Prices or not on your website?

[Martyn]

I'm on my second website and I'm toying with the idea of including prices on my website. There are a couple of ways of looking at this in my view, displaying prices - the customer has an idea of what you charge and you may get some business but you may not get that phone call/form whereas if you don't display prices then they have to contact you to find out and you may be able to win them over. The downside of no prices - people might think you're expensive and not contact you at all. How many people go into a shop if you can't see the prices in the window? Anyway I've done a poll as i'm not sure where I sit with this and look forward to your input.

 

[4ycr]

I don't have prices on mine because I was the phone call. I know some will not phone but it was a personal choice and I don't know if it was the right one

 

[MobileTechie]

I don't do it because it allows people to decide on price alone or at least on price and only a vague idea of what I'm about. And my service is not all about price and I'm not the cheapest around.

I get price shoppers contact me who seem to feel they only want to make a decision on price and what they think they know. They tend to email saying they want a quote for some work and don't give a phone number. They don't want to speak to anyone and they don't even know what their problem is half the time. When I reply with a figure I never hear back. I assume they have emailed 5 other people and just go to the one who is the cheapest which will never be me. So now I reply asking them to call or to give a phone number to discuss their problem. About 1 in 5 reply back and I get most of those. It's not a great ratio but it's better than the one when I just reply with a price. This has convinced me that prices on the site are not a good idea.

 

[Cambridge PC Support]

same here, I don't put 'em on the website at all

I'd rather speak to the person and get them talking about their problem and how I can help them, how soon I can see them and how long it'll take and then talk about costs

 

[Martyn]

Looks like a split opinion on this, I don't know which way to go. Keep em coming.

I'm now leaning towards not putting them on. That allows for on the fly tweaking of prices rather than keep updating websites.

 

[atlanticjim]

[sarc]

I don't have prices posted on my website.
With my advanced caller ID I can tell what zipcode the person is calling from and I adjust my prices according to the mean income in the area.

[/sarc]

 

[Hercomputers]

Same here. I chose not to list my prices on my website. I have set prices but depending on the customer and their situation, it may not always fall under that set price. I may have make adjustments. I, too, want to receive that phone call from the customer, give them the impression that they made the right choice in contacting me and THEN we can discuss their needs and the price and so far it's worked out for me.

I will admit, I've 'short-changed' myself in the past, because I wanted that customer and I didn't want them to go to anyone else. I want them to have excellent service but at the same I know I need to be competitive, not cheap....lol

I believe it was Vdub a while ago when I first joined TN who reminded me of the importance of self-worth. You know what you can know, you know you're worth and I've been trying to keep that in mind.

 

[Martyn]

Same here. I chose not to list my prices on my website. I have set prices but depending on the customer and their situation, it may not always fall under that set price. I may have make adjustments. I, too, want to receive that phone call from the customer, give them the impression that they made the right choice in contacting me and THEN we can discuss their needs and the price and so far it's worked out for me.

I will admit, I've 'short-changed' myself in the past, because I wanted that customer and I didn't want them to go to anyone else. I want them to have excellent service but at the same I know I need to be competitive, not cheap....lol

I believe it was Vdub a while ago when I first joined TN who reminded me of the importance of self-worth. You know what you can know, you know you're worth and I've been trying to keep that in mind.

I've worked in the corporate consultancy environment for the last 10 years and have had to deal with people of all levels. I think it's true that once you talk to people you can make that connection that will win you the job and the price almost becomes secondary.

 

[MrUnknown]

I am split on the prices on the website thing also.

I started out not listing them, now I do have something listed. I don't really know if it affects my customers or not.

When I didn't have the prices, I honestly didn't really have too many tire kickers. The prices haven't been up long enough to see if it makes a difference.

 

[MobileTechie]

One way of thinking about this is that your website is very much an advert. In an advert you'll find canny marketers putting only things that make people take the next step be that a phone call or a purchase. If price is a sales benefit then include it. If it isn't then don't.

Take radios for instance: your local superstore will advertise their cheapo radios at LOOK NOW!: £9.99 and so on. Now look at the Bose Waveguide ads in the posh magazines. You can't get price at all. That's because they are very expensive but also very good. Price is not a sales point for Bose radios. So they don't include it in their advertising.

So if you're a pile em high/sell em cheap type of firm then prices are relevant. If you're at the other end of the price scale then I see no need to include them.

