The Great Price Debate

Photo by mikecogh, available under a Creative Commons Attribution license

There is a lot of unrest in the wedding industry about whether prices should be made available on your website or not. It’s an ongoing debate and some wedding pros choose not to list their prices on their website.

But why?

I think the fear here comes from scaring people off. Let’s deconstruct that. First of all, do you want to work with clients who don’t value what you do enough to pay what you are asking?  Those people are wrong for your business, and they were never going to commit to working with you at your price point. 

So if you aren’t putting your prices on your website, these “tyre kicker” types have to call you to get your prices. You have to spend the time explaining your prices and justifying them to someone who is not going to buy from you. Let’s say each of these calls takes 30 minutes and you take 5 of them per week. You are giving up 2.5 hours of your time every single week, and for what? You will have to have the price conversation with every client at some point, buy delaying it is a waste of everyone’s time.

So what should you do?

I would suggest giving “starting at” prices, but please do not tell people that you work with “every budget”. Not only is that not true, it’s going to come off a cheap and people could find your website based on the word “budget” depending how often you use it. Providing an indication of your pricing will actually weed out the people you don’t want to work with and eliminates those awkward conversations with “tyre kickers”. 

Did you ever think that you might be repelling great clients by not listing your prices?

There is an old saying: “If you have to ask, you can’t afford”. Visitors to your website may assume you are going off of this principle when they very well could afford you and would happily pay for what you have to offer. No one wants to call someone only to find out they don’t have the money to proceed with the purchase. It’s an awkward and embarrassing conversation for everyone involved. Furthermore, people are lazy and they don’t want to call you for fear of getting into a sales conversation when they could just move on the the next supplier who does have their prices listed. 

Stop making it so hard for people to give you their money.

Many of your visitors may just want to collect information and may not be in a place to purchase yet. If you can make a great impression and provide great content, they will come back when they are ready. Keep in mind that the entire world of weddings is likely new to them so they are going to research and compare. A wedding is a big investment and a market that most consumers are unfamiliar with. Weddings can be a pain to plan, but if you can make it easier, people will remember you.

Listing only a starting price can actually make your work seem more custom. According to Splendid Insights, Millennials (the generation born between 1979-2000) have come to expect customisation in every facet of their lives. In fact, there is a great post on the Think Splendid blog about how building pricing around packages can actually hurt you.

At the end of the day, it’s your choice whether you list your prices on your website or not. I say take a stand, state your price and be proud of it. Don’t discuss your price timidly like you’re ashamed of it. When people say “that’s expensive”, explain why your price is as high as it is. Your clients may not realise that they are actually getting a lot of value and expertise for their money.

Do you have your prices listed on your website? If so, do you offer specific amounts, a range, or starting prices? If not, why have you chosen not to share this information?