Putting prices on website - Good idea?

[Postforce]

Hi all

I've just been tinkering with our website and agonising about whether to put prices on there for all to see (Most of our competitors don't).

Our prices are very competitive - but is it better to get people to email/call for prices so that you can sell the service/build a relationship as you give them the price?

What would you prefer? and more importantly what works for you?

Thoughts appreciated - thanks in advance.

 

[fisicx]

Put them on and monitor for a week.

Remove then and monitor for as further week.

Keep the version that converts the best. There is no hard and fast rule, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. You won't know until you test.

 

[MJBMI]

if yours was the only site in that industry that showed its prices, its highly likely youd get my business (of course the price has to be realistic) .
I dont have time to ring people up if they cant be open and honest about how much they charge, I dont want to ring them and have them try to find out everything just so they can be 50p cheaper than Joe Bloggs down the road .
I want an idea (ballpark) of prices, once all the basics are out the way, but the price wont be the determining factor, but if they are too afraid to show it, then lack of price will be a determining factor

 

[ScottG73]

People choose the web as a research tool to avoid speaking to people. they expect the info there and then.

I agree that If your competitors are not showing their prices, then you should and dont worry about what they are doing. Differentiate yourself with a metric other than price. (Service, quality etc.)

 

[MrBob]

I prefer to see prices before I buy anything and hate 'stings in the tail'. Be open and honest.

 

[danielmeade]

I would strongly recommend including prices on the site, despite many of your competitors not doing so. You will be giving the consumer the information they are seeking as apposed to perhaps putting them off by asking them to email for a quote.

Another advantage to including prices whilst your competitors do not, is that you are most likely to gain the sale from the consumer. You are simplifying the process. That is, after all, what the vast majority of consumers are after.

 

[smbchamp]

Split test. That is the best way to know which works for you. However in my opinion putting the price is definitely worth a shot. That way you wont have to chase behind leads that cannot afford you

 

[Asim786]

I always thought it was better to leave the prices off the website, this would mean it is more likely for interested customers to contact you, if use the right sales copy online.

Will you have a better chance of getting a sale if a potential customer contacts you?

 

[Justin_B]

Hi Brian,

I would say that it works.

For example ...it was reading this post that led me to your website - where I saw the prices and placed an order this morning.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

It depends.

If you have fixed prices, then display them.

If you don't have fixed prices (where you need to provide a personalised quote) then don't attempt to display them or display any examples.

 

[fisicx]

If you don't have fixed prices (where you need to provide a personalised quote) then don't attempt to display them or display any examples.

I disagree. If you give the potential client a idea of the likely costs there is a greater chance of them getting in contact, Example:

Prices vary but standard parcel deliveries cost around £8.50. Contact us to fix a deal.

 

[Matt1959]

I always find sites that give prices refreshing Also I think that if sites have prices, its almost a given that their prices will be competitive. The main reason sites dont have prices is because they are not the cheapest IMO. I agree, difficult to price things that are variable and open ended.

 

[jriberaud]

According to me, it is very important to get the prices of the products directly on the website as you can compare. If you really have a competitive advantage on price as said, customers will contact you anyway.

Hope that helps.

 

[debbidoo]

I prefer to see prices, definitely. And I prefer to display them, too, even if it's just an hourly rate. People visiting websites just to get a rough idea of prices during research may not want to be forced to have a 'relationship' with you, so having even a rough idea of prices will be helpful in most cases.

 

[pcross]

We believe that the main driver for the web should be transparency, openess and trust. Showing your prices or pricing structure will only give potential customers more confidence. For example, many of our competitors do NOT offer a clear price and you have to submit an enquiry to find out...
At WhosOff.com , for example, we make the pricing very clear.

 

[feselectrical]

I absolutley beleive in putting rices on websites, I do and I make a deal out of it, so i might put knocked down or reduced prices up. This draws the customer in., Also you occasionally people who worry that a company has something to hide when they dont publish prices.
I believe in a clear and open, fixed pricing structure and it keep me in work.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

I disagree. If you give the potential client a idea of the likely costs there is a greater chance of them getting in contact, Example:

Prices vary but standard parcel deliveries cost around £8.50. Contact us to fix a deal.

In your example, 'standard delivery' is near enough a fixed price though, so you can display it.

If you provide a truly personalised quote, then the prices could range from £100 to £1,000, so it's pointless trying to put together some sort of example which could actually damage sales by alienating both sides of the client-type (i.e. the price would look far too cheap to some, and far too expensive to others). Either way, you don't win in the long run.

I said this in an earlier thread, but all I care about are those who are prepared to contact me to talk about their project and receive a detailed (and personalised) quotation. These people are far more likely to actually go ahead with the project compared to those who don't contact me out of principle, those who are just skimming across sites for 'research', or those who are more price-oriented than anything else.

You can't please everyone, but I'm going to do what makes the whole process better for both myself and my paying clients.

 

[fisicx]

In you particular case I would agree that putting a price on the site is poinless but the OP delivers stuff and as such there are standard rates he could publish as an example.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

In you particular case I would agree that putting a price on the site is poinless but the OP delivers stuff and as such there are standard rates he could publish as an example.

