How to Prove Your Worth to Cost-Conscious Customers

There’s a simple rule for B2C companies that I see lots of founders forget: Anything that affects your customers also affects you. When they stop spending, you stop earning. With more Americans concerned about the cost of living than at any time since the 2008 financial crisis, that means businesses need to work overtime to ensure their value is still obvious to the people they serve.

My own company is a perfect example. Roof Maxx’s flagship product is an all-natural restoration treatment for asphalt shingles that can extend their lifespan for years while costing less than a brand-new roof. You’d probably assume this would be a no-brainer for homeowners in tough economic times, but we’ve never rested on our laurels when it comes to demonstrating our value. And as you’ll see below, it’s a good thing we haven’t.

The thing is, people experiencing financial stress don’t always make rational purchasing decisions. It’s not enough to have a product or service that can make their lives easier. You have to prove it.

Boots theory: Why people in financial trouble still overspend on things they don’t need

In his 1993 novel, Men at Arms, English fantasy writer Terry Pratchett observes through one of his characters that wealthy people often manage to spend less money than people in dire financial straits. To illustrate this, he reasons that while a really good pair of boots might cost $50, it’s also likely to last years longer than a cheap pair, which might only cost $10 but will probably also fall apart after one or two seasons.

In this example, the person with money to invest in a good pair of boots that can be maintained long term ends up spending less overall than the person who can only afford cheap boots and has to buy a brand new pair every year.

Now, to be fair, Pratchett’s not arguing that poor or working-class people spend their money badly (and neither am I). He’s saying poverty charges interest, which is true. But I want to reframe his example slightly:

What if most folks already had a high-quality pair of old boots sitting in their closet that just needed a bit of polishing and conditioning to be perfectly usable again? Would they take them to a cobbler, or would they just buy a cheap pair to replace them?

Most people, I’m convinced, would opt to fix the good old boots they already had — as long as they knew how much life was still left in them. Sadly, that’s not always how it works.

Shrinkflation and inflation: The two horsemen of any economic apocalypse

If you drive a 2005 Toyota Corolla and your mechanic tells you it needs $9,000 worth of repairs, there’s a good chance you’ll just buy a new car instead. Never mind that most new commuter sedans cost around $40K these days, or that a Corolla from that era is hands-down one of the most reliable cars ever made. A lot of people reason that it’s better to invest in something new rather than keep spending money on something older.

The problem with that is that manufacturing quality has declined since the early 2000s due to various cost-cutting measures. The quality of new vehicles actually hit its lowest point in decades as of 2024. So you’re not only spending way more money on a new car than it would cost to fix the old one; you’re also getting a worse product.

Roof Maxx doesn’t sell boots or cars; we restore asphalt shingle rooftops. But the same problem occurs in our industry. Newer shingles are manufactured with less asphalt than the ones made a couple of decades ago, which makes them less durable and lowers their expected usable lifespan. But despite this, every major shingle brand still raised its prices by 6-10% last year.

Against that backdrop, it doesn’t always make good sense to buy a new car or replace your roof. The ones you already have are like the well-made boots at the back of your closet. They’re probably better than anything you could buy new. You just need to give them a little love.

Help customers save their bacon instead of smashing their piggy banks

The challenge for most businesses is helping customers understand that the price of maintaining something is worth it. A homeowner might tell us they can get a new roof for only a few thousand dollars more than it would cost to restore their existing shingles, but they don’t know that those new ones will be three-tab shingles with fewer granules that might only last for a few years.

What costs a lot from a maintenance perspective versus what costs a lot from a purchasing perspective is primarily an emotional difference that doesn’t account for the objective gap between those two numbers. It’s your job — and your responsibility to your customers — to bring the receipts when you run into these kinds of objection responses.

The best way to do this is to focus on proven processes and back up your results. Cite studies showing the efficacy of your solution. Provide customer testimonials that show how positive of an impact it has. Our testing by The Ohio State University gave us numbers we could use to back up our claims that Roof Maxx restored durability and flexibility to suitable shingles and helped them last years longer than they otherwise would have. It’s been an instrumental part of helping homeowners understand that buying new isn’t always their only option.

When you show irrefutable evidence that you can save people money at a time when they’re more cost-conscious than ever, they stop seeing you as an expense and start seeing you as an essential. That’s what gets businesses and their customers through tough times.

There’s a simple rule for B2C companies that I see lots of founders forget: Anything that affects your customers also affects you. When they stop spending, you stop earning. With more Americans concerned about the cost of living than at any time since the 2008 financial crisis, that means businesses need to work overtime to ensure their value is still obvious to the people they serve.

My own company is a perfect example. Roof Maxx’s flagship product is an all-natural restoration treatment for asphalt shingles that can extend their lifespan for years while costing less than a brand-new roof. You’d probably assume this would be a no-brainer for homeowners in tough economic times, but we’ve never rested on our laurels when it comes to demonstrating our value. And as you’ll see below, it’s a good thing we haven’t.

The thing is, people experiencing financial stress don’t always make rational purchasing decisions. It’s not enough to have a product or service that can make their lives easier. You have to prove it.