To share your pricing online or not

Let’s talk about money. Specifically, the decision of whether or not to share your pricing online. I’ve personally tried both and will preface this post by saying that I truly believe there is no right or wrong way to go about this. But I am going to share my journey in finding a happy medium. So here we go.

For the majority of Rowan Made’s history, we’ve chosen not to share definitive numbers on our site, but instead inform potential clients of pricing (very) early on in the conversation. About a year ago, however, I re-designed the Rowan Made website in a way that displayed all of our packages upfront, numbers and all. I liked the idea of being absolutely transparent and was mostly curious to see how it would go.

At first, there were crickets. And then, some more crickets. Don’t get me wrong, a few inquiries DID come in, but I wondered why our norm had decreased so dramatically with little else changing. So I decided to experiment.

I removed our packages from the site, simplified our services page, and almost immediately, noticed an uptick in the amount of inquiries that were coming in. I took this as a sign that 1) perhaps there was too much information to read through on our previous design and 2) people felt comfortable reaching out to SEE if we were within their budget.

After giving this some thought, I came into agreement with the first point. Of course I want to be transparent about what we do here at Rowan Made. But I also don’t want to overwhelm. So pairing things down, at least upfront, felt right.

It was the second point, however, that kept me feeling a bit stuck. While I want people to feel comfortable reaching out to us, I don’t particularly enjoy weeding out inquiries that are not a good fit. And sharing our pricing seemed to fix that. So, a compromise is sounding like the way to go, right? Totally. But first, a story. Because it’s going to help back up our approach in a hot sec. So stay with me. ;)

A few years ago, my partner and I decided to renovate our kitchen. The previous owners had already installed new hardwood flooring, but it didn’t match the original flooring throughout the rest of our house. Contractors suggested that we stain the kitchen flooring to “kind of” match, which made sense from a budgetary standpoint, but I still didn’t like it.

So I got on the internet, found a few installation companies, and decided to grab quotes. Two different people came over and talked through our options. One company, in particular, grabbed my attention. They were on time, organized, patient, personable, and excited about our overall direction. Shortly after, we received a quote for $5,000.

This was not in the budget and if I would have seen this number (or any hint of this number for that matter) while perusing their website, I can honestly say that I would have given up immediately … no questions asked. But that’s not what happened. We DID reach out, which in turn, gave us time to become open to the idea of spending more for something that made us both happy. And even though it was $5,000 over what we had originally planned, we said yes. And I’m so glad we did.

This experience inspired me to take a similar approach with Rowan Made. AKA, the compromise. Now, instead of sharing definitive numbers on our website, we have a budgetary range that people can select in our contact form. This way, more people feel comfortable reaching out, giving all parties a chance to become open to the idea of working together, so long as we're a good fit.

And then, if any inquiries express major concern with our budgetary range in the initial contact form, it’s easy for us to point them in a better direction. No harm done.

There are certainly pros and cons for whatever you choose to do. So play around, adjust, and find what feels good. Maybe you’ll even fall into a happy medium like us. The choice is always yours. ♡

Please note: This post was originally published in the Rowan Made newsletter on October 18th, 2018. If you like what you see, you can join us (most weeks) right here, since not all letters are shared on the blog. There are no opt-in promises or fancy worksheets on the other side. Just me, being honest with you.