If you’re looking for a cut and dry answer, you’re in the wrong place… The internet is a wonderful tool for growing your business in so many ways, but one of the biggest threats to true entrepreneurship is overgeneralized advice. There is no one-size-fits all solution in business. So, should you put prices on your website? Should you worry about making reels on Instagram? Should you do this or that?

As always, it depends on your business and personality, friend. Read on if you want to make an empowered decision for yourself instead of being told what to do!

Why You Should Consider Displaying Prices on Your Website

This typically comes down to three things: time, confidence, and approach to selling! Let’s break down some reasons you may want to put prices on your website…

You get a lot of leads that claim you’re out of their budget.

Be careful with this being the sole reason though. Sometimes what people say is out of their budget is really their way of saying they don’t see enough value for the cost. This could be more of a marketing problem… either attracting the wrong types of leads or not conveying the awesomeness of your service well enough.

You are SWAMPED and need to stop wasting time on unqualified leads in emails and consult calls.

When I say “unqualified,” I just mean that they are people who aren’t a good fit to work with you for whatever reason. It could be date, budget, location, or something else! If you’re getting a lot of leads that don’t feel like a good fit, adding a price filter could help! By showing some of your prices up front, these potential clients will disqualify themselves before reaching out.

While this might seem like a bad thing, ask yourself… if this person can’t work with me either way, would I rather them figure it out before we talk or waste both of our time after the fact? As a solo entrepreneur, the most valuable thing you have is your time. Protect it so you can focus on providing an epic client experience for the people who are great fits!

You value price transparency as a consumer and want to offer that to clients.

One of the best parts of having your own business is having the autonomy to run it in accordance with your values. If visiting a website without prices listed is a huge pet peeve of yours, maybe you feel strongly about not doing the same in your business. That’s a good enough reason to put prices on your website!

You have super cut and dry pricing that’s easy to convey quickly.

Do you have just a few offers with super clear deliverables and not a ton of room for customization? Honestly, it probably makes sense for you to display those prices on your website. It’s going to save you time and more importantly, gatekeeping those prices doesn’t really serve your clients better. And as a business, a great client experience should be a priority.

Why You Shouldn’t Put Prices on Your Website

For every reason you should put your prices on your website, there’s a reason against it. These usually come down to the nature of your services and your selling style.

You offer customized services, which would be hard to estimate / communicate without a conversation.

Like I said in the last section, providing a great client experience should be a priority. If you custom-tailor your packages for prospective clients based on information you collect while chatting through their needs, they will be better served by providing prices in a conversation setting (like a consult call) than on your website. Any other price estimate would be at best a ballpark and may mislead them or cause more confusion before they even inquire.

You take a consultative approach to pair people to the right packages.

This is similar to the point above, but still applies if you have set packages they can choose from. In my business, most clients will fit into 1 of my 3 packages and I rarely need to create something custom; however, I need to get to know them and their goals in a consult call before I’m comfortable matching them to the offer that makes most sense for their situation.

So, let’s say you’re a photographer and you want your approach to feel custom without having to create packages from scratch. You may withhold a breakdown of all packages until a consult call where you make your package feel like a personally tailored solution. In reality, you just paired them to a great fit without reinventing the wheel each time.

You’re super strong at in-person consults and want to build value before disclosing prices.

And before you say it, no this is not a slimy sales tactic. This is strategy. If your writing stills aren’t as strong as your verbal and you have been told you could literally make friends with a wall, this is playing to your strengths. And again, by being your best, you can serve your prospective clients even better!

Don’t underestimate this either. Full transparency, I had a season where I added prices to my site in an effort to help people choose between my strategy sessions and monthly coaching before we talked. I was hoping to do less consult calls. In the process, I stopped getting inquiries.

When I mentioned it to a past client, she said, “Cassie, if we hadn’t met before I got your prices, I would’ve immediately told myself I couldn’t afford it. It wasn’t until I got to know you and see how your brain worked that I knew I had to find a way to make it work.”

I mean this in the most humble way possible, I crush consult calls because I care. I take the time to get to know someone and pair them with the right offer confidently. By putting prices on my site and subconsciously asking them to figure out what they need before setting up a consult call, I was intimidating them out of inquiring. I was not serving my potential clients well by adding prices to my website.

You don’t want price to be the focus.

There’s some psych validity to this. Think about it… when you visit Walmart or Target, prices are clearly displayed. But when you visit Prada or Tiffany’s, prices are often underneath or inside the item. They want you to stir up your emotions so you fall in love with an item before you see the price because buying from them isn’t about getting a bang for your buck. It’s about investing in a high quality item or experience. (And they charge $2k for a paperclip, but that’s a different story.)

It’s Your Business – Act Like It

Lovingly, who cares what the gurus say? What got them where they are may not get you where you want to go! Not everyone succeeds the same way and that’s because we have unique strengths that should decide our strategy accordingly!

So, if you’re looking for a middle ground answer to the “should I put prices on my website” question, this is it. And if you like the idea of qualifying leads a bit without giving away everything from the onset, consider putting starting prices or the average investment on your website. Just make sure you provide a little note about how you’d love to chat to give them more information and match them to the right package for them!

What do you think about putting prices on your website? Are you #teampricetransparency or #teamconsultativeapproach? Come let me know over on Instagram!