Copywriting Secret – Give your customers what they want

When customers stop by your website, often there is one key piece of information they are looking for. And it is this single piece of information which most websites choose to omit, potentially losing sales and increasing customer frustration. So what is that key item of information? Prices.

Large price tags in your web copy may not necessarily be bad – just ask the fuel companies.

Why does it matter? Think about your own personal experiences of looking for a product or service, what is the key piece of information you need once you have found an item that meets your needs? That’s right – the price.

And what do you do when you can’t find the price? Move on to a competitor’s website? Consider an alternative product or service? Regard the site with an increasing level of distrust? All of these are common reactions to websites which do not disclose prices in the web copy.

Why you should disclose prices in your web copy

Companies often hide prices for a number of reasons (to maintain a competitive advantage, for fear of scaring customers, because prices are calculated on a per-job basis etc), and sometimes the customer may even realise this. However to other casual browsers, if your website copy does not include prices they may assume:

• Your products are too expensive
• You want to see how much you can take each individual for
• You don’t have any stock
• Your company is just downright untrustworthy

Obviously none of these may be the case, but you will never have a chance to change their mind or to set the record straight once they have clicked on to the next site.

And the simple fact is that people do undertake price comparison exercises in these straitened times. If you fail to display any prices at all, your business is immediately ruled out of these purchasing decisions.

Why you should not disclose your prices in your web copy

In the age of the “open Internet” and the “social web”, there are actually very few good reasons to hide your pricing. Unless of course you operate on an auction basis. Even if your website is simply a storefront with all sales undertaken by account managers, there is still no real reason for not providing some attractive baseline pricing.

Are we advocating a race to the bottom, by advising full disclosure of prices? Absolutely not! Just because customers like to have pricing information available, does not mean it is the most common deciding factor in their purchasing decisions. A recent report from ‘digital experience specialist’ Yuseo suggested that a responsive website was actually more important than product cost (which for some product sectors came sixth in the list of priorities) to online shoppers.

So does Tech Write practice what it preaches?

Well yes. From today.

• We openly admit that due to the many factors involved with copywriting, digital marketing and PR services, creating a blanket price to cover all projects is impossible. Sorry.
• By the same token however we are also happy to admit that we generally charge £35 per hour which can be negotiated depending on the specific needs and size of each project. Too much? Give us a call – let’s chat!
• We also offer blog writing packages from just £99 per month

Sound reasonable? Drop us a line to see how we can help get your website copy up-to-scratch today.