The Pricing-Tier Sunset Playbook
How to end-of-life a revenue line: announcement timing, three-wave customer migration, comp plan rewrite, dispute mechanism at scale, post-sunset reorg.
The cannibalization decision sets the strategic direction. The dual transformation operating model runs the rhythm. The pricing migration sequence walks the 18 months. This chapter is the operating practice for the sunset itself: the day the legacy tier ends.
The four-stage sunset structure
| Stage | Months from announcement | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Internal preparation | 0-6 | Coalition, comp rewrite, internal alignment |
| 2. Strategic account migration | 6-9 | Wave 1 cohort: top 20 accounts |
| 3. Mid-market and long-tail migration | 9-18 | Waves 2 and 3 |
| 4. Sunset day + grace period + post-sunset | 18-24 | Final migration, sunset day, reorg |
One section per stage with detailed week-by-week activity, owner, and decision rights.
The communication waves
The three waves with specific channels, timing, and escalation paths. Cross-references /toolkit/sunset-communication-template.
The comp plan rewrite
The four changes:
- Legacy comp at 50% of historical.
- Successor comp at 150% of equivalent ACV.
- Legacy renewal accelerators removed.
- Migration accelerators on successor introduced.
The CRO will fight the 50%. The CEO has to hold the line. This is the lever.
The post-sunset reorg
Plan six months before sunset. Communicate four months before. Three categories of maintenance team members:
- Transition to bridge or successor roles (most).
- Take severance with full transition support.
- Stay on a small post-sunset support team for legacy customer data export and final billing.
The fairness story: every maintenance team member knew the runway from day one. The transition is graceful for those who want to move and respectful for those who don't.
The dispute mechanism at scale
The dispute mechanism that worked at 30 cases needs to work at 300. Three preparations:
- Hire dispute analysts in advance of need.
- Test the unit definition at 10x projected dispute volume.
- Publish the dispute resolution timeline so customers know what to expect.
The companion field report /blog/field-report-killing-per-seat-tier walks the failure modes.
What to do this week
If you're 12-18 months from sunset, audit the five common failure patterns. Have you committed to the comp asymmetry? Are Wave 1 calls scheduled with the CPO present? Is the dispute mechanism stress-tested? Is the post-sunset reorg planned?
Frequently asked
How is this different from feature deprecation?+
Feature deprecation kills a feature within a product. Pricing-tier sunset kills a revenue line. Different stakes, different politics, different communication. The Wave 3 [Deprecation Playbook](/handbook/the-deprecation-playbook) covers feature death. This chapter covers revenue line death.
When should the sunset date be?+
18-24 months from the announcement. Less than 18 months and customer migration becomes a fire drill. More than 24 months and the team's urgency dissolves and engineering attention drifts back to the legacy product.
What is the cohort wave structure?+
Wave 1 (months 6-9): top 20 strategic accounts, individual CPO+CRO calls. Wave 2 (months 9-12): mid-market, structured email + webinar + self-service. Wave 3 (months 12-18): long tail, public announcement, deadline-driven self-service. Detailed in [/toolkit/sunset-communication-template](/toolkit/sunset-communication-template).
What goes in the comp plan rewrite?+
Legacy at 50% historical comp (you want sales to think about the outcome alternative). Successor at 150% of equivalent ACV (excited about the new motion). Renewal accelerators on legacy disappear. Migration accelerators on successor introduced. The CRO will fight the 50%. Hold the line.
What is the post-sunset reorg?+
After sunset, the maintenance team's roles end. Plan the reorg six months before sunset. Communicate transparently to the maintenance team: here are the roles after sunset, here's how to interview, here's the timeline, here's the severance for those who don't transition.
What kills the sunset most often?+
Five patterns. (1) Wave 1 calls delegated to account managers. (2) Comp plan watered down by CRO. (3) Customer cohorts treated uniformly when edge use cases need separate tracks. (4) Dispute mechanism untested at scale. (5) Sales reps quietly negotiating extensions. The companion field report [/blog/field-report-killing-per-seat-tier](/blog/field-report-killing-per-seat-tier) walks each one.
Related reading
Deeper essays and other handbook chapters on the same thread.
The Cannibalization Decision Framework
Four diagnostic questions, three operating modes (sunset, refresh, split), the political map, and the seven-decision sequence for the AI inflection.
The Investor and Board Narrative for AI-Era SaaS
Gross margin compression, NRR redefinition, the new rule of 40, the right comp set, and the four CFO sub-agreements that make the trough boring.
The CFO Conversation: Defending a 20-Point Margin Drop
The single most important conversation of the entire pricing migration. The script, the part that almost didn't land, and the seven leading indicators.
Field Report: What Broke When We Killed Our Per-Seat Tier
Migration drift, an unexpected churning cohort, a unit definition that broke at scale, dispute volume at 12x projection. After-action from the sunset day.
Field Report: 90 Days Inside a SaaS-to-Agents Transition
What we believed, what we did, what broke, what we changed. An anonymized after-action report from the first 90 days of a $30M ARR cannibalization.
The CPO's Coalition Map: Why You Can't Run a Migration Alone
Five seats, ninety days, one playbook. The argument that wins each seat in the executive coalition behind any AI-era pricing migration.