Getting Started - Marketing & Strategy Teams | Prolifi

What you will learn

This guide takes Marketing and Strategy teams through the process of translating your commercial revenue model into Prolifi configuration. By the end of this guide you will have:

A clear framework for articulating your revenue model in the structure Prolifi requires
An understanding of how to define products, value metrics, and packages on the platform
Practical decision frameworks for choosing pricing models, billing models, and packaging structures
Completed configuration of your product catalog, pricing, and acquisition strategy

This is the first Getting Started guide that should be completed in any new Prolifi deployment. The configuration decisions made here form the foundation that all other teams — Sales, Finance, and Developer — will work from.

Prerequisites

Before you begin this guide:

Your Prolifi account has been created
At least one operating entity has been configured (see Finance Getting Started, Section 1)
Your Prolifi account has connected users with appropriate access roles

Platform Flow Position

This guide covers Phase 1 (Platform Initialisation) and Phase 2 (Product & Pricing Configuration) of the six-phase Prolifi workflow. All subsequent platform activity — customer onboarding, billing, and reporting — depends on the configuration completed in this guide.

Section 1 — Articulate Your Revenue Model

Why this matters: Prolifi is a highly flexible platform, but that flexibility requires clarity. Teams that skip this step and attempt to configure Prolifi without a defined revenue model typically create inconsistent or incomplete setups that require significant rework. Treat this section as a strategy exercise before it becomes a configuration exercise.

Before touching any configuration in Prolifi, your strategy team needs to answer six questions. These questions form the structure of your revenue model and map directly to Prolifi’s configuration hierarchy.

1.1 What are you monetising?

Define the core object of value that customers pay for. This may be:

A digital service (e.g., a SaaS platform, AI API, streaming service)
A digital product (e.g., a downloadable software licence, a data product)
A physical product (e.g., hardware with ongoing service)
A physical service (e.g., managed services, consultancy, field services)

In Prolifi terms, each distinct thing you sell becomes a Product (see Glossary: Platform Concepts) in your catalog. A business with a SaaS platform, an enterprise add-on, and a professional services tier has three products.

Decision framework — what counts as a separate product?

Create a new product if…	Use plans on an existing product if…
It is a fundamentally different type of offering	It is the same offering at different price/feature tiers
It has a completely different value metric	It uses the same core value metric
It is sold to a completely different customer type	The customer base is the same
It has different billing behaviour	The billing structure is the same

1.2 How are you monetising it?

This is the pricing and billing strategy question. You need to determine:

Pricing model: How the charge is calculated (see Glossary: Pricing & Subscription Terms)
Billing model: How and when the charge is collected (see Glossary: Billing Terms)
Payment approach: Whether customers pay upfront (pre-paid) or after consumption (post-paid)

See Section 3 and Section 4 of this guide for detailed decision frameworks on pricing and billing model selection.

1.3 Who are you monetising?

Define your customer segments. Each segment may get different packaging, different pricing, or different billing terms. Key questions:

Do different customer types get different feature sets?
Do enterprise customers get different pricing than SMB customers?
Are there geographic differences in what you offer or how you price it?

In Prolifi terms, different customer segments are served through different Plans (see Glossary: Platform Concepts) — allowing the same Product to have multiple price/feature configurations in the catalog simultaneously.

1.4 Where will you sell?

Define your geographic scope:

Which countries will you accept payment in?
What currencies will you bill in?
Will all markets have the same pricing, or will you localise prices?
Are there markets that require specific payment methods (e.g., SEPA Direct Debit in Europe, ACH in the US)?

In Prolifi terms, each country of operation requires an Operating Entity (see Glossary: Platform Concepts) and Multi-Currency Pricing (see Glossary: Pricing & Subscription Terms) configuration. This is a prerequisite for any country-specific billing.

Multi-currency pricing and country-specific billing cannot be configured until operating entities exist. If you know you will sell in multiple countries, ensure the Finance team completes operating entity setup before product catalog configuration begins.

