Pricing Pages Are Sweet Marketing Opportunities

One of the key questions asked by consumers is how much a product costs. Once you have them interested in your product, cost is often a key hurdle before they become a customer.

Pricing is important so it is puzzling to see so many startups treat their pricing pages as second-class citizens. While startups spend time making sure the home page resonates, their pricing pages are dull and uninspiring. Most of them simply have basic information – the cost and, if applicable, the different packages.

That is not only a big mistake but a lost opportunity for a startup to demonstrate their creativity and ability to effectively market and sell.

When you think about it, pricing pages are really vehicles for storytelling. On the pricing page, a startup can not only deliver basic information (e.g. price) but engage and entertain audiences. In other words, a little creativity can go a long way to close deals.

Let’s take a look at a few examples to demonstrate the different approaches to the pricing page:

Analytics Canvas: The pricing page has a lot of product details about the four packages and an offer to start a free trial, although you can’t tell what the product actually does.

The adjectives I would use to describe this page is “fine” or “typical”. It’s workman-like but has no sizzle. In some respects, the page is overwhelming because there is so much information.

There is also no guidance on the target audiences for each package. As a result, a potential customer must review each package to figure out what could best for them (aka work).

So let’s take a look at a different approach to a pricing page used by BuzzSumo, which provides insight into successful content and the influencers that amplify it.

What I like about BuzzSumo’s pricing page is it clear about not only the price but the specific kind of customer for each package.

The free service, for example, is “for individuals who want to search for the most shared content, influencers and track mentions of a brand or topic”. The “Pro” service is “ideal for small teams and content campaigns. Discover track and analyze the content that resonates with your audience”.

If you’re a potential BuzzSumo customer, the company make it easy to quickly get pricing and, as important, the pick the package that meets your needs.

BuzzSumo also subtly recommends the package it wants to sell by giving “Agency” a different colour and positioning. The best part is BuzzSumo didn’t have to do a lot of work to make it pricing page more effective and efficient.

If you’re looking for creative approach to the pricing page, check out Spreedly, which helps online retailers store and tokenize credit card data from multiple locations.

Using a slider to select the number of gateways, Spreedly’s pricing page makes it easy for potential customers to see how much the service will cost them. It’s engaging and customer-centric, which are terrific attributes for anything done by a startup.

Another company using an interactive slider is Padiact, which offers a service to drive email leads. Look at how Padiact asks customers how many subscribers they plan to collect, and then provides a little bit of information about each monthly package.

Bottom line: Convincing a potential customer to become a customer is a multi-faceted process. After a customer looks at benefits and features, it is a shame if your pricing page causes someone to abandon a purchase.

With a little creativity and a focus on meeting the needs of the customer, it is easy to make pricing pages an interesting part of the buyer’s journey.

For start-ups and fast-growing companies looking to jump-start their marketing, I offer strategic guidance and tactical execution for core messaging, strategic planning and content development services.