Businesses are often unsure about the inclusion of prices on their websites. If the role of your website is for customers to be able to order and pay for goods and services online, then publishing your prices is an essential part of the purchase process.

However, if your website is an information resource to encourage people to move forwards in the sales process, then whether or not to display prices is more of an issue for debate.

Disadvantages of including prices on your website
The sales process may require a physical or human element such as personal handling of the product or the need for a product demonstration to the prospective customer. Since this is difficult to effect on a website, there could be a distorted view of the value of the product. Hence, the published price could seem unrealistically high if it has not been possible to fully convey all its qualities and benefits.

If the price of your services or products is highly variable, then it will be difficult to be specific about prices on your website. However, you could include indications of prices for different scenarios by using case studies or examples.

If your business needs a great deal of pricing flexibility, then a fixed price menu may not be appropriate on your website. Again, non-specific pricing indications may be more effective for you. You may feel that it would be damaging for your prices to be open for anyone to see, including your competitors.

Advantages of including prices on your website
It allows prospective customers to gather information on your product or service in their own time. This gives them the freedom to approach you when they feel properly informed and ready, without feeling in any way pressured into making a purchase.

By including pricing information on your website, you will attract better quality leads since the people who contact you are already fully informed about the prices your company charges.

The inclusion of prices on your website instils confidence in prospective clients. They can see that you have an upfront and open pricing policy.

Test and measure
If you are still undecided as to whether to include prices or an indication of what your charges may be, you could trial both methods. You could measure the level of results with prices or price indications included, and then remove the prices and track and compare the levels of enquiries generated without prices. Remember not just to measure the number of leads but also the quality of leads coming from your website, in other words, how many of the visitors to your website become clients.

Conclusion
Pricing can help to attract the right sort of interest in your goods and services because people who have visited your website and then contact you have realistic expectations about what you provide.

If you’re not able to offer specific prices, an alternative could be that on the website you explain your approach to pricing. For example, you could describe how it works if you offer fixed quotes or you could clarify your minimum commission if you do not have a fixed price menu.

Find Out More
To find out more contact Zarr to discuss your requirements.