Why you should consider featuring prices on your site

0
Mar 2, 2018 / by
Why you should consider featuring prices on your site

Deciding whether to feature prices on your site can be one of the toughest decisions for brands. For ecommerce sites selling standard consumer goods, pricing information is necessary in order to make sales. However, if you’re selling B2B services and bespoke B2C products, there are lots of factors to consider when choosing whether or not to show prices.

After performing several rounds of qualitative user research, Jakob Nielsen found that: “The most user-hostile element of most B2B sites is a complete lack of pricing information.”

While there are some genuine reasons why it’s not always a good idea to share pricing information, often brands don’t show their prices simply out of fear. However, users like to get a basic understanding of the product or service they’re going to read by reading a site – and pricing information is a key component of this. If you can’t list precise prices, showing pricing tiers may be a wise alternative.

Here are some examples of brands that are bold enough to post pricing information on their sites, and why this helps rather than hinders them.

1 – Infographic World

Visual communications (and graphic design in general) is a niche where pricing can vary dramatically. You can purchase a good infographic from an Upwork freelancer for a few hundred pounds, yet a similar product from a leading agency will cost significantly more.

Budget estimatorBecause of this extreme variation, consumers have a difficult time knowing whether or not they’re able to afford the services from an agency. After submitting an enquiry on an agency’s “Request a Quote” page, consumers are dismayed when they get a reply and the cost for the project is thousands of pounds more than they’re willing or able to pay. This situation could be avoided if some indication of pricing was available on the site.

Because infographics and explainer videos are bespoke, it’s difficult to quote an exact price. However, you can quote budget ranges to indicate whether or not a consumer will be catered for.

Infographic World include an approximate monthly budget range selection box on the “Request a Quote” page. Since services start at $2000 and go up to $100,000+, customers who’re looking for a low-budget option immediately know not to waste time requesting a quote.

Every business owner knows that responding to a misqualified lead isn’t any fun, and it’s not enjoyable for the customer either.

Like Infographic World, if you can provide some indication of budgetary requirements, this will save more time for everyone involved and immediately disqualify leads who aren’t suitable.

2 – River Pools and Spas

Fiberglass swimming pool installation company, River Pools and Spas, values transparency and is committed to providing educational content to help its customers make wise decisions.

One of the company’s owners, Marcus Sheridan, states that this ethos is one of the main reasons that River Pools and Spas receives the highest web traffic of any swimming pool company out there.

Because swimming pool installation is a bespoke service, many competitors shy away from quoting prices. However, pricing information is something that’s very important for consumers to know if they’re going to plan for a new pool.

River Pools and Spas has a good workaround for this dilemma. Instead of quoting fixed prices or ignoring the issue completely, the brand produced a pricing page with all the hypothetical scenarios involved in installing a pool, as well as the correlating amount of money that an average person would spend.

Average spend information

Marcus has said that he can’t count the amount of times prospective customers have showed appreciation for showing this information when other competitors haven’t.

He states, “Today’s consumer appreciates openness, honesty, and transparency—so why not embrace such a mentality?”

We’re living in an age of instant gratification. Customers don’t enjoy spending hours (or even minutes) trying to find the exact information they need. By showing hypothetical scenarios and correlating prices, customers can immediately identify which scenario is closest to their situation and whether or not they can afford the service. Even if this doesn’t win you the customer, it does convey trust which is essential for long-term brand building.

In an article for Social Media Examiner, Marcus mentions the spectacular SEO benefits he gained by featuring pricing information on his site. Because his competitors were not mentioning pricing but his audience was searching for this information, he was able to rank #1 in Google for specific terms like, ‘how much does a fiberglass pool cost?’ and, ‘average cost of fiberglass pools’.

Having tracked the analytics for his content, Marcus concluded that the aforementioned pricing article directly lead to over $1 million in sales!

3 – Justin Cener

Justin is one of the world’s leading ecommerce experts and provides training for individuals who want to start a Shopify store and grow the business using PPC advertising.

The main package he sells is a video course for running a successful print on demand t-shirt business, which he displays pricing options for. It’s common for pricing to be shown for this kind of product, however, he also displays prices for one-to-one coaching.

Most business coaches don’t post prices for such services, and instead invite new leads for a free strategy session in order to open a dialogue. Once they understand the client’s requirements, then they typically set a bespoke price.

You may wish to set a budget range field on your contact form so you know what to expect before talking with a prospective client. However, if you prefer to set fixed prices for consulting, that can work effectively too.

Session details

In Justin’s case, he advertises a fixed price of $297 for a 45 minute Skype consultation session and lists the subjects that he’s happy to discuss. The benefit of this approach is that people immediately know whether they can afford the service and whether or not it will benefit their current situation.

Everyone who presses Justin’s “Book Now” button will be fully qualified. If you’re a solopreneur and don’t enjoy responding to numerous lead enquiries every day and would rather be paid before a conversation begins, fixed pricing definitely makes sense.

Additionally, it’s important to show social proof if you have fixed prices – particularly if your pricing is premium. The advantage of doing a free consultation first is that you can get a lead emotionally invested in the service before you mention money. In comparison, when someone is presented with prices right away, there may be some trepidation. You can alleviate this anxiety with plenty of social proof and testimonials, as Justin has done in this example.

Taking a screenshot from Facebook is a great way to display social proof, since this is treated with greater credibility. Alternatively, a couple of quotes from your best clients along with headshots will work wonderfully on your pricing page.

In the quote, you may wish to emphasise why your client chose you instead of a competitor. This will benefit you in case your competitor is able to undercut you on pricing.

Summary

Some businesses don’t publish pricing information out of fear, or because they’re simply following in the footsteps of their competitors. However, the modern consumer values transparency and is also extremely impatient.

In study conducted by the Cohn & Wolfe, consumers said that honesty about products and services was the number one thing they demanded from big brands. You may think that if a consumer likes your site and is interested in your products or services, they’ll call to enquire about the price. In reality, it’s more likely that they’ll just leave your site and find what they’re looking for elsewhere in a matter of minutes.

When building an ecommerce site, it’s important to make it as easy as humanly possible for a customer to make a purchase. Everything is focused on encouraging a customer to click a bright orange “Buy Now” button and complete a swift checkout process. This would be impossible to do if pricing wasn’t on display. B2B services could definitely take some inspiration from this.

Remember, you’re going to have to have the conversation about pricing at one point or another. In order to save time for yourself and your prospective clients, it’s good to ensure that you’re both on the same page about prices from the start. After all, if a client wants your services but can’t afford them, it doesn’t benefit anyone to start a dialogue to begin with.