1.5 Location-specific customisation

For each market you plan to sell in, determine:

Will the price be the same as in your base market, or localised?
What tax treatment applies in each market?
Are there legal or regulatory requirements that affect how you can price or bill?
What local payment methods must be supported?

1.6 Pricing per package per location

Once you have defined packages and markets separately, create a matrix:

Package	GBP (UK)	USD (US)	EUR (EU)
Starter	£X/month	$Y/month	€Z/month
Professional	£X/month	$Y/month	€Z/month
Enterprise	Custom	Custom	Custom

This matrix becomes the direct input for Prolifi’s multi-currency pricing configuration at the plan level.

Section 2 — Define Your Products and Value Metrics

Before you begin this section:

Section 1 (Revenue model articulation) has been completed
Operating entities are configured for all markets you will sell in

Why this matters: Products and value metrics are the foundation of everything else in Prolifi. A poorly defined product or an incorrectly chosen value metric will create friction throughout the customer lifecycle — in pricing, in billing, in entitlements, and in how usage is tracked. Getting this right upfront is significantly less expensive than re-architecting mid-deployment.

2.1 Defining your products

For each product you identified in Section 1, you will create a Product (see Glossary: Platform Concepts) in Prolifi’s catalog. Each product requires:

Product name: The commercial name visible to customers
Product category: How the product is classified internally (Digital Service, Physical Product, etc.)
Description: What the product does and who it is for
Status: Draft (not yet active), Active (available for subscription), or Archived (no longer sold)

Products in Prolifi do not carry pricing directly. Pricing is always attached at the Plan level beneath the product.

2.2 Defining your value metrics

A Value Metric (see Glossary: Platform Concepts) is the dimension along which your pricing scales. It is the unit of measurement that your pricing model is based on.

Common value metrics by product type:

Product type	Common value metrics
SaaS platform	Users/seats, projects, storage (GB), API calls/month
AI service	Tokens/requests, compute minutes, model calls
Telecoms	Minutes, data (GB), messages, phone numbers
Media streaming	Streams, concurrent viewers, content items
Utilities	kWh, m³ of gas, litres of water
Service business	Hours, engagements, active contracts

Decision framework — choosing the right value metric:

Ask the following questions to select the most appropriate value metric:

Does the customer’s value increase as they use more? If yes, usage-based metering on the value metric captures that relationship.
Is the metric easy for customers to understand and predict their bill from? If customers cannot estimate their bill, the metric will cause friction.
Does the metric correlate to the cost Prolifi’s platform creates for you? A value metric that aligns cost and price is more sustainable.
Can the metric be measured reliably? If you cannot instrument the metric accurately, you cannot bill on it.

Section 3 — Define Your Product Packages

Before you begin this section:

Products have been defined (Section 2)
Value metrics have been selected for each product

Why this matters: Packaging decisions — what goes in which plan, at what price — have direct revenue implications. Prolifi allows significant flexibility, but the packaging structure you configure here determines how sales can sell, how customers can upgrade, and how Finance will bill.

3.1 Plans, entitlements, and add-ons

Plans (see Glossary: Platform Concepts) are the packaged versions of your product that customers subscribe to. A plan defines:

What the customer gets (entitlements and features)
What they pay (pricing model and amount)
How they pay (billing model and frequency)
How long they pay for (trial period, minimum commitment, contract term)

Entitlements (see Glossary: Platform Concepts) are the specific access rights or consumption allowances within a plan. For example, a Professional plan might include:

10 user seats (variable entitlement — counted)
100 GB storage (variable entitlement — counted)
Access to the API (feature entitlement — binary)
Priority support (feature entitlement — binary)

Add-ons (see Glossary: Platform Concepts) are optional extras that customers can purchase on top of their base plan. Examples include: additional user seat packs, extra storage blocks, premium support tiers.

3.2 Fixed vs. flexible packaging

Fixed packaging means customers choose from defined tiers (Starter, Professional, Enterprise). They cannot mix and match — the plan defines everything.

Flexible packaging means customers can configure their own package by choosing a base plan and adding optional components. This is more complex to configure but allows customers to tailor cost to their actual needs.