Another reason to include a price would be to enable a sale to be made there and then. So if you're selling a good value remote service which they can buy with a card online then it makes sense.

 

[Corbin]

Ill be first to post for the YES prices on my site. We had this discussion between my partners, and voted when we do get our site finished to put hte prices up, but only with starting at or the inbetween option

Virus Removel Starting at $50

Virus Removel $50-$120

The only downfall we keep getting is how do we decide where it falls for the price? I keep saying its all about time, I mean we have a hourly rate we charge, the thing is Im pretty fast at cleaning up and fixing, where my partners are not, so its not fair for our customer if I show up and blast it in a hour, and my partners showing and taking 2 hours on the same issue. I can see the issues on having the price on your site, but then I can also see hte issues of not putting it on you site.

 

[NeutronTech]

I chose undecided. I think either way is valid. There are variables involved such as areas and type of people living in those areas, as well as competition, etc. There is no correct answer. Rather, there is no wrong answer.

 

[Xander]

Mine are on my site. I don't need the tire kickers calling, taking 5 mins of my time talking up how I can get them up and running and, after finding out the rate, decide they'll call around.

If price is the only reason they have to change their mind, let the website save me some time.

 

[CPU]

We post prices on 25-30 of our flat rate services but nothing on rates. Its hard to say I selected undecided because home and small business customers value price and corporate clients value what you can bring to the table with less of an emphases on price. Guess it depends on you current client base and your desired client base.

 

[PcTek9]

Have you ever eaten at a restaurant with no prices on the menu?



* What was your initial gut feeling toward them when you opened the menu and noticed something important was missing?


** I'm about to get ...

 

[NeutronTech]

Mine are on my site. I don't need the tire kickers calling, taking 5 mins of my time talking up how I can get them up and running and, after finding out the rate, decide they'll call around.

If price is the only reason they have to change their mind, let the website save me some time.

Yup. I want customers who are looking for quality service and aren't really concerned about price (as long as it isn't totally unreasonable). The first thing they should be thinking about is how good I am and how their service will be. Then price comes into the picture. I do what I can to discourage people who are only concerned with price and those who want freebies.

 

[minc3d]

Simply put: if you display prices on your site, this precludes judgement by the potential client on your company based on price alone which shouldn't be the case.

If the client sounds worthy, is a business customer, and/or is a good referral, I am USUALLY willing to try and work out a deal on pricing for the first time just so as to not drop a good lead.

With prices posted, you lose out on this which I find very important. If they are THAT set on not going with you due to price, then let them drop you over the phone/email, but at least you had a chance to make your case.

 

[NeutronTech]

Simply put: if you display prices on your site, this precludes judgement by the potential client on your company based on price alone which shouldn't be the case.

If the client sounds worthy, is a business customer, and/or is a good referral, I am USUALLY willing to try and work out a deal on pricing for the first time just so as to not drop a good lead.

With prices posted, you lose out on this which I find very important. If they are THAT set on not going with you due to price, then let them drop you over the phone/email, but at least you had a chance to make your case.

I do agree with you, although I do list my prices. I started off not listing them. It seemed that when my prices were in black and white, there was no argument. Then like I said, price shouldn't be the issue when discussing what they want and expect from my service. I'm not saying that it isn't a factor, but if my price is going to drive them away, I'd rather it drive them away before I waste my time on them.

That being said, I haven't gotten any customers via the website. Despite being number one in Google for my area. All have been word of mouth so far. I'm not convinced that the people in my area run to Google when they need something. I thought so at first, because I do, but turns out that the yellowpages are much more popular around here.

 

[Nakin]

Have you ever eaten at a restaurant with no prices on the menu?

Hahaha!! +1 for you, PcTek9!
It depends on where you are. I'm in a big city (Paris), and the computer businesses are numerous, so, showing the prices helps people to make a decision.
Plus... French people are greedy, hehe.

 

[Cambridge PC Support]

Have you ever eaten at a restaurant with no prices on the menu?



* What was your initial gut feeling toward them when you opened the menu and noticed something important was missing?


** I'm about to get ...

nope, but I've eaten at a restaurant with dishes not in English - in England

imagine a tech website where the prices were clearly marked but the descriptions of the services were in foreign!

I'll have le French malware removal, followed by a German defrag and if that doesn't work I'll settle for good ol' US N&P and go large on the RAM