State the Price to Give Your B2B Site a Competitive Advantage
Valuable information if your company is debating whether or not to include pricing, estimated pricing, or pricing ranges on the website that you’re developing. We understand why businesses don’t want to include prices, but include them if you can.
December 1, 2013
Summary: Prospective customers want to know the price as their #1 info need on any website — including B2B sites, but these sites often hide or obscure pricing information.
In numerous usability studies with business customers, we witness people getting frustrated and leaving sites that don’t show prices. Sometimes our clients don’t believe it until they see it happen with their own eyes. Business customers report pricing as the top most needed piece of information online, yet many business-to-business (B2B) sites don’t show it.
B2B website creators must design websites to match the way people conduct research in the 21st century. Most web users prefer to find information on their own, not by interacting with a sales agent. Don’t assume that prospective customers will contact you for pricing, especially in the early research phase. Customers may travel far in their purchase journey before contacting suppliers. In our studies, we watch participants go to competitors’ sites when websites do not show prices. If pricing information can be found elsewhere, that’s where users will be. The first few websites that seem to have good product information (including pricing) will most likely make a candidate’s shortlist.
Companies rationalize reasons for not revealing prices online: we don’t want our competitors to know, price varies for different customers, price constantly fluctuates, customized services have unique prices, and so on. These excuses are legitimate reasons in almost all cases, but they’re still excuses. Not showing pricing works against customer needs and thus creates a hostile shopping experience. Remember the Halo Effect: people’s impression of one aspect of your brand (“they’re hiding the information I want”) transfers to their feelings about everything else (“they’re difficult to deal with; I don’t like them.”)
B2B transactions tend to have high-price tags and purchase decisions could result in strong repercussions. Relieve any tension people might have about doing business with your organization by offering details about products and services in a meaningful manner. This means being candid about the price. It’s good customer service. Stand out among your competitors by being transparent. People view companies that hide costs on their websites as being evasive and untrustworthy. Don’t turn potential buyers away thinking that “If I have to ask, I can’t afford it.” B2B sites must strike the right balance between self-service activities and involvement from internal representatives.
Why Business Website Users Need Pricing Information
Article from:
Evidence-Based Website User Experience Research, Training, and Consulting
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