Julianna
Setting pricing is tricky – what is your product or service worth, how much is too much and how can you entice customers to buy what you are selling? While you may never figure out if your price structure is exactly right, there are a few things you can do to encourage customers to buy your products. Ultimately, it might not matter what the price is (within reason of course) if you are persuasive with your offering.
First, figure out what you need to make to cover your costs and earn what you think is worth on the product, then try to motivate your customers to buy. The easiest way to do this is see what the market can bear – find out what others are charging for similar services, then offer a comparable price. If you plan to charge a bit more, throw in an incentive to set yourself apart from your competitors. Sell the product, but also find something to make your offering unique. This differentiator might just be the tipping point to win customers over.
How to kickstart the motivation to buy? Reduce the price, offer a month free or a free trial, even dropping the price by one cent can make a difference. Market research continuously shows that customers are more likely to buy when the price ends in .99 instead of .00, so a small change can positively affect customer behaviour. Why not try it out on one of your products to see how it works, testing the waters for a few months will let you know whether it’s the type of change you want to make across the board on all your products.
Next, think about what you offer that might be complementary to another product in your catalog, or partner with another company to provide a better offering. If you can bundle products and offer a deal, you will not only entice customers, you might also upsell. Why buy just a mop for $15 when you can get a mop and bucket for $17. This is a crude example, but you’ve probably been swayed by this yourself, I know I have.
Another great tactic, increase urgency. Why buy later, when you can buy now! Copyblogger had some great tips on how to achieve this in their post Offers That Reduce Price and Increase Urgency.
- Last Chance—This is usually a reminder that you’ve previously made an offer and time is running out. If you say “last chance,” mean it.
- Limited Edition—This works well for art, plates, coins, special book printings, and other collectibles or rare items. The item is special in some way and there are only X number available or there’s a time limit.
- Enrollment Period—You establish a “window of opportunity” when people may enroll, for learning courses or business services, for example.
Hopefully some of these strategies will work for you. If you are interested in learning more about making the right offer to your customers, Copyblogger has an excellent series right now titled “58 of the World’s Greatest Offers”.
Make sure to check out:
Offers That Reduce Price and Increase Urgency (the insipration for this post)
http://www.copyblogger.com/reduce-price-increase-urgency/
Offers That Raise Response and Lower Risk
http://www.copyblogger.com/raise-response-lower-risk/
Offers That Increase Profit and Generate Inquiries
http://www.copyblogger.com/increase-profit-generate-leads/
These three articles will inspire you to be a better salesperson, and that is an offer you probably can’t refuse.