calculator-design
The calculator-design skill provides methodology for building interactive calculators (ROI calculators, pricing estimators, mortgage calculators, savings projections) that earn audience trust through transparent methodology and real decision-support value while functioning as lead magnets. Use this skill when scoping a calculator for the first time, auditing one that captures emails but not qualified leads, designing methodology disclosures, or deciding which calculator features should gate behind an email request.
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/rampstackco/claude-skills /tmp/calculator-design && cp -r /tmp/calculator-design/dist/pi/.agents/skills/calculator-design ~/.claude/skills/calculator-designSKILL.md
# Calculator Design A senior growth practitioner's playbook for designing interactive calculators that deliver real decision-support value while serving as lead magnets and qualified-traffic generators. ROI calculators, pricing estimators, savings projections, mortgage calculators, custom assessments. The discipline of building a tool the audience actually trusts. Most calculators on the web are bait. Random multipliers behind official-looking math; an "Industry Average" number that does not cite a source; the result hidden behind a contact-sales form. The calculator captures emails because the format implies calculation; the leads are unqualified because the calculator did not actually help anyone decide anything. The calculators that work as compounding assets do something different. They give the audience a result they can defend to a stakeholder. They show the methodology so the result is interrogatable. They capture leads through value (a PDF report, a save-and-compare account, a custom analysis) rather than through manipulation. This skill is one of the specific lead-magnet types covered as its own skill. The parent-frame methodology lives in `lead-magnet-design`; the calculator-specific methodology (calculation transparency, tiered value, methodology disclosure) lives here. The voice is the senior growth practitioner who has watched calculators earn long-term credibility and watched them burn it within weeks of launch. Practical, opinionated about transparency, willing to say when a calculator is the wrong investment for the goal. When to use this skill: scoping a calculator for the first time, auditing a calculator that converts but does not qualify, designing the methodology disclosure that earns audience trust, or deciding which features warrant the email gate. --- ## What this skill covers This skill spans calculator design as one specific lead-magnet type. The growth-tooling distinctions: - `lead-magnet-design` is the parent-frame methodology (when to invest in any magnet, format selection, audience-fit, follow-up sequence). Calculators are one specific lead-magnet type. - **`calculator-design` (this skill)** is calculator-specific methodology (calculation transparency, tiered value, methodology disclosure, input design). - `quiz-and-assessment-design` is a sister tool type. Calculators give numbers; quizzes give categories. The methodology differs. - `landing-page-copy` is the calculator landing page (downstream of calculator design). - `pm-spec-writing` is writing the spec for engineers building the calculator. This skill is about WHAT to build; pm-spec-writing is about communicating it. The audience: growth marketers, product marketers, marketing teams building lead-magnet calculators, agencies running growth-tooling work for clients. Out of scope: lead-magnet design at the parent-frame level (covered by `lead-magnet-design`); landing-page copy (covered by `landing-page-copy`); the engineering implementation of the calculator (handed off via `pm-spec-writing`). --- ## The calculator decision: when calculators earn investment Before designing the calculator, decide whether a calculator is the right tool for the audience and the goal. **Calculators earn investment when:** - The audience faces a specific calculation as part of a decision. ROI on a software purchase, savings from a refinance, monthly cost of an expense, sizing for a service tier. Without a real calculation in the audience's actual workflow, the calculator becomes a vanity tool. - The calculation is non-trivial. Multiplying two numbers does not need a calculator; calibrating across 5-10 inputs with branching logic does. - The brand has methodology authority. The calculator's output has to be defensible. Brands without methodology authority (or unwilling to disclose methodology) often produce calculators audiences do not trust. - The follow-up sequence has a real purpose for the lead. Calculators capture a specific signal (the inputs reveal the lead's situation); the sequence has to use that signal. **Calculators do NOT earn investment when:** - The audience does not actually run this calculation. A calculator solving a problem the audience does not have produces low usage. - The calculation is trivial. A "savings calculator" that computes "monthly cost x 12" does not earn its build. - The brand cannot disclose methodology honestly. If the math depends on assumptions the brand cannot defend, the calculator becomes a vanity tool by necessity. - A simpler magnet would serve the same audience and goal. Templates and checklists are cheaper to build and maintain than calculators; choose the calculator only when the calculation is the value. The decision is not "should we have a calculator"; it is "is the calculator the right next investment for this specific audience and goal." Detail in [`references/calculator-investment-criteria.md`](references/calculator-investment-criteria.md). --- ## Vanity-calculator vs lead-trap vs transparent-decision-tool The keystone framing. **Vanity-calculator.** Inputs and outputs that do not actually help anyone decide anything. "Calculate your marketing ROI" with random multipliers; "estimate your savings" with no defensible methodology. Looks impressive in a screenshot; helps nothing in a real decision. Cost: leads downloaded the result, found it useless, and remember the brand as the source of the useless tool. **Lead-trap.** Genuine calculation logic but the result is hidden behind an email gate. The user inputs 8 fields, hits "Calculate," and sees "enter your email to see your result." Manipulative; reader resents the friction; conversion drops below baseline because the audience can tell when the gate is bait rather than value-add. **Transparent-decision-tool.** Genuine calculation that gives the result immediately. Email gate for advanced features (PDF report, custom analysis, save-and-compare across scenarios) where the additional value justifies the
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