |
| Product Category | Recurring Services |
| Revenue Model | Overage Usage |
| Status | Active |
| Start Date | 01/01/2023 |
| Can be sold independently | Checked |
- Click Save and Next. Now you can see the Product Features page, and enter the following features.
- Unlimited Webinar sessions for up to 30 hours each
- Live Streaming
- While you are entering the features, they are available for preview in the product card on the left hand side:
- Click "Save and Next". You can see that a price book entry of the Standard Price Book is already created. Now click 'Save and Exit'.
Create Bundle Products
In this step, we're going to create the following suite of bundles, and assemble them into a bundle suite.
- VROOM BASIC Edition
- VROOM PRO Edition
- VROOM BUSINESS
Bundle: VROOM BASIC
General Information
- Navigate to Price Builder > Product Catalog and click 'New Bundle'
- Upload a product image, and fill up the form with the following information and leave other fields with default values:
| Bundle Name | VROOM BASIC |
| SKU | ZM/Basic |
| Description | Personal Meeting - Free, forever. |
| Additional Description | Free, forever. No credit cards required. Host up to 100 participants; 40-minute maximum group meetings; Unlimited 1:1 Meetings. Free, forever. No credit cards required. |
| Default UOM | License/Month |
| Standard Price | $0.0 |
| Product Category | Recurring Services |
| Revenue Model | Recurring |
| Status | Active |
| Start Date | 01/01/2023 |
| Can be sold independently | Checked |
| Auto Renew | Checked |
| Free Trial | Unchecked |
- Click "Save and Next"
Product Options
- In 'Product Options' step, in the 'Configure product options' panel on the right, set the Price Book to be Standard Price Book, and search for product 'Private and Group Chat'.
- Drag the 'Private and Group Chat' product to the Product Options panel on the left side.
- The 'Product Option' modal popup will launch. Since this product is bundled (i.e., there is no additional charge), click 'Save'. Optionally, you can edit the product option name. By default, the product option name is the same as the product name.
- Search for 'Group Meetings' product, and drag to the 'Product Options' panel to add it as a bundled product as well.
- Click Save and Next.
Price Plans
Now we can add price plans. For each UOM in the system, you can add a price plan for the bundle. A price plan is essentally stored as a price book entry in the selected price book of the bundle product.
For VROOM BASIC, since it is a free product offering, we want to only create a monthly plan.
- Select Unit of Measure 'License Per Year' and click 'Add New Plan'.
- Enter List Price '$0"
- Click 'Save and Next'
Bundle Suite
In this step, we are going to create a new Bundle Suite that contains this bundle product.
A bundle suite typically includes a collection of product bundles that are designed to meet different customer needs and preferences. Each bundle is a combination of several products or services that are sold together as a single package at a discounted price compared to purchasing each item individually.
The "Good, Better, Best" approach is a common pricing strategy used in bundle suites, where each bundle is labeled according to its level of features, quality, and price. The "Good" bundle typically includes the essential products or services at a basic level of quality and functionality, while the "Better" bundle includes more features and better quality than the "Good" bundle, and the "Best" bundle is the most comprehensive and highest quality package available.
- Click 'Create New Bundle Suite'
- Enter Bundle Suite Name as 'Vroom Bundle Suite'.
- Notice that VROOM BASIC is already added to the Bundle Suite. Optionally, you can set a different name. By default, it will be the product name.
- Click 'Save and Exit'.
Congrats! You have created the first bundle product. It is quite easy, isn't it?
Bundle: VROOM PRO
General Information
- Navigate to Price Builder > Product Catalog and click 'New Bundle'
- Upload a product image, and fill up the form with the following information and leave other fields with default values:
| Bundle Name | VROOM PRO |
| SKU | ZM/Pro |
| Description | Great for Small Teams |
| Additional Description | *Purchase up to 9 licenses per account |
| Default UOM | License/Month |
| Standard Price | $14.99 |
| Product Category | Recurring Services |
| Revenue Model | Recurring |
| Status | Active |
| Start Date | 01/01/2023 |
| Can be sold independently | Checked |
| Auto Renew | Checked |
| Free Trial | Enable Free Trial for 1 Month |
- Click 'Save and Next'
Product Options
- In 'Product Options' step, in the 'Configure product options' panel on the right:
- Set the Price Book to be Standard Price Book
- Select 'VROOM BASIC' in field 'Select a Bundle to inherit Products From'. This will allow VROOM PRO to automatically contain all prdoucts in VROOM BASIC bundle.
