Don't Hide That Price Tag!
by R.M. Blackledge
Published on this site: April 19th, 2005 - See
more articles from this month...
One of the most common misconceptions about selling is that
the naming of a final price shouldn't be done until you've
already closed the sale. This tactic is commonly used in new
and used car sales.
"How much, exactly?" The customer asks. But the salesperson
doesn't immediately answer, instead he/she continues babbling on
about some finer point of the product. In effect, the salesperson
is trying to entice the customer into falling in love with the product,
such that the final price won't really matter all that much.
The customer will find the money somehow...
This tactic must work relatively well, because it's ages old. Unfortunately,
the sales game on the internet is a little different than in the
brick and mortar world. Web merchants have to be concerned about
a little thing known as bandwidth.
Traffic that doesn't convert into sales wastes bandwidth,
which can become a BIG FACTOR if you have a ton of pages on
the same web host. The cost of placing your site[s] online
is something that must be factored in when you start your
web business. It's common sense then, to consider that poor
affiliates will never become wealthy affiliates if they don't
pay attention to the bottom line.
Pay-per-click search engine advertising is a big deal now
that banner ads have become so ubiquitous as to be almost
useless. Many affiliates swear by their pay-per click campaigns.
This type of advertising method brings highly targeted traffic
to the merchant's site.
In effect the people are ready to buy. But are they?
Many affiliates who use pay-per-click advertising also believe
that a sales price is something thatshould be hidden until
the very last moment. Thus, on the affiliate's site the price
will be located at the bottom of the page next to the sales
link. The hope is that the customer will read all the sales
text FIRST, and thus still be willing to make a purchase -
even if the sales price is not exactly what they expected.
Is this the best way to go about making an internet sale?
It may depend really on whether you're selling a big ticket
item, or a small ticket item. If you're a merchant, for example,
that sells refurbished computers online, the customer obviously
is not going to expect to purchase a quality used computer
for only 50 bucks.
So then what is to be gained by hiding the price until the
very last moment? If the customer can't afford your product,
hiding the price down at the bottom of the sales page will
not put spending money in their pocket, they don't already
have. Conversely, if you're selling computer software that
has a retail price of under thirty dollars. Only thirty dollars
is a bargain for software. But, if your visitors are really
looking for freeware, you may still lose out.
In effect, not discussing price just postpones the inevitable.
Customers will usually make up their minds about whether to stay
on your site within the first five-to-six seconds. If you've pre-sold
your product effectively in the first place, then the customer knows
what to expect. Placing your sales price right in front of their
eyes - so that they don't have to search for it - may actually help
you make a sale or two.
This also demonstrates that you have confidence in your product.
If the customer gets the impression that you're not trying to B.S.
them, they will be impressed, instead of put-off.
Also, if your main advertising method is by use of a pay-per-click
campaign, placing your sales price right in the middle of
your ad will save you the headache of wasting your pay-per-click
advertising dollars on those web surfers who are just browsers
and not buyers.
In conclusion, a sales price prominently placed can be an
effective tool for weeding out the bandwidth-wasting window
shoppers from those who are serious customers.
That's what you want!
R.M. Blackledge is the owner of TheWorkAtHomeBlog.Com.
Additional articles and important, up-to-date home business
news and information is available almost daily at the following
url: http://theworkathomeblog.com/index.html
contact: http://theworkathomeblog.com/contact.html
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