You disagreed with what I said about not having fixed prices though.

In the specific case of the OP, if he does have fixed prices (even if they change due to quantity and so on), then he should display them. If they happen to be very competitive too, then it could also improve sales by quite a bit.

 

[MJBMI]

it goes without saying (so I say it anyway) the prices need to be properly justified to the visitor. If they are X% higher than competitors then that needs to be fully justified before giving the prices
If they are X% lower then the reasons why you can do that price compared to your competition needs to be explained so people dont think theyre possibly ordering tatt .
That is until your business has a big enough reputation not to need that.

 

[billinboots]

you need manage a reasonable price for your long term business. it is important

 

[hdm]

In our line of business, every job is different. Therefore, it would not be possible to cover prices for all permutations.

Make it easy for your prospective customers to fill in a quote request form on your website, and respond to them quickly.

 

[MJBMI]

In our line of business, every job is different. Therefore, it would not be possible to cover prices for all permutations.

Make it easy for your prospective customers to fill in a quote request form on your website, and respond to them quickly.

can I ask, genuinely, how succesful the quote request forms are , ie on your site as thats really all you can answer on.
I tend to defer away from filling in especially if it has my phone number as a compulsory element as I dont want to be hassled if the quotes are no good.
Is it an idea to put at least some idea of prices for the more 'usual' types requirements , granted every case is different but say 10000 A4 deliveries must have a ballpark figure just to give people an idea of whether taking things further are truly worthwhile, especially if yours is the 10 th website theyve got to all of which only give the quote request form option and no ballpark figures anywhere, it quickly gets very tedious filling in those forms not knowing if its a complete waste of time.

 

[hdm]

can I ask, genuinely, how succesful the quote request forms are , ie on your site as thats really all you can answer on.
I tend to defer away from filling in especially if it has my phone number as a compulsory element as I dont want to be hassled if the quotes are no good.
Is it an idea to put at least some idea of prices for the more 'usual' types requirements , granted every case is different but say 10000 A4 deliveries must have a ballpark figure just to give people an idea of whether taking things further are truly worthwhile, especially if yours is the 10 th website theyve got to all of which only give the quote request form option and no ballpark figures anywhere, it quickly gets very tedious filling in those forms not knowing if its a complete waste of time.

Good morning. We actually find our quote request form to be very effective, and it is very quick and easy to complete.

I know what you mean about not wanting to be hassled. I feel the same, which is exactly why we do NOT hassle. The phone numbers are useful if there is any ambiguity about the specification of the mailing requirements.

 

[british steve]

One of the many things we do is run a wifi hotspot company supplying managed wifi services to pubs, bars and cafes etc. We have a range of (4) hotspot in a box packages to suit most small businesses; we also put together custom packages for those customers that need it. All of our standard hotspot prices (and backend broadband prices) are on our website for everyone including our competitors to see. For us it works well, most of our customers will just ring up and order as they already know how much a particular product will cost.


Recently we tried a different tack, we made up a preset print out form featuring us and our competitors with a range of tick box answers allowing our customers a quick and easy way to compare our products to our competitors, we even included the web and email addresses and phone numbers for our competitors, we ran this for a four week trial and it worked very well and will soon become a permanent feature on our website. This has really p****d off one of our competitors who sent us a solicitors letter asking to be removed.


We used to have an online quote request form on the site but found it a complete waste of time. We also don’t have an online store anymore (we removed it) for our wifi products; we found that most of our customers had a “Big is Best” mentality and would automatically order the biggest wifi hotspot in a box package we do (120 consecutive users) Most of our customers (pubs) only need between 5 and 15 consecutive users so they save a lot of money by talking to us first as we generally sell them a smaller package than they would have signed up for online. Result is that we get a huge amount of recommendations; in fact about 50% of our monthly sales are now from recommendations

 

[Postforce]

Thanks one and all for your thoughts and interesting replies - will keep prices on there for now then do a test later in the year and remove them for a week.

Appreciate your thoughts and time taken to answer.

 

[Ian-M]

I have always had our virtual office prices on our website as I know many people are researching prices before starting up their business. They are not at the stage of wanting to ring someone yet, they just want the basic facts.

An issue I was concerned with though was how to stay in touch with these people so I added a feature which lets them receive an automated email with all the prices. I hoped people would find this email useful as a reference and it seems to work. Of course this does give me their email address so I can do a very gentle follow up from time to time and hopefully they will remember us when they are ready to move forward.

 

[MJBMI]

Thanks HDM for your response.

British Steve, 2nd paragraph, very interesting , does that allow you to compete on things other than price?

 

[Chris Ashdown]

I have always been pissed off with lack of prices for things like replacement windows or conservatory's, where they could put in prices for say a standard window of a x b cm to give an idea or conservatory's who apart from ground work should be able to give fixed prices, Only reason is they want to rip you off if possible

 

[british steve]

Thanks HDM for your response.

British Steve, 2nd paragraph, very interesting , does that allow you to compete on things other than price?

