'Use it' says 'Price it'

Posted on December 27, 2006 by Dave J.

It’s an annual ritual for webmasters: reading Jakob Nielsen’s annual Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design. The list seems very, very basic at first, but there are a lot of B2B marketers making these mistakes:

  1. Bad Search
  2. PDF Files for Online Reading
  3. Not Changing the Color of Visited Links
  4. Non-Scannable Text
  5. Fixed Font Size
  6. Page Titles With Low Search Engine Visibility
  7. Anything That Looks Like an Advertisement
  8. Violating Design Conventions
  9. Opening New Browser Windows
  10. Not Answering Users’ Questions

One thru nine are are truly mistakes. PDFs (2) and Non-scannable text (4) are good lessons that B2B webmasters should pay particular attention to.

But he hits us B2B folks squarely with number 10 (and this is not the first time he’s done so):

“The worst example of not answering users’ questions is to avoid listing the price of products and services. No B2C ecommerce site would make this mistake, but it’s rife in B2B, where most “enterprise solutions” are presented so that you can’t tell whether they are suited for 100 people or 100,000 people.

Price is the most specific piece of info customers use to understand the nature of an offering, and not providing it makes people feel lost and reduces their understanding of a product line. We have miles of videotape of users asking “Where’s the price?” while tearing their hair out.”

Where’s the price, indeed! We have a lot of reasons for hiding our prices, and for capital equipment like mine, the stakes are pretty high. Still, a price barometer might be an interesting tool to use instead. Something needs to be done, especially if you have 26 different types of the same product in your line. Maybe we should discuss this further.

BTW: Found an older post I did with sage advise from Jakob for B2B websites to create ‘advocate tools’. Conquer the price issue and make some of these tools and your website will be tons more effective and loved than the competition.

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  • Jon Miller

    Dave Martin over at B2BLabs blog has a similar post that’s worth checking out:
    http://b2blabs.com/usability/transparent-prices

  • Jon Miller

    Dave Martin over at B2BLabs blog has a similar post that’s worth checking out: http://b2blabs.com/usability/transparent-prices

  • Dave J.

    Thanks Jon. I am also an early subscriber B2BLabs blog and had seen that post. Actually wanted to comment on it, but he doesn’t have comments active.

    The truth it isn’t as simple as putting up a price. But it is a goal worth working towards.

  • Dave J.

    Thanks Jon. I am also an early subscriber B2BLabs blog and had seen that post. Actually wanted to comment on it, but he doesn’t have comments active.The truth it isn’t as simple as putting up a price. But it is a goal worth working towards.

  • Anonymous

    Dave, I don’t know your business like you do, but why not put up a range of pricing (e.g. $1 to $100) for each of your 26 different types of the same product? Along with each price range, give the parameters of how the price would go up or down from the published minimum (unless proprietary). Put a disclaimer that the price could go further up or down under specific (list them) circumstances, if it is appropriate and not proprietary.

    This would not be as clear, complete, and specific as “off the shelf” product pricing, which you could do with standard product package pricing, if applicable. But, at least there would be a “ballpark” price that the buyer or specifier could get a general idea about before he is forced to contact your sales/engineering department.

    If your “enterprise solutions” have many options, don’t be afraid to enumerate the more commonly well known solutions. Be vaigue, if you have to, with propietary ones. That could even entice a phone call conversion if the prospect suspects that you have a custom solution to his problem. Maybe your version of my initial idea will work out to be your “price barometer” you wanted to discuss.

    Don’t ever think that competitors don’t have ways of finding out your pricing, and maybe even your approximate profit margins, if they really want to. The value of quality, service, combined with competitive pricing is what makes for loyal customers.

  • Anonymous

    Dave, I don’t know your business like you do, but why not put up a range of pricing (e.g. $1 to $100) for each of your 26 different types of the same product? Along with each price range, give the parameters of how the price would go up or down from the published minimum (unless proprietary). Put a disclaimer that the price could go further up or down under specific (list them) circumstances, if it is appropriate and not proprietary.This would not be as clear, complete, and specific as “off the shelf” product pricing, which you could do with standard product package pricing, if applicable. But, at least there would be a “ballpark” price that the buyer or specifier could get a general idea about before he is forced to contact your sales/engineering department.If your “enterprise solutions” have many options, don’t be afraid to enumerate the more commonly well known solutions. Be vaigue, if you have to, with propietary ones. That could even entice a phone call conversion if the prospect suspects that you have a custom solution to his problem. Maybe your version of my initial idea will work out to be your “price barometer” you wanted to discuss.Don’t ever think that competitors don’t have ways of finding out your pricing, and maybe even your approximate profit margins, if they really want to. The value of quality, service, combined with competitive pricing is what makes for loyal customers.

  • Dave J.

    Anon–Great comments. You are on the right track. (BTW, those aren’t my 26 chairs, but I know that is a problem with Steelcase’s website.

    I don’t think the problem with published pricing is the competition so much. I’ll discuss that further in the near future.

  • Dave J.

    Anon–Great comments. You are on the right track. (BTW, those aren’t my 26 chairs, but I know that is a problem with Steelcase’s website.I don’t think the problem with published pricing is the competition so much. I’ll discuss that further in the near future.

  • Anonymous

    Dave, I’m skimming what I read too much these days, as I didn’t even click on the “26 chair” link. I do know your product line from an observer perspective only. Since you say “I don’t think the problem with published pricing is the competition so much.”, I will be interested to see what you feel are the main problems.

    I can only think of one other main problem. That is, unintentionally creating pricing misperceptions in the prospect’s mind before you have an opportunity (on the phone, by e-mail, snail mail, or in person) to correct any of those incorrect assumptions.

    Most buyers/specifiers know that if evidence of superior quality is given them on a website, then a higher price can be justified in most cases. But, I must admit that it is a fine line between satisfying, upfront, buyer’s pricing curiosity, and risking incorrect assumptions due to a lack of good communication in a website or ignorance on the part of the buyer/specifier.

  • Anonymous

    Dave, I’m skimming what I read too much these days, as I didn’t even click on the “26 chair” link. I do know your product line from an observer perspective only. Since you say “I don’t think the problem with published pricing is the competition so much.”, I will be interested to see what you feel are the main problems.I can only think of one other main problem. That is, unintentionally creating pricing misperceptions in the prospect’s mind before you have an opportunity (on the phone, by e-mail, snail mail, or in person) to correct any of those incorrect assumptions. Most buyers/specifiers know that if evidence of superior quality is given them on a website, then a higher price can be justified in most cases. But, I must admit that it is a fine line between satisfying, upfront, buyer’s pricing curiosity, and risking incorrect assumptions due to a lack of good communication in a website or ignorance on the part of the buyer/specifier.

  • dave

    Wow, thanks for the heads up about my comments being turned off. Man I feel dumb. They should be on now.

    - B2BLabs

  • dave

    Wow, thanks for the heads up about my comments being turned off. Man I feel dumb. They should be on now.- B2BLabs

  • master

    how about the navigations and links placement? shouldn’t they be considered as part of the mistakes that most webmasters make in web design?

    just asking…though… and thank you very much for the great and valuable information in this blog of yours.

  • master

    how about the navigations and links placement? shouldn’t they be considered as part of the mistakes that most webmasters make in web design?just asking…though… and thank you very much for the great and valuable information in this blog of yours.

  • Dave J.

    Master, thanks for joining the discussion. I think that Jakob’s list is so basic that Navigation ends up as #11 or so. Maybe next year.

  • Dave J.

    Master, thanks for joining the discussion. I think that Jakob’s list is so basic that Navigation ends up as #11 or so. Maybe next year.