Multi-quote variants: good, better, best

A single-option quote forces the customer into a yes/no decision. A three-option quote shifts the question to "which one". The second framing wins more often. This isn't a sales trick, it's that most customers genuinely don't know what they want until they see the trade-offs.

Karven's variant feature lets you build a "Good / Better / Best" quote in one shot, send it as one PDF, and have the customer pick.

When to use it

Variants are most useful when:

• The job has natural good/better/best material grades. Decking timber, paint quality, tile finish, garage-door insulation.
• The job has an obvious "add-ons" path. Concreting + saw cuts + colour seal vs. base slab only.
• The customer's price expectations are unclear and you want to anchor.

Don't use variants for purely cosmetic colour choices, that's what the colour picker on the customer portal is for, not a separate quote.

Building a variant quote

From the bench, hit New quote → With variants. The calculator opens with a tab for each variant, by default three, labelled Good / Better / Best. You can rename them ("Standard / Premium / Resort") and add or remove tabs.

Each tab is a normal calculator run. You set the dimensions once (they're shared across all variants) and then on each tab pick the inputs that change. Material grade, motor model, finish, whatever differs.

Karven shows a side-by-side summary at the bottom of the screen as you go, so you can see the price spread.

What the customer sees

The customer PDF presents the variants as a comparison table on the cover page, with a one-paragraph description of each. Subsequent pages show each variant's full breakdown.

In the customer portal, they see the same comparison plus a big Choose this option button under each variant. Clicking it locks in their choice and triggers the accept flow.

You don't have to wait for them to choose, you can send a follow-up message with a recommendation ("most of my customers go with Better, it's the sweet spot on cost vs lifespan").

Recommended pricing spread

The variants should be far enough apart to feel like genuine choices, not different shades of the same thing. A rule of thumb: Better is 15-30% above Good; Best is another 25-50% above Better.

If your spread is less than 10% between adjacent variants, the customer perceives them as roughly the same and defaults to the cheapest. If your spread is more than 80%, the top option feels like a trap and they default to the cheapest.

Don't overload it

Three variants is the sweet spot. Four works occasionally. Five turns the comparison table into a menu and the customer pulls back to "let me think about it".

If you're tempted to use four variants because two of them differ on one small thing, collapse them, make that one thing an add-on inside Better, not a separate variant.

Acceptance and revisions

When the customer picks a variant, Karven creates a single accepted quote tied to that variant. The other variants are archived against the customer record but don't appear on the invoice.

If the customer comes back later and says "actually can we do option C?", open the accepted quote, hit Revise, switch to the variant they want, save. Karven generates a "Revision 2" PDF and notifies them.

Deposits with variants

Deposit percentage applies to the chosen variant, not the highest one. If you've set a 20% deposit, Karven calculates 20% of the Better price the moment they pick Better.

If you want a different deposit per variant, e.g. 10% on Good, 25% on Best because Best has long-lead materials, set the deposit per tab in the calculator. Karven uses the variant's own deposit rule on acceptance.

What the data says

Among Karven users who turned on variants for at least a month, average quote value rose by 14% (some of that is mix shift, customers picked Better when shown Good as an anchor) and acceptance rate rose by 6 percentage points. Your mileage will vary, but the direction is consistent.

A common failure mode

Some tradies build variants where Good is so stripped-back it's embarrassing. Don't. Your "Good" variant has to be something you'd actually be proud to install. If it's a trap option that exists only to make Better look better, customers smell it.

A good rule: Good is what you'd happily do for a friend who's broke. Better is what you'd recommend to a friend. Best is what you'd build for your own house.