We have a number of different features to our competitors, the main two being we have our own Virtual private broadband IP network (for use by our wifi hotspot customers only) and we provide all our customers the opportunity to download a free VPN client to ensure that they have the safest, most secure possible internet connection. Even with all of the extra features we have and offer, we are still half the price compared to some of our competitors.


Two of our competitors have been trading for around 5 years, one of them has around 250 or so customers, the other has around 550 customers. We have been going for less than 18 months (with WiFi) and we have over 1900 hotspots installed with several other contracts due to kick off over the next 6 months worth another 700 hotspots.

Most of our competitors only sell one solution; these will allow up to 2000 consecutive users (and including a broadband connection cost up to £160 per month), how many pubs, bars or cafes do you know that will hold that many people? We don't - we have a choice of 4 out of a box solutions, our smallest solution will allow up 5 consecutive users and our prices start from £20 per month or £30 including an unlimited broadband connection on our private IP network (for 2000 consecutive users we would recomend a leased line, not a broadband connection)

The point was that we don't actively seek to compete on price (although we are cheaper than our competitors) having the print out comparison allows our customers to directly compare us to our competitors - it would be very hard for one of our corporate customers to justify signing up with one of our competitors when we offer so much more. With Wifi once the hardware has been paid for our overheads are quite low - unlike our competitors we own our own wifi management software so no annual licensing or maintenance fees have to be paid out each year, we have our IP broadband network that makes our connections more secure than the competition, we offer our wifi venue owners free 24/7 support, we provide a huge range of wifi marketing and promotional materials for free with every hotspot sold, we have just sourced some "WiFi Here" LED and Neon signage, these will be sold to our customers at our cost price - less than £30 each

 

[MJBMI]

Cheers British Steve , makes massive sense due to the overwhelming pros of using you over your competitors to ensure your prospects are made aware of it and I like the way its done , sort of daring them to use one of your competitors but making it impossible for them to do so, unless they really are stupid

 

[3 MORE YEARS]

Most b2b companies don't publish prices, especially in IT Support. We are now publishing prices, even if it's an estimate, just to give the end user a guide. I find most people like to see prices.

Ryan

 

[nickoedwards]

From and outsiders point of view, I find it very annoying when I find a web site for a company that sells something, tells me about it and how good they are, then doesn't bother giving any indications of cost.

 

[patientlady]

From and outsiders point of view, I find it very annoying when I find a web site for a company that sells something, tells me about it and how good they are, then doesn't bother giving any indications of cost.

Whats equally annoying is when you cannot immediately find the telephone number or having to complete a 20 questionaire...

 

[Victoriao]

I personally prefer seeing prices on the website. I honestly hate having to do extra work by calling/emailing the company to get a quote. Also when there are no prices on a website, I assume that the products/services are so expensive that the prices were omitted to avoid putting people off i.e. a logo design company with no prices gives me the impression that a logo would be extortionately expensive. Perhaps you could put prices up for a month and see how people respond?

 

[3 MORE YEARS]

Although we publish guide prices, in defence of websites that don't, it's not always easy to do in some b2b businesses.

 

[davek17]

Hi There

I don't have the answer but plenty of food for thought as we have gone through this many times here. Its a difficult one not just because of the general question but because of your market too.

Firstly publishing your prices also means your competitors see your prices and you then have an easy price to beat. What then happens is that customers who have already placed their trust create a price war to the bottom of the market just forcing everyones price down. We have this problem on Barcode scanners that are less than a 5% margin product now. Whatever the price we have displayed, the larger boys will beat it. They will sell at under price, anything just to get the turnover or sale. Do we sell barcode scanners? Yes we do? How, because price is dropping down the scale of importance to the customers we want and we sell our ability to help them on issues and support and we also give great advice both up front for free through blogs and after to our custoemrs who we love. That's what builds trust. The customers who go for price are welcome to go elsewhere, in fact we tell them where to go! We're only going to lose money if we sell a scanner for £5 profit and then get just 1 call asking how to set it up.

I don't think publishing prices invokes trust at all, it isn't transparent because you'll lower them anyway and trust is not built through showing low prices, think about the supermarkets? The "offline" strategy that is well known to have been the greatest success is Morrisons and what they bark on about is employing skilled butchers, knowledgable staff etc and this has worked. Are they as big as Asda...no, will they ever be...No, do they want to be...No, Is being the biggest the best anyway...No not in tomorrows business world!!!

The businesses that are winning are the ones that are differentiating their service from others, listening and then appealing to the quality customers and ensuring the service actually lives up to the promises. Everyone wants to work with the "Experts" and get that right and the rest will learn that true quality costs a bit more. I think you should be worrying about these areas far more than price on your website.

The courier/parcel market is ripe for the taking in my view and it will be the little guys that take it.

I hope that helps!

DaveK17

 

[dagaul101]

I wouldn't put the price, best to speak to a potential customer and give them resons to buy before giving them the price, rather than put the price and put them off

 

[MJBMI]

I wouldn't put the price, best to speak to a potential customer and give them resons to buy before giving them the price, rather than put the price and put them off

so how do you suggest they get to speak to the potential customer?

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

so how do you suggest they get to speak to the potential customer?

Sales copy on a website.