How to Price Korean Software for US B2B B | Prime Chase Data

In the US B2B market, pricing is not about “how much” but about proving “why this amount is rational” inside the buyer’s organization. Korean software companies that lead with product completeness alone often stall at the very top of the pipeline. US buyers look first at procurement rules, contract risk, security controls, budgeting frameworks, and benchmarkable unit economics—long before they look at feature lists. So the core of how to price korean software for us b2b buyers is not currency conversion; it’s designing a pricing system that fits US purchasing logic and the language of finance.

This article explains how to build pricing that can survive internal approvals and audits at US companies. We’ll translate concepts like value-based pricing, packaging, discounting, contract terms, billing currency, and tax/compliance into concrete practices you can use in real sales conversations.

How US B2B Buyers Evaluate Price: Less About Features, More About Risk and Budget

US B2B buyers typically evaluate price through three lenses. First, can this be slotted cleanly into a budget line item? Second, is contract risk controlled well enough to pass procurement and security review? Third, can the pricing be explained using comparable benchmarks (per seat, per API call, per GB, per endpoint, etc.)? In mid-market and enterprise accounts, purchasing processes are standardized, so “exceptions” create friction and internal cost. Too many exceptions and you lose the deal, even if your quote is lower.

One more critical point: US buyers also read your long-term viability from your pricing. A price that’s too low is interpreted as a risk—“will this vendor be around and able to support us?” A price that’s too high needs strong justification versus alternatives. In practice, price is both positioning and a trust signal.

What Procurement and the CFO Want to See

What the unit price is based on (usage, number of users, modules, traffic, etc.)
Whether contract term and renewal rules are predictable (1 year, 2 years, auto-renewal, price increase caps)
Whether security and compliance costs are covered (SOC 2, ISO 27001, DPA, GDPR, HIPAA, etc.)
Whether vendor lock-in and data exit costs are reasonable (termination clauses, data export)

US federal cybersecurity guidance has effectively standardized buyer checklists. For example, the NIST Cybersecurity Framework is a frequent reference point when buyers evaluate security controls. If your pricing structure clashes with security or audit requirements, your solution will be perceived as “expensive” in practice—regardless of the nominal dollar amount.

The Core of Your Pricing Strategy: Turn Value-Based Pricing into Verifiable Numbers

Value-based pricing fails if it stays at the level of narrative—just talking about the value you deliver. In US B2B, ROI must show up in internal approval documents. That means you need performance metrics that can be quantified. Make the following three-step process your internal standard.

1) Narrow Your Value Drivers Down to Three

Your specific value drivers will depend on your product, but they usually collapse into one or more of these three buckets:

Revenue growth: higher conversion rates, more upsell, shorter sales cycles
Cost savings: reduced labor, optimized infrastructure costs, less rework
Risk reduction: lower probability of outages or security incidents, avoidance of compliance penalties

For example, in security and compliance, the central logic is “cost of incident avoidance.” In US healthcare, HIPAA is the key regulation for protecting medical information, and buyers often rely on authoritative resources such as guidance from the US Department of Health and Human Services when they frame their internal risk and cost models.

2) Build a Model Using Formulas Buyers Already Trust

ROI formulas must be simple to get approved. Common examples include:

Annual savings = (hours saved per week) × (number of people impacted) × (fully loaded hourly cost) × 52 weeks
Additional revenue = (improvement in conversion rate) × (number of leads) × (average deal size)
Risk reduction value = (reduction in incident probability) × (expected loss per incident)

The fully loaded hourly cost should include not just salary but also benefits and overhead. Public data sources that US buyers already trust, such as the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), can increase the credibility of your calculations when you need benchmark labor costs.

3) Capture Only a Portion of the Value in Your Price

In US B2B SaaS, a common rule of thumb is to price at 10–30% of the value you create for the customer. There is no universal “correct” percentage, but this band is a practical starting point when you factor in negotiation and competition. The goal is for the buyer to feel, and be able to argue internally, that “this deal is clearly positive ROI for us.”

Packaging and Pricing Units: In the US, the Easiest Product to Buy Often Wins

When you operationalize how to price korean software for us b2b buyers, packaging is where many companies need the biggest shift. Korean vendors often structure plans around feature bundles. In the US, “scalability” and “budget predictability” matter more than granular feature segmentation.

Limit Yourself to One Pricing Unit, Two at Most

Too many unit types make procurement complicated and put you at a disadvantage when buyers compare quotes. Choose the unit that best fits your product:

Seat-based: collaboration tools, analytics platforms, workflow tools
Usage-based: APIs, data processing, security scanning, messaging
Asset-based: endpoints, servers, projects, sites, devices

Hybrid models are possible, but they must be easy to understand, such as “base price per seat, with overages charged by usage.”

The Three-Tier Structure Still Works

The classic three-tier structure is common in US B2B because it simplifies decision-making:

Core: essential features, lowest barrier to entry
Pro: automation, integrations, analytics, team-level management
Enterprise: SSO/SAML, advanced permissions, audit logs, dedicated support, SLA

One critical rule: Enterprise pricing is not just “Core + Pro features.” It’s the price of risk control, contract flexibility, and support readiness. SSO, audit logs, and data retention policies are effectively mandatory in enterprise procurement. They are part of the risk and governance package, not nice-to-have add-ons.

How US Buyers Want Prices Presented: Annual Commitments, Caps on Increases, and Clear Rules

Your price sheet is not just a marketing artifact; it’s the starting draft of the negotiation document. US buyers look for the “rules” behind your pricing.

