Pricing - Is it a good idea to list on website?

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Permalink Reply by James Welsh on March 12, 2009 at 3:57pm

there's no right answer, for what it's worth--
if your price is a selling point then yes, if it's a competitive rate then leave it off (giving you a chance to connect over phone/in person and share benefits of working with you)

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Permalink Reply by John Uhri on March 12, 2009 at 5:18pm

If you put your prices up and they are "too high" for some customers, you've lost the business before they've even contacted you. In some cases, you might have been willing to drop the price/adjust scope, etc. If you price is "too low", you might be seen as being of poor quality.

With development projects, I think there are too many variables to accurately list a price for a project without discussing what the client needs.

On the other hand, there is something to be said for being upfront and honest.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Thurber on March 13, 2009 at 8:25am

I never discuss price until I have uncovered all the issues. Remember this; We are selling value. If it cost 10k and makes 20k for the client then price isn't an issue. On the other hand if I was shopping for a wedding photographer, I wouldn't call if there weren't prices on the website. I guess it all depends

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Permalink Reply by Jillian Koeneman on March 13, 2009 at 8:59am

I would have to agree with the other responses thus far. Web development has a lot of variables that affect cost. Especially when you are building custom sites. The best approach is to have potential clients contact you regarding cost.

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Permalink Reply by debra townsend on March 13, 2009 at 7:05pm

At this point the only thing that I have online is a one page business card page. It Breaks every rule in the book but I don't have time right now to trip out a whole site.

Here is my take on this, I really do not believe that most potential clients have a clue about what a web site cost! Lets not even get into cost when the phrase "I just want a small on line store" I have always envisioned when I get my site done to present people with both options, to request a quote but to have some type of price structure in place so they don't get sticker shock when they get a quote. I do work off of a set price list when I do quotes though so that there is a fairness to my madness.

Great question though, be interesting to see what the overall opinion is.

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Permalink Reply by Clay Mabbitt on March 14, 2009 at 5:18pm

I think it's a good idea to give potential customers an idea of what they should expect to pay. The challenge is that listing a price on your website isn't always going to communicate that.

You can show on your site that setting up an e-commerce site is $100 (whatever your price is). What does that cover, though? Is that a site for an author with one book to sell that sends the visitor over to PayPal to enter payment information? Or is it a site for a clothing company with a large catalog where each item will need to have color and size specified and the site needs to tie into the company's existing credit card processor for brick-and-mortar sales? Will the site use discount codes? How is shipping calculated? Is there an area for customers to login and check the status of their order?

You could display a detailed price list for you customers that breaks down each of these items a la carte, but that's just an e-commerce site. If you try to detail all of the possible options a website can have, you'll have a huge unwieldy list that will be very difficult for anyone to make sense of.

So I always feel like I need to talk to a customer a little bit to identify their needs and expectations before I can give them any numbers. The only way I can imagine listing prices on my site would be offering a very specific "package" of options. In that case, I would be dictating exactly how the web site would be set up to anyone who wanted to buy that package.

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Permalink Reply by Jessica Seaton on April 11, 2009 at 9:18pm

I think this is definitely an interesting question.

Part of me knows that when I'm looking around for service online I tend to discount companies that don't want to give me the price or make me fill out a form to find it. Since I'm "shopping" if I can't compare the price I don't even consider it in the running.

However, as everyone has been mentioning, web design and development can vary widely from one company to the next, so it's not as easy to compare prices because the services aren't easy to compare.

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Permalink Reply by David Cassis on May 20, 2009 at 12:04pm

i think that from an initial conversation, you can give someone a ballpark. that way, if they scream, then you won't waste your time with a estimate. we have learned throughout the years that we provide very detailed estimates that include a descriptive hierarchy. we even articulate the number of revisions to the creative process.

it really depends on your market, if you are going after "mom & pops" then pricing on your site won't hurt you. but if you are going after larger corporate clients then you will seem too small to them. they would not engage a company that offered packages...hope that helps.

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Permalink Reply by Ian Arkin on June 2, 2009 at 1:47pm

We do not put pricing information on our website for a two reasons:

1. Clients do not understand why it costs that much or what they would be getting. For this reason, we have clients request a proposal in which we outline what we will do, how much it will cost, and how long it will take.

2. The scope of each project is different. If someone wants a personal blog site or a "Mom and Pop Shop" wants an e-Brochure, then the site will be relatively inexpensive and won't require that much work. Also, a more traditional pricing structure could probably be used. If the projects are advanced and customized web applications, then it would be impossible to have a catch-all pricing system.

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