What I Learnt Today

[Excel Dragon]

Up until a couple of days ago I promoted my hourly rate down the side of each page on my website. Thinking my low rates would encourage people to contact me.

I removed these rates a couple of days ago and since then the average number of pages my visitors visit has doubled. (Too early to tell if the conversion rate has changed yet)

This wasnt the result I was expecting.

Anyone else had a similar experience?

[david64]

No. It could always be a fluke.

Your methodical approach to your SEO is impressive. You could end up becoming a conversion rate expert :redface:

[sirearl]

Maybe people thought you were to expensive.

High prices being what stops most people in there tracks.:)

Earl

[Excel Dragon]

Is £25 an hour too expensive, on average my competition charges between £40 and £50. The highest I have found is £150 an hour!!

Could it be the opposite, they think my rates are too low and as a result they wont get the service? or is because it gives them less of reason to call or look further in to the site?

[david64]

Is £25 an hour too expensive, on average my competition charges between £40 and £50. The highest I have found is £150 an hour!!

Could it be the opposite, they think my rates are too low and as a result they wont get the service? or is because it gives them less of reason to call or look further in to the site?

You could be right there. A while back a large company contacted me asking me for prices and further info on SEO. I sent a really low price, think it was about £12.50 / hour + expenses. Despite also sending them HQ in-depth info I never heard back from them. Think I shot myself in the foot going in that low. Should have gone for £300-400 / day.

However, in another area I have seen people going for the cheapest option all the time. It's trial and error.

[Kneoteric_eSolutions]

Is £25 an hour too expensive, on average my competition charges between £40 and £50. The highest I have found is £150 an hour!!

Could it be the opposite, they think my rates are too low and as a result they wont get the service? or is because it gives them less of reason to call or look further in to the site?

You might actually be right about the low cost being equated to inferior service. People behave differently to price and a sizable chunk believe that a higher priced product or service is better than the lower priced product or service, when in essence they might be the same. Perception - high value equates to high product/service quality.

I actually read an interesting experiment to this effect in "All marketers are liar". A blindfold experiment revealed that subject reported the same wine tasted better when served in an expensive wine glass than when served in an ordinary wine glass. Irrational human behavior.

Too early to tell though.

[websnail]

The low cost = low value thing is something I've seen in a different guise.

Specifically with modifications for phpBB2. I wrote and maintained the CalLite mod for free and tended to get a quite high level of beligerant "give it to me now" type idiots who felt that open source equated to free or more accurately you = my slave.

When I opted to make the Pro version of the same mod, contribution ware with a minimum cost of £17.50 I found that users were actually more patient, more polite and a lot more appreciative.

In the end all I could put it down to was that the Pro users had invested in it and had a different attitude. I don't think I made them better I just think the quality of individual prepared to pay up was different.

Chances are you've seen something similar in those prepared to nickle and dime you down vs' those prepared to pay for quality service.

[Nixies]

I removed these rates a couple of days ago and since then the average number of pages my visitors visit has doubled.

If the number pageviews per visitor has increased by removing the details, it sort of suggests that they are having trouble finding your hourly wage. It kind of suggest your have made you website less user friendly.

If you could post some information about conversion rate and the lead generation rate that would be really interesting.

Thanks Excel Dragon

[directmarketingadvice]

Is it your number of pageviews per visitor? If so this just suggests that they are having trouble finding your hourly wage. It kind of suggest your have made you website less user friendly.

This was my thought - though I wouldn't be so black-and-white about it.

It may be that they're looking around to see if they can see a price. It may not be.

The conversion rate would be the interesting part.

Yes.

If your price was one of your selling points, then the conversion rate should decrease. If you were too cheap, then it should go up.

Steve

[Nixies]

What would be interesting if you had enought traffic would be to version test it. Often by raising your price you make yourself appear more of an expert and find it easier to convert people plus get a better profit margin.

[Excel Dragon]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts - A lot of interesting opinions - I will try and get some figures posted up on here later.

Rather than making the site harder to use and hence the higher number of pages viewed, I think my hourly rate on display was putting people off and people were clicking way. My thinking behind this is, how often do you go to a service type website site specifically looking for an hourly rate and click away for the sole reason that you cant find a rate?

I have had a quick look through a handful of UKBF members sites and I couldnt find any with an hourly rate advertised.

[Scott-CopyandDesign]

Up until a couple of days ago I promoted my hourly rate down the side of each page on my website. Thinking my low rates would encourage people to contact me.

I removed these rates a couple of days ago and since then the average number of pages my visitors visit has doubled. (Too early to tell if the conversion rate has changed yet)

This wasnt the result I was expecting.

Anyone else had a similar experience?

Without the major decision being decided at the very beginning based on price, the visitors will be looking further into the website to decide whether they want to buy your services.

£25 is only cheap compared to competitors and if your visitors don't know this then it won't be cheap. If your competitors started charging £8 an hour you would become very expensive. You can't assume that your visitors automatically know the going rate.

The good thing about this though is that they will be visiting more pages and reading more of your site so with the right sales copy, you can hit them much more effectively with more benefits and a stronger sales message.

[BusinessIdeas]

Off topic (Sorry) Would a similar business work for people wanting access db designs I have a colleague who likes to work in access..

[Rainbow Chasers']

I agree with scott on that one - it's only cheap if you know the business, and if you know the business you wouldn't be looking for someone to do it! You have to put yourself in their shoes, of paying alot of money for a site that isn't getting traffic - they don't know how to do it, and don't want to pay vast amounts more to get the site to do what they initially thought it would do straight away.

Possibly even do a performance related promo? So much per x amount of traffic - could work out more than it would normally cost! Obviously there would be a time limit of sorts, but i am sure you could work on that. I think this would appeal to new start ups that had limited funds. I dare say for x amount per month, you could arrange to keep it optimised for them as a rolling thing? Just ideas! lol! I have no idea if it would work, but it would tempt alot of people!

Whatever you do though, do not under estimate yourself, or sell yourself cheap - people are willing to pay for results!

[Excel Dragon]

Crewgirl - Yes, please see the PM I have just sent you

Rainbow Chaser - At the moment my rate is low for two reasons (1) I am a new business looking to build my client portfolio (2) I have to compete more and more with places like Rentacoder where off shore places will work for a few quid.

So is my thinking wrong? Should I go directly for the quality price for my services?

Thanks for the ideas by the way, they are always welcome

[david64]

@ExcelDragon - You may want to check this out:

http://www.conversion-rate-experts.com/articles/101-google-website-optimizer-tips/

It's the sort of thing that might interest you, as well as their blog.

[thebookiesoffers]

You could be right there. A while back a large company contacted me asking me for prices and further info on SEO. I sent a really low price, think it was about £12.50 / hour + expenses. Despite also sending them HQ in-depth info I never heard back from them. Think I shot myself in the foot going in that low. Should have gone for £300-400 / day.

However, in another area I have seen people going for the cheapest option all the time. It's trial and error.

David, i've sent you a PM mate

[Excel Dragon]

Thanks David - That looks like tonights bedtime reading - Cheers

[directmarketingadvice]

@ExcelDragon - You may want to check this out:

http://www.conversion-rate-experts.com/articles/101-google-website-optimizer-tips/

It's the sort of thing that might interest you, as well as their blog.

It's an excellent article. I heard about them from Drayton Bird.

Steve