I’m always telling positive stories about how clients using our services made a big difference to their lives.
Today I’d like to tell you the story of how my advice completely screwed a client’s business almost instantly.
They’d Never Displayed Prices
The client has a training business where each customer is worth about $1,000.
It’s the sort of product where the visitor can immediately book in or contact them for more information before they book.
They’ve never advertised their prices on the web site, instead they rely on generating enquiries from prospects who enquire mostly about the price.
In fact, the “Fees” page is their most visited page.
Do What I Say…………..I’m Brendon Sinclair & I’m Smarter Than You!
I know that testing, testing, testing works at getting the best result for web sites so recommended the client starts displaying their prices on the web site.
My thinking was that enquiries might slow down a fraction but would more than be compensated by these enquiries being from qualified prospects – that is, people who’d almsot certainly buy because they were enquiring after they knew the price.
Don’t Listen To Me……..I’m A Dumbass
Sounded great in theory but was complete crap in practice!
Instantly the email enquiries stopped. The phone enquiries stopped. The sales stopped.
Turns out that when people knew the price they’d head off to a competitor’s web site and enquire re his prices – he’d then talk about the value they’d receive, how good he was and then the price. He’d close the sale every time.
As soon as we took down the prices the enquiries and sales returned to normal. (Phew!)
The Only People Who Really Know…..
The only people who really know what works with your web site is your customers – and they vote with their actions.
The moral of this little story is this: keep on testing and measuring.
Only then can you be sure what works.
Cheers
Brendon
Note: I’ve seen the opposite impact of course – where we’ve displayed the prices on a web site and the sales have gone through the roof.
And obviously the vast majority of sites selling stuff direct online need to display prices.
Cheers,
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Would you say this behaviour is fairly specific to training then? Obviously possibly some other niches as well, but I mean these are the exceptions to the rule, right? Or is it more about services VS products?
I’d be interested to know your theories on why it happened this time. Obviously you don’t want to feel like it’s 50/50 next time
Comment on Japhs’ question;
I think it would be specific to things similar to training that have what is perceived as a high price tag. Once potential clients can be talked through what you offer i.e. ,….here is what you get, here is the expected results, the package looks good or not appropriate.
There are other things like that out there, things that require “one on one” to see if the clients needs will fit with your product, once that is established then price often becomes secondary.
If you are the business of volume sales then price is everything and to not advertise your prices could be a death sentence.
Just my opinion
Cheers
Tim
Hello guys
Yep, I reckon this is specific to services (not just training).
Price is a big choice influence in many sales and you need to display it for items where you have a ton of retailers of the exact same thing.
But services have variables that will impact on the final buying decision – you want the opportunity to demonstrate your value before you mention the price.
It’s never about price with service stuff. It’s all about the value you provide.
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