Prolifi supports both approaches. Most implementations start with fixed packaging and introduce flexible packaging as the product matures.

3.3 Choosing a billing model

The billing model determines the mechanism by which a customer is charged. Select based on the commercial scenario:

Billing Model	When to use it
Recurring	Standard subscription billing. Customer is charged at a regular interval (monthly, annually).
One-off	Single-purchase products, set-up fees, one-time add-ons.
Instalment	When a total amount is known but you want to allow payment over time. Annual contract paid monthly.
Usage-Based	When the charge depends on how much the customer used in the billing period.
Pay-As-You-Go	Consumption from a pre-loaded credit balance, or immediate billing per event.
Pre-Paid Credit	Customer buys credits upfront and draws them down as they use the service.
Hybrid	A combination — typically a fixed base fee plus a usage-based overage.

See the Billing Models Reference for full detail on each model.

3.4 Billing frequencies

For recurring billing, configure the billing frequency that works for your commercial model:

Frequency	Best suited for
Monthly	Lower barrier to entry; maximises flexibility for the customer
Quarterly	Balance between lock-in and flexibility
Annual	Maximises cash collection; typically offered at a discount
Custom	Bespoke enterprise arrangements

Offering both monthly and annual billing on the same plan (with a discount for annual) is a proven strategy for improving cash collection and reducing churn. Configure this in Prolifi by creating two plan variants under the same product — one with a monthly billing cycle and one with an annual billing cycle.

3.5 Payment timing — pre-paid vs. post-paid vs. PAYG

Pre-paid (in advance): Customer is charged at the beginning of the billing period. Most common for recurring subscriptions.
Post-paid (in arrears): Customer is charged at the end of the billing period, after they have used the service. Common for usage-based billing where the final amount is only known at period end.
Pay-As-You-Go: Customer pays based on real-time or near-real-time consumption, often from a pre-loaded balance.

3.6 How much they pay — pricing model selection

Why this matters: Pricing model selection has the single largest impact on revenue trajectory of any configuration decision. A pricing model that captures value well scales revenue naturally as customers grow. A poorly chosen model creates pricing pressure and churn.

Decision tree — pricing model selection:

See Glossary: Pricing & Subscription Terms for definitions of Fixed Pricing, Per-Unit Pricing, Tiered Pricing, Volume Pricing, Stair-Step Pricing, Dynamic Pricing, and Hybrid Pricing.

3.7 Contract dimensions

For enterprise plans and high-value subscriptions, define the contract terms:

Minimum commitment period: The shortest period a customer can subscribe for before cancelling without penalty
Auto-renewal: Whether the subscription automatically renews at the end of the commitment period
Price lock: Whether the agreed price is guaranteed for the commitment period regardless of price changes
Contract-level discounts: Discounts applied to the overall contract rather than individual invoices

3.8 Prolifi entitlements for plans

For each plan you configure, define the entitlements. For each entitlement, specify:

Entitlement attribute	Options
Type	Variable (counted), Binary (feature on/off)
Quantity	Fixed limit, unlimited, or configurable by customer
Behaviour at period end	Reset to full allocation, carry over unused balance, or expire
Expiry	Persists as long as subscription is active, expires on a specific date, or expires after N days
Auto-extension	Whether the entitlement automatically extends when it would otherwise expire

See the Entitlement Management Reference for full entitlement configuration detail.

Section 4 — Define Your Acquisition Strategy

Before you begin this section:

Products and plans have been defined (Sections 2 and 3)

Why this matters: The acquisition strategy configuration in Prolifi determines the commercial levers your sales team can use. A well-configured discount and price ramp structure enables Sales to close deals efficiently. Under-configured acquisition tools force workarounds that create billing inconsistencies.

4.1 Discounts

Prolifi supports three discount structures:

One-to-one discounts — A discount applied to a specific customer on a specific subscription. Used for individually negotiated commercial terms.

One-to-many discounts — A discount code or campaign that can be applied by multiple customers. Used for promotional campaigns, partner programmes, or referral incentives.

