Web Copywriting
What to Put on a Pricing Page When You Cannot Publish Prices
Not every business can publish a price list. That is not a reason to publish nothing, and "contact us for a quote" is not a pricing page.
Plenty of businesses genuinely cannot publish fixed prices. The work varies too much, the scope depends on a conversation, or the number would be meaningless without context. What tends to follow is a pricing page containing one sentence and a form, which helps nobody and quietly loses buyers who were willing to pay.
What a Buyer Is Actually Trying to Do
Someone on your pricing page is not usually trying to buy. They are trying to work out whether this is worth a conversation — whether you are the sort of supplier who charges hundreds or tens of thousands, and whether that fits what they have.
That question can almost always be answered without a price list. It is the failure to answer it at all that sends people to a competitor who did.
Five Things You Can Publish Instead
- A starting point: "From $X" tells a buyer the order of magnitude without committing you to a number for their specific job.
- A worked example: Describe a real project and what it cost. One concrete example is worth more than a range.
- What moves the price: Say plainly which factors push a quote up — volume, complexity, deadline, research. It reads as honest and it pre-qualifies.
- A typical range: "Most projects fall between X and Y" sets expectations while making clear that yours might not.
- Who you are not for: Naming the budget you cannot serve saves everyone a meeting, and buyers trust a supplier who turns work away.
The Fear, and Whether It Is Justified
The usual objection is that publishing anything about price lets competitors undercut you and scares off buyers before you can sell to them.
Competitors can find your pricing regardless — they only need to request a quote. What secrecy actually costs you is the buyer who never got far enough to be sold to.
Selling to someone who already knows roughly what it costs is easier than selling to someone whose first reaction to the number is surprise.
What Not to Do
Avoid a page that lists three tiers with the price replaced by "Contact us" on every one. It looks like a price list with the useful part deliberately removed, which is exactly how it reads to a buyer.
Avoid vague reassurance too. "Competitive pricing" and "affordable rates" say nothing, and every competitor says them as well.
A Structure That Works
- Open by saying honestly why the work is quoted rather than listed.
- Give a starting point or a typical range straight after, before anything else.
- Explain the two or three factors that move a quote most.
- Show one worked example with a real number attached.
- Close with what you need in order to quote, so the next step is obvious and small.
If you would like this written for your own service, that is part of what our web copywriting service covers.