Prices on website?

[Spencer McMurtry]

I am looking for some input from people who have experience any putting pricing on there website. is it a good idea? or bad idea? here is a start of the very rough draft of the current process. http://infinitegraphics.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=64&Itemid=94 if you dont have hands on experience with this please don't respond.

Thanks & happy Monday!
Spencer

 

[10sacer]

I attended the recent FESPA conference and this was one of the discussions. We had a print buyer there who liked the idea of having prices listed on the website, but most shop owners are not too keen on the idea since its pretty easy to get executed on a job because someone doesn't like the price they see and don't even call to discuss.

Makes it really easy for your competitor's to price against you, too.

Really depends on your business model - if you are over 75% internet sale driven - do it. Works great for Build-A-Sign. If you have more face to face orders - I wouldn't do it - there is value in that relationship and based on what I saw from your site - you are asking for a premium anyway - at least for banners. You want to discuss the project with those clients and there is value in that expertise.

If your customer just wants to send a file and get a banner back and has 10 minutes - they can easily find 20 websites that will each do it cheaper than the last - including you.

Sean

 

[Jon Aston]

The sensible thing to do is test.

Serve up pages with pricing to some visitors and track results, and serve up pages without pricing to other visitors and track results.

Do yourself a favour, though, and treat the page your pricing appears on as a "squeeze page". Don't offer a bunch of navigation options. Strictly a call to action. By the time you are serving up pricing they should already be sold.

 

[Jim Doggett]

I am looking for some input from people who have experience any putting pricing on there website. is it a good idea? or bad idea? here is a start of the very rough draft of the current process. http://infinitegraphics.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=64&Itemid=94 if you dont have hands on experience with this please don't respond.

Hi Spencer,

I'm not a sign-guy, per se. But when I came to this industry 15 or so years ago, I worked for AirMark (later became Summa). And every supplier in the industry had "call for best price." They lived in fear that they'd make it too easy for competitors to see our price and then undercut us by a few dollars.

But I was insistent that we (they, AirMark/Summa) give customers what we would want to know about products we're interested in, maybe above all else: how much is it??? It was highly successful and nearly every other dealer followed suit.

I think it applies to all products, especially online. I hate going to a site, looking for something -- and they don't say what it costs. Maybe you do, too. And I'm almost certain your prospective clients hate it as well.

JMO,

Jim

 

[GypsyGraphics]

don't respond... DON'T RESPOND?

Well i never do as i'm told Spencer, so now have to.
Since I have no experience in showing prices online, i'll make a suggestion that has nothing to do with what you asked.

For the banner sizes, the height dimension is awkward. Do you feel that people won't understand the width vs height if it's listed in one line. Since it doesn't matter if the banner is vertical or horizontal, why not just say 4 ft x 2 ft in one line.

hmmm, you did say "please don't respond" so I coulda let this one go...... naaaa

 

[wildhock]

????

don't respond... DON'T RESPOND?

Well i never do as i'm told Spencer, so now have to.
Since I have no experience in showing prices online, i'll make a suggestion that has nothing to do with what you asked.

For the banner sizes, the height dimension is awkward. Do you feel that people won't understand the width vs height if it's listed in one line. Since it doesn't matter if the banner is vertical or horizontal, why not just say 4 ft x 2 ft in one line.

hmmm, you did say "please don't respond" so I coulda let this one go...... naaaa

 

[Fred Weiss]

I can't say that I have direct, hands on experience ... but that's because I would never put fixed prices out for a custom made product or service unless I was trying to compete on the basis of price or was selling stock designs. If the prices you have entered are what you plan to offer, you are not even close to being competitive with the hundreds of sites offering products that the prospective buyer will not be able to differentiate from yours.

My father owned some coin operated laundromats when I was growing up. He loved to brag about how he made money while he slept. And it's a wonderful thing to just have orders appear without any sales time spent. But it isn't the same with signs and banners.

By all means, take Jon's suggestion of tracking the results for a while and then change the pages so the prospect has to ask for a price quote. I'm betting dollars to donuts that you will see a strong difference when you provide individual quotes and have a chance to interact with your customers.

 

[Dan Antonelli]

Depends on if you plan on selling vinyl by the pound, or if you're interested in selling design instead.

We have no prices on our site, but still get 25-30 inquiries per week, so no pricing works best for us, as we can get a chance to explain what our prices DO entail, and how we're different from other online logo mills and offshore web template places. I'd rather the opportunity to explain, rather than blow em out of the water by seeing a price.

 

[speedmedia]

Depends on if you plan on selling vinyl by the pound, or if you're interested in selling design instead.

We have no prices on our site, but still get 25-30 inquiries per week, so no pricing works best for us, as we can get a chance to explain what our prices DO entail, and how we're different from other online logo mills and offshore web template places. I'd rather the opportunity to explain, rather than blow em out of the water by seeing a price.

Exactly, I agree 100%. It is awful hard to put a price on something that is custom each time.

Sure if you are selling plotters or rolls of vinyl pricing is a bit easier, if you are selling a custom made advertising piece how do you put a base price on this?

I don't like putting pricing on anything as it tends to end up being misleading.

Thanks,
Kurt

 

[Jim Doggett]

Exactly, I agree 100%. It is awful hard to put a price on something that is custom each time.

