Willingness to pay (WTP) shows up in how people talk about money, time, and risk - not in generic praise.
Pair with false-positive patterns and alternatives mining.
True-positive phrase families
| Family | Example phrases | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Renewal / contract | "Renewal in Q2", "contract ends March" | High |
| Budget band | "We have $X for tooling", "under $500/mo" | High |
| Time priced | "10 hrs/week on manual export" | Medium-high |
| Switching cost | "Migration took 3 sprints" | High |
| Procurement | "Need SOC2", "legal review" | High (B2B) |
| Outgrown | "We outgrew spreadsheets" | Medium-high |
Log the exact words - they become pricing page bullets.
Urgency vs curiosity
| Urgency (prioritize) | Curiosity (deprioritize) |
|---|---|
| "Production down until…" | "Cool space" |
| "Renewing next month" | "Might try someday" |
| "CFO approved pilot" | "Student project" |
| "Alternatives to X before renewal" | "Anyone built…?" with no constraint |
Tagging workflow (spreadsheet)
Columns: URL | Quote | Budget hint? | Urgency 1–3 | ICP fit | Next action
Review weekly; threads with budget + urgency ≥2 get outreach or interview slot.
From phrases to positioning
When the same objection repeats ("too expensive for five seats"):
- Pricing page FAQ
- Sales battlecard
- Onboarding tooltip
Not only a CRM note buried forever.
Scale with intent-ranked search
Reading every thread manually fails past ~20 queries/week. Search surfaces buying intent and sentiment so you spend time on conversations that sound expensive in the right way.