Question

Topic: Website Critique

To List Prices, Or Not To List Prices?

Posted by Anonymous on 5/5/2006 at 6:21 PM ET 750 Points
Hello,

My question is should we list prices on our web site? We seldom sell a product online and dont expect to... so our web site is trying to generate leads our sales team can follow up on.

This is a small company that sells business software. The total package cost varies depending on number of licences and which products are purchased.

These are my two trains of thought....

1. It is a large ticket item that varies in price. So dont list price and require (entice) people to call or submit a request for more info. This way we get them as a lead we can follow up on, we can assess there needs....

2. We are very competitive on price. Our customers are SME's. Often the owner/president of a small company. If they dont see price info they may assume it it out of there price range and leave. List the price so that they will want to spend the time to attend a Demo or request more info.

Other info:
Most of our competitors do not list a price. Most cost more than us. We dont really want to "compete" on price, but feel we offer a good value for the money.

Currently:
(as of today) I have listed the prices on the web site and plan to run a 2-4 week test and compare leads (and % that convert to sales).

So, to price or not to price... that is my question.
Thanks,
Jo

FYI - this is the web site I am referring to https://www.axcis.net/
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 5/6/2006 at 1:02 AM Accepted
    Kathleen has a good point - if they work with sales people at your org to make a sale, then it is less likely that you would need to list prices. if not, you pretty much need to.

    Usually for enterprise software, you don't list prices, but instead talk about payback period (which is hopefully much less than 2 years, if not 1 year). Stick to providing the value to the customer IMHO.

  • Posted by Billd724 on 5/6/2006 at 7:46 PM Accepted
    Jo --

    Good question. Some great responses, too.

    As Thomas C. Taylor points out so well, what you may think you're selling is not what your customers may feel they're buying.

    As you consider that people buy SOLUTIONS to problems more easily than mere products, the value of the service-provider (i.e. your sales team member) becomes more important to achieving the outcome that motivated a qualified prospect to consider buying your software in the first place.

    Therefore, showing a price, if you choose to reveal it at all, should be revealed as a 'range' to allay any concerns about how expensive your solutions may be e.g. "We can help you address these issues for as little as . . . " AND then position a conversation with one of your sales associates as a key to 'customize' a solution for a given prospect.

    This will generate the response you stated was a primary objective for having your website in the first place -- qualified lead generation.

    I believe the issue isn't to show or not, but to position the value of having a conversation with a sales associate to tailor your product to produce the outcome your visitor is seeking.

    Hope that helps.

    Bill

  • Posted by Frank Hurtte on 5/7/2006 at 2:54 PM Accepted
    For a product like yours... I feel you can drive more interest if you do show a price...

    Something like simple solutions starting at $3000 ...
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