I think the best facility for publishing pricing on custom work is a "starts at" device.

Dan's getting great interest, but if the conversion rate is low, that's a lot time responding to folks who aren't buying. So the site should do more than attract; it needs to qualify as well. There's no point in attracting a lower-price buyer, merely to educate them on why they cannot afford you. But at the same time, you do not want to appear so low end that you alienate high-dollar buyers.

So perhaps ...

The sky's the limit, but
starting as low as ...
$000

Just a thought.

Jim

 

[Dan Antonelli]

Jim,

We ask for a budget on our request page. If the budget comes in low, we generally send them to a non-public page which contains 'starting at' pricing info, along with a general pitch that further elaborates on why we charge what we charge, etc.

But, yes, you are right. I can't call every lead, and we don't. If they indicate a budget in line with what we charge, they will get a call. Otherwise, a generic email with link to pricing gets sent.

 

[Jim Doggett]

We ask for a budget on our request page ...

That's a great point, Dan, which I hadn't considered ... and indeed, it weeds out the tire-kickers, albeit, you're a big sign biz celeb / sign guy, and can afford to be selective. :^) For most shops, I'd think they want everything with a checkbook, especially with their stock portfolios rising and falling for no apparent reason.

Plus, I'm a marketing person and biased ... I believe we buy everything for largely the same reasons: we want the most reliable path to getting our emotional needs fulfilled. Heck, even when I'm buying gum I'll wonder why I chose the product I did (and is there a lesson to be learned).

And I gotta think many Web-shoppers are like me: if they don't have a price, Google will find me 500 other options in about 200 / 1000ths of a second.

JMO,

JIm

 

[Dan Antonelli]

True Jim, to a degree - but that assumption is based on the premise that you can get the same exact thing at two different places.

Our assumption is that you can't get what we deliver anywhere else, which leaves you only with the question as to whether you can afford us, or not.

If they believe they can get the same thing elsewhere, they are not good prospects to begin with.

Problem with vinyl by the pound is that they can get the same thing elsewhere, therefore the only parameter from which to judge the purchasing decision is actually price driven.

This is one of the reasons for the decline in general in the sign business; too many shops doing the exact same thing with nothing to distinguish themselves among their competitors. Once you offer something no one else has, you'd be surprised at how busy you'll be. And a that point, it really doesn't matter your competitors prices, because they are no longer actually valid competitors anymore.

JMO as well

 

[Jim Doggett]

"True Jim, to a degree - but that assumption is based on the premise that you can get the same exact thing at two different places."

True that; albeit, I think I can get the "same thing" just about everywhere. And I'm not talking about the sign, which is incidental. I'm talking about believing that I've found the most reliable and direct path to getting what I want ... and potentially, anyone can do that if they appeal to my perceived needs.

I think that's true of everything I buy, be it a car, signs or gum.

Best,

Jim

 

[Dan Antonelli]

Aha, Jim. True. But those things you speak of are commodities, not services. I don't sell commodities.

We've really hijacked this thread completely! LOL.

 

[Craig Sjoquist]

What I've learned ..selling a product at a fixed rate and displaying price ..is fine
selling a custom and or service .. displaying price will get you in trouble everyone will want the cheapest price for max work and service.

Big lesson customer learned at a 99 cent store ...advertised 99 cent ... and every body wanted only 99 cent products or that price on other items .. 3 months later changed ads and began just advertising products with much greater success.

 

[Jim Doggett]

It's all commodities! :^)

Geico or Coca-Cola, it's got to do something for me that supersedes the product.

Take Coke, for example. If people only bought the best product, Pepsi would outsell them by 1000:1. Pepsi tastes better. They knew that before embarking on the "Take The Pepsi Challenge" campaign. Heck; even Coke's own double-blind testing bore that out ... so folks are buying something other than a tasty beverage, which Coke also knows (and why they kick Pepsi's butt).

When we drink Coke, we know it's the real Mccoy. Ergo Coke's approach: It's The Real Thing.

Ditto when selling signs. You gotta know what the buyer's motivation is, even if they don't. (Most do not) So removing barriers and stuff people hate is a big first step, I believe. And not listing prices is among the most-hated, especially in Web shopping, I believe.

I'd advocate being courageous. For every buyer you lose, you'll gain many more, I believe. I've experience that in highly competitive, and commoditized markets (software, vinyl cutters, sign vinyl ... and marketing services :^)

JMO,

jd

 

[Jim Doggett]

Big lesson customer learned at a 99 cent store ...advertised 99 cent ... and every body wanted only 99 cent products or that price on other items .. 3 months later changed ads and began just advertising products with much greater success.

Tell that to Dollar General, Family Dollar or the Walton family (save money, live better). All are perfectly aligned to where the market has been going, and where it is right now. What gets customers in the door is one thing; what they walk out with is entirely different.

Your Web site is your front door, for those who get to you online.

Your sign is your front door, for everyone else.

IMHO,

Jim

 

[signgal]

Aha, Jim. True. But those things you speak of are commodities, not services. I don't sell commodities.

We've really hijacked this thread completely! LOL.

I'm glad you did, as usual! Very helpful!

 

[Jon Aston]

Call me crazy - but if you know your costs and can safely estimate the average design time... I see no reason why you can't feel comfortable offering a "custom" product for a fixed price.