To list prices online or not?

Have fun. Our clients will not find graphic design prices online anywhere else. Our clients are not looking for $500 Flash sites or $299-$799 e-commerce sites.

If you are able to get a quote for a custom site (no templates, hand coding to W3C standards, custom hand-coded content management system, 3 design concepts with 3 revisions on the final concept) instantly, please point me in the right direction.

If you don't trust my company enough to give me some simple contact info in order to provide a quote for services you are interested in, then are you going to trust my company enough to give it $5-20K to develop your custom site?

Quote:

Originally Posted by EXP Creative

If you don't trust my company enough to give me some simple contact info in order to provide a quote for services you are interested in, then are you going to trust my company enough to give it $5-20K to develop your custom site?

You're bucking a headwind.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WobblyBox

You're bucking a headwind.

What does that mean?

Quote:

Originally Posted by EXP Creative

What does that mean?

My response was to your question, "If you don't trust my company enough to give me some simple contact info in order to provide a quote for services you are interested in, then are you going to trust my company enough to give it $5-20K to develop your custom site?"

As a consumer/ business owner, I don't like to give out my contact information to people I don't know or trust without good reason. I don't think I'm alone on this.

If we were talking about a standard "RFQ" I could understand the reasoning behind giving out the information. But that's not what we're discussing. We're discussing an automated preliminary quote.

But hey, who am I, run it up the flag pole and see who salutes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WobblyBox

... We're discussing an automated preliminary quote.

Ok, I've gotten a lot of feedback (both positive and negative) on the automated quote feature. I would like to clear up one major point (quoted above).

We are actually talking about a very specific and detailed quote that will be accurate unless the client needs custom programming or features not listed in the quote. Due to the nature of our business, we can't quote everything under the sun. We have however, taken the most common options and by only considering the things that will affect the pricing, been able to develop a system that will give you the same price I would have given you if you called me directly. This is more than a rough, ballpark estimate. This is my bid on your project.

I don't see how by adding this feature to my site, I could stand to loose business from it. When you go to my competitor's sites, you will not see hourly rates or project rates quoted. Sometimes you will not even see a "Quote" option. I still offer the regular/standard quote option for people that do not want to provide any info beyond their name and email address. But I also offer a solution for people to get what they want instantly. I see this as a true win-win since I am not replacing anything, but instead adding to my services. Maybe I'm just an ignorant business owner that doesn't understand what his customers want.

But then again, maybe I can tell you that "Bob" requested a EXPress Quote Tuesday afternoon at 2:30PM for the following services : web design, business card design, logo design. Then after he got that quote, he got another quote for everything mentioned about plus business stationery design. Now, I know what "Bob" is looking for. I also know that since he came back to get a quote with more options that we fit his marketing budget. I have multiple ways to follow up with "Bob" and now stand a chance to actually WIN his business instead of hoping blindly that he chooses me based on the text on my website that he skimmed in the first place.

We'll see how everything goes though.

I have very mixed emotions about it. And here is what has been working best for me:

If you have something like a mass service (e.g. cheap hosting), you will be better off just posting the price and make things as automated as you possibly can. Same with something like directory submissions. Now: when you advertise something like streaming media packages or a few advertising spaces on your site ... don't list the price. Seriously! Not all projects can be priced by the same standard.

If a client has a lot to spend, his expectations may exceed the ones you yourself expect to be placed on your service, and since those clients are used to getting results without pinching pennies, you may wind up working yourself to the ground thinking "I could and should have charged so much more".

Mike

In my opinion listing prices can have a positive and a negative effect. It is positive in that the customer can easily compare prices and quotes between businesses, the lack of prices then may deter the customer as they may have to fill out a request form. This also then means time may be wasted in replying to each request as some people will not wish to buy the product because they may find a lower price somewherelse.

On the contorary though, the customer must first place a request to begin with, this means that they can have a more personal sale with the business in question, this may then mean more persuasion by the sales staff, rather than the potential client having simply numbers to sift through to find the best deal.

On the whole though having the prices listed would be more benefitial to the business as only customers who are almost certain to buy the product or service will request a quote for example.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Salemaster

On the whole though having the prices listed would be more benefitial to the business as only customers who are almost certain to buy the product or service will request a quote for example.

I can live with that.

To list prices online or not?

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