The Price is Right… There on the Screen.
Are you struggling to hit quarterly revenue numbers, you’re not alone!
The fact is, you’re competing to win your fair share of about 60% of the opportunities in your pipeline. That’s because, despite your best efforts, almost 40% of customer purchase journeys end in no decision. That’s a number for technology purchases, but I’m confident it holds in other industries.
Your customers are online.
Close to 90% of customer purchase journeys for technology solutions begin without any seller input. They get to your site, where Marketing has laid out a plethora of product information. But your prospective customers want pricing information too. If you’re like 55% of vendors, you tell your customers “Contact sales for a quote”.
You’ve expended all this time, money and effort to get them here, and now you’ve just made your customer’s journey a lot harder at a moment of truth? Is asking the client to contact Sales the best way, or the only way, to sink the hook in? No, and No.
Research suggests that 80% of business customers prioritize transparency over brand reputation when doing their research for a vendor.
The more you’re willing to be upfront and transparent about pricing, the more you’re creating trust. The more you’re creating trust, the more enquiries you’ll get from your marketing efforts.
No need to be binary about price transparency and either share all or share nothing. Reveal enough to pique your prospect’s interest, and create the impetus to engage with Sales.
Here are five things you can easily reveal about your pricing, to build trust.
If you can’t explain any of the points below simply, you have a problem that needs urgent attention.
- Positioning: How you are positioned e.g. premium, value. Anchoring your position early in your prospect’s mind will help you in downstream discussions
- Pricing model: How you price. e.g., by product, by module, by seat, by day etc. Don’t hide fees. Research suggests that nearly 40% of customers have switched providers at one point due to hidden fees.
- Discounting model: How you discount: e.g. minimum volume or duration, first time clients, etc.
- Packaging model: How you sell products / services together e.g. bundles or itemized services
- Charging model: How you get paid, e.g. in advance, in arrears, by month, etc.
Good reasons to keep price points close to your chest and also good reasons to share them. It says about your firm that you:
- Compete on more value than just price
- Are transparent and can be trusted.
- It lets customers self-select you, so you’re not chasing customers that can’t afford you.
If you’re a middle market vendor, if you’re targeting middle market companies, consider revealing your price points when your circumstances lend themselves to this. At Asteri, we looked at revealing our prices online. We asked our clients about the value it would bring them. That was eye opening for us. It turns out, doing so did not add much value. Our clients have a broad set of key performance criteria, and pricing is pretty low in the priority list.
What about your clients? What do they have to say about pricing transparency?
