Case Study: Offering Prices v. Offering Quotes

As Boostability expands into international markets, making sure everything is translated into the proper languages is a rather large and vital part of the process. Finding the best translation services is key to helping the transition into foreign languages run smoothly.

So to find the best translation services, naturally I turned to Google. I quickly found numerous reputable-looking companies that offer translation services for technical and marketing documents. What I didnโ€™t find, however, was a lot of pricing information.

Only three results on the first results page had any sort of pricing information. In fact, I ventured onto the second SERP (gasp!) because most of the companies on the first page didnโ€™t list any upfront pricing. Rather, each website had an abundance of โ€œrequest a free quoteโ€ buttons and forms. From two pages of results I had only four websites that gave me a ballpark estimate for my projects.

Why? Why do 80% of the companies worthy of the top spots in a Google search not list their prices? Twitter bird icon They’re hesitant to list the info for competitors to see? The prices are fully dependent on a lot of different variables and details? The companies want to capture my email so they could spam my inbox?

For those of you familiar with Marcus Sheridan and his attitude toward content marketing, you know the above reasons are ridiculous. Providing the information that potential customers seek is one of the strongest marketing tactics a company can employ. Twitter bird icon

I get that different projects cost different amounts, all based on specific variables, which is why Iโ€™m okay that