Lead with Annual Prepay and Offer Multi-Year Options

US companies budget on an annual basis. If you only present monthly billing, you make it harder for them to manage and control the expense. A practical structure looks like this:

Default: annual prepaid subscription
Option: 2–3 year contracts with lower unit prices or price locks
Enterprise: support for PO-based invoicing and Net 30/60 payment terms

Offer a Clear Cap on Renewal Price Increases

If renewal increases are ambiguous, procurement will push back. Policies like “annual price increase capped at 5–8%” reduce negotiation time and build trust, because buyers can explain and forecast future spend.

Design Discount Policies Around Business Reasons

In the US, discounts are less about haggling and more about trading commercial terms. Standardize your discount triggers around objective conditions:

Deal size (committed seats or usage levels)
Contract length (2-year, 3-year commitments)
Billing terms (annual prepayment)
Reference activities (case studies, joint webinars) – with legal review in place

By contrast, “end-of-quarter discounts” as a habit will, over time, erode trust in your pricing and train buyers to wait you out.

FX, Currency, and Tax: Price in USD and Manage Volatility Internally

In US B2B sales, pricing in USD is effectively mandatory. Quoting in KRW or another foreign currency offloads FX risk to the buyer and hurts your chances immediately. Internally, you still incur costs in your home currency, so you need policies to absorb FX volatility.

Don’t Bury FX Risk in Your Pricing; Manage It in Finance

Two recommended approaches are:

Maintain fixed USD list prices and manage FX through hedging or by building a natural hedge (increasing your USD-denominated cost base)
Update your price list once a year and avoid mid-year changes as much as possible

US buyers are paying for predictability. Explaining that “prices might change next month because of exchange rates” is not a viable story in their internal budgeting process.

Clarify Sales Tax, VAT, and Billing Infrastructure

SaaS taxation varies by state, and some customers may require exemption certificates. The friction usually arises not from the product but from your billing system. In practice, it’s faster to standardize your process using tax automation tools or guidance from your payment platform. For example, Stripe’s documentation on sales tax for SaaS is a useful starting point for building your internal checklist.

Using Pricing to Build Trust: Bundle Security, SLA, and DPA into the Standard Enterprise Package

Enterprise buyers in the US are not just buying a product; they’re buying a vendor relationship. For overseas vendors—including Korean companies—the trust burden is higher. Do not try to compensate with low prices. Address the trust gap through your contract package.

Prepare the Enterprise Essentials Up Front

A roadmap to SOC 2 Type II or an equivalent control framework
A DPA (Data Processing Addendum) template
A clear SLA and support scope (response times, availability targets, credit policies)
Policies for data location, backup, deletion, and export

If you do not yet have the full security certifications, you still need a written plan: what you will achieve by when, and what interim controls you provide in the meantime. Without that document, serious price negotiations are unlikely to even start. Trust cannot be purchased with discounts.

Competitive Benchmarking and Positioning: Compete on Efficiency, Not on Being “Korean”

In the US market, country of origin is rarely a positive differentiator in itself—and sometimes it’s a perceived risk. Position yourself not as “Korean-made” but as a more efficient alternative to existing options, using total cost of ownership (TCO) and switching costs as your narrative. Claims like “deployment completed in 90 days,” “no change to existing workflows,” or “30% less admin overhead” resonate because they map to operational and budget realities.

You can extract a lot of pricing benchmarks from publicly available price pages. Keep in mind that public prices often assume room for negotiation. So instead of positioning as “we’re cheaper,” anchor your message around “we cover more use cases at the same budget” or “we reduce total cost for the same functional scope.” For industry SaaS benchmarks and practical metrics, practitioner resources such as SaaStr can be useful inputs.

Negotiation Design: Protect Price by Redesigning the Deal Structure

US buyers assume that every price is negotiable. Your initial quote therefore needs two things: a defensible logic and clear levers you can adjust without undermining your pricing integrity.

Levers to Use Instead of Straight Discounts

Increase commitment: keep the unit price, raise the minimum seats or usage commitment
Adjust scope: remove certain modules or exclude premium support
Separate onboarding: charge initial setup as a separate SOW (statement of work)
Strengthen price protection: offer a stricter cap on annual increases instead of cutting the initial unit price

Be especially clear about service scope. Korean vendors often try to build trust with statements like “we’ll support you as much as needed.” In the US, vague commitments are red flags for legal and procurement teams. Support is not a promise of goodwill; it is a contractual term that must be defined.

Execution Checklist: How to Make Your Pricing “US-Ready” Within 30 Days

Lock in a single ICP (ideal customer profile) and decide how that segment prefers to buy (seat vs usage, etc.).
Define three core value drivers and one ROI formula, and bake them into your sales collateral.
Design a three-tier package, bundling security and contract elements into the Enterprise tier.
Set your USD annual price list and document your renewal price increase cap.
Standardize a conditions-based discount policy and create an approval workflow.
Prepare templates for DPA, SLA, and support scope to shorten legal and procurement cycles.

Pricing is not a one-time decision. But if you establish the right framework early, you can optimize it later using actual data. Limit list price changes to quarterly at most, and document the reasons for each change in numbers—shifts in usage distribution, expanded feature scope, increased security investment, and so on.

Looking Ahead: In US B2B, Pricing Is Part of Your Product Strategy

In the US market, how to price korean software for us b2b buyers is not just a sales task—it’s a leadership and product strategy issue. Pricing locks in your positioning, shapes your customer mix, and influences your product roadmap priorities. Starting next quarter, treat pricing not as an appendix to your feature list, but as an operating system co-owned by product, finance, legal, and security.

The first step is deceptively simple: articulate in one sentence “who buys us, with what budget, and to reduce which specific risk,” then translate that sentence into the logic behind your price sheet. Once you do that, US buyers are more likely to seriously evaluate purchasing, rather than simply trying to push your price down.