Targeted discounts — Discounts configured to apply automatically to customers who meet defined criteria (e.g., customer segment, geography, plan type). No manual application required.

Discount configuration options:

Type: Percentage off, fixed amount off, or fixed price override
Duration: One billing period, multiple periods, or for the lifetime of the subscription
Applicability: Specific products, specific plans, or any plan
Stackability: Whether the discount can be combined with other discounts

4.2 Price ramps

A Price Ramp (see Glossary: Pricing & Subscription Terms) is a scheduled pricing structure where the effective price changes at defined intervals. Price ramps are used to:

Reduce the initial cost barrier for new customers while moving them toward full commercial value
Reflect a phased implementation where the customer gets full value later in the relationship
Enable a “try at low cost, scale at full cost” commercial model

Example price ramp configuration:

Month	Effective price
1-3	£500/month (introductory rate)
4-6	£750/month (step-up rate)
7+	£1,000/month (full rate)

Price ramps are configured per plan or per subscription (for customer-specific ramps). The billing engine applies the correct rate for each billing period automatically.

Section 5 — Other Key Configuration Parameters

Before you begin this section:

All product catalog, pricing, and acquisition strategy configuration is complete (Sections 2-4)

5.1 Payment collection preferences

Determine how payment is collected in each market:

Gateway selection per operating entity: Which payment gateway processes transactions in each country
Supported payment methods per collection country: Which payment methods are enabled (cards, bank transfers, local methods)
Auto-collection vs. manual collection: Whether invoices are collected automatically on generation or sent for manual payment
Collection timing: Immediate collection on invoice finalisation, or deferred to a defined offset (e.g., collect 3 days after invoice date to allow for customer review)

5.2 Business design

Operating entities: If you have not already configured operating entities with the Finance team, define the legal entities through which you operate in each country. Operating entities are the foundational structural element for multi-country billing, tax, and currency configuration.

Customer metadata: Define any custom customer attributes you need to capture for your business. Examples include: customer industry, account manager assignment, sales region, CRM identifier. These fields are stored on the Customer object and can be used for segmentation and reporting.

5.3 Billing preferences

Configure the operational billing parameters that govern how invoices are generated and managed:

Invoice numbering sequence: The format and starting number for invoice identifiers
Payment terms: Standard number of days to pay on issued invoices (e.g., Net 30)
Invoice template and branding: Logos, colours, and custom content on generated invoices
Currency display format: How currencies appear on invoices for each market

5.4 Operational preferences

Users and roles: Define who in your organisation has access to Prolifi and at what permission level. Prolifi supports role-based access control with configurable permission sets.

Branding: Upload company branding for use on customer-facing materials — invoices, the hosted customer portal, and notification emails.

Terms and conditions: Configure the version of your terms and conditions to attach to subscription agreements. Prolifi can store and surface the accepted terms version per subscription for compliance purposes.

Notification emails: Configure the automated emails that Prolifi sends to customers — invoice notifications, payment receipts, dunning recovery emails, and subscription change confirmations. Each email type can be customised with your brand and messaging.

Approval workflows: Define whether certain actions (e.g., creating a subscription above a defined value, applying a discount above a certain percentage) require approval before execution. Approval workflows prevent unauthorised commercial exceptions.

What comes next

With your revenue model articulated and your product catalog configured, the other teams in your organisation can begin their Getting Started journeys:

Sales teams: The product catalog is now visible in Prolifi. Begin with Getting Started: Sales to understand how to navigate the catalog and use Prolifi in customer conversations.
Finance teams: Billing preferences set here feed into the operational billing configuration. Continue with Getting Started: Finance for reconciliation, reporting, and operational setup.
Developer teams: The product catalog is now available via API. Developer integration can begin. See Getting Started: Developers.

Cross-references

Glossary: Platform Concepts — definitions of all terms used in this guide
Billing Models Reference — detailed reference for all billing model types
Product Catalog & Pricing Reference — deep-dive product catalog configuration
Entitlement Management Reference — entitlement configuration detail
Multi-Country Setup — operating entity and currency configuration
Tax Management — tax configuration options