- Search 'Webinar' product, and drag to the product options.
- In the 'Product Options' popup, set the product as an 'Add-on product', allow 100 units free, and uncheck Connect to bundle quantity.
- When you uncheck 'Connect to bundle quantity', it means the configured quantity of this product at the operational time doesn't have to go along with the bundle quantity. For example, if a customer purchases 100 licenses of VROOM PRO, the customer can purchase any number of Webinar participants.
- Click 'Save'
Add Price Tags to a Product Option
Price Tags is an innovative pricing concept offered by Nue that allows sellers to create flexible pricing strategies to attract and retain customers. With Price Tags, sellers can augment the list price of their products by layering term-based and quantity-based tier pricing on top of each other. This means that customers can unlock additional discounts by purchasing more of a product or by committing to a longer-term contract.
Price Tags consists of two types of tags: Price Tags and Discount Tags. Price Tags define the tiered pricing structure, while Discount Tags define the tiered discounts. By layering these tags on top of each other, sellers can create complex pricing strategies that resemble the discounts offered in grocery stores, where customers can apply discounts over discounts.
In Nue, you can create price tags and associate them to a price book entry (a.k.a., a price plan), a product option, or a product group. When you add a price tag to a product option, it changes the price of the product only when you sell the product as an add-on in a bundle. For example, the Webinar product has a list price of $0.79 per participant if it's sold standalone. But you can add a price tag to override the list price, if the Webinar product is sold as an add-on to the VROOM PRO bundle.
Here we are going to create a new tiered pricing for the Webinar product option.
- Click the '$' icon in the Webinar product option row. This launches the Price Tags screen.
- Click 'Add Price Tag', and click 'New Price Tag'. You can create the price tag with the price tiers in the following screen: \
- SELECT A UOM DIMENSION TO ADD A PRICE MODEL TO: Quantity
- SELECT PRICE MODEL: Tiered
- Start Time: 01/01/2023, 12:00am
- Active: Checked
- Enter Tiers:
- 0-250: 0
- 250-300: 0.69 Per Unit
- 300-400: 0.59 Per Unit
- 400-500: 0.49 Per Unit
- 500+: 200 Flat Fee
- Click 'Save and Close'.
- Click Save and Next.
Price Plans
Now we can add price plans.
For VROOM PRO, we will create a monthly price plan and an annual price plan.
- Select Unit of Measure 'License/Month' and click 'Add New Plan'.
- Enter List Price '$14.99'
- Select Unit of Measure 'License/Year' and click 'Add New Plan'.
- Enter List Price '$79.99'
- Enable togger 'Mark this plan preferred'
- Cick 'Save and Next'
Bundle Suite
Because we have already created a bundle suite 'Vroom Bundle Suite', so we can add VROOM PRO to this bundle suite.
- Create 'Add to Another Bundle Suite' button
- Choose Bundle Suite 'Vroom Bundle Suite'
- Click Add to Bundle Suite
The Bundle Suite now has 2 bundles: VROOM BASIC and VROOM PRO. We are going to create the best bundle next: VROOM BUSINESS.
Bundle: VROOM BUSINESS
General Information
- Navigate to Price Builder > Product Catalog and click 'New Bundle'
- Upload a product image, and fill up the form with the following information and leave other fields with default values:
| Bundle Name | VROOM BUSINESS |
| SKU | ZM/Business |
| Description | Great for Small Businesses |
| Additional Description | *Starting at 10 licenses for $1,999/year |
| Default UOM | License/Month |
| Standard Price | $19.99 |
| Product Category | Recurring Services |
| Revenue Model | Recurring |
| Status | Active |
| Start Date | 01/01/2023 |
| Can be sold independently | Checked |
| Auto Renew | Checked |
| Free Trial | Enable Free Trial for 1 Month |
- Click 'Save and Next'
Product Options
- In 'Product Options' step, in the 'Configure product options' panel on the right:
- Set the Price Book to be Standard Price Book
- Select 'VROOM PRO' in field 'Select a Bundle to inherit Products From'. This will allow VROOM BUSINESS to automatically contain all products in VROOM PRO bundle.
- Search and drag the 'Vroom Phone Hardware as a Service' product to the Product Options panel on the left side.
- The 'Product Option' modal popup will launch. Select 'Add-on Product', and check 'Allow Editing of the Product Quantity'. Also select 'Allow 1 Units for Free'. Uncheck 'Connect to Bundle Quantity'. Click 'Save.
- This means, if a customer add 'Vroom Phone Hardware as a Service' as an add-on to the bundle, we give 1 phone free. But the customer can purchase as many as they want. The number of add-on phones is not controlled by the number of licenses the customer purchased for the VROOM BUSINESS.
- Search and drag the 'Professional Services' product to the 'Product Options' panel on the left side. The 'Product Option' modal popup will launch.
- Select 'Add-on Product'
- Check 'Allow editing of product quantity'.
- Select a default quantity of 20 with a range of 1 minimum and 200 maximum.
- Set an add-on price of $100 (which will override the list price $250) and allow 20 hours for free.
- Uncheck 'Connect to Bundle Quantity' so that the number of professional services hours doesn't have to go along with the number of user licenses purchased.
- Set 'Add-on Preference' as 'Required Product'
- With this configuration, 'Professional Services' is a required add-on product, and 20 hours is included in the bundle for free. For any hour over the 20 free hours, it will be charged at $100 per hour. However, the customer may only purchase no more than 200 hours with this bundle.
- Click Save.
- Click Save and Next.
Price Plans
Now we can add price plans.
For VROOM BUSINESS, we will create a monthly price plan of $19.99 and an annual price plan of $119.99
- Select Unit of Measure 'License/Month' and click 'Add New Plan'.
- Enter List Price '$19.99"
- Select Unit of Measure 'License/Month' and click 'Add New Plan'.
- Enter List Price '$119.99"
- Enable toggle 'Mark this plan as preferred'.
Add a Subscription Ramp Pricing
For the annual plan, we want to add a 3-year Subscription Ramp Pricing.
Nue offers a powerful pricing tool that supports Subscription Ramp Pricing, which is a common pricing strategy used by subscription-based businesses. This strategy involves offering a discounted rate for the first year of a subscription and gradually increasing the price in subsequent years to reflect the value that the customer is receiving.
With Nue's pricing tool, sellers can create a Price Tag to support Subscription Ramp Pricing. This Price Tag can be customized to reflect the specific discount and price increase percentages that the seller wants to apply to their subscription pricing.
For example, a seller may create a Price Tag that offers a 10% discount on the first year of a subscription and then increases the price by 5% each subsequent year. This pricing strategy incentivizes customers to commit to a longer-term subscription while still ensuring that the seller is capturing the full value of their product or service.
To add a Subscrpition Ramp Pricing for the annual price plan, in the 'License/Year Price Plan' panel, click 'Add Discount Tag' button.
- Click 'New Discount Tag' to create a new discount tag.
- Enter discount tag name: '3-Year Subscription Ramp Pricing (YEAR)'
- Select UOM Dimension as 'Term'
- Select Price Model as 'Ramp''
- Add the discount tiers:
- 0-1, 10% per unit
- 10% discount for the first year
- 1-2, -5% per unit
- Negative discount indicate a price increase over the last year
- 2-3, -5% per unit
- 0-1, 10% per unit
- Click 'Add'
- Click 'Save and Next'
Bundle Suite
Because we have already created a bundle suite 'Vroom Bundle Suite', so we can add VROOM BUSINESS to this bundle suite.
- Create 'Add to Another Bundle Suite' button
- Choose Bundle Suite 'Vroom Bundle Suite'
- Click 'Add to Bundle Suite'
- Set the popularity of VROOM BUSINESS as 'Most Popular'.
- Click 'Save and Preview'. Now we can see the complete bundle suite that contains all 3 bundles, VROOM BASIC, VROOM PRO and VROOM BUSINESS, which is the most popular bundle.
Congratulations! Now you have created all products and 3 bundle products, and assembled them into a bundle suite. You have also created a tiered pricing for the usage product 'Webinar', as well as a ramp pricing for VROOM BUSNESS annual plan.
We can proceed to the next tutorial in the series - create a quote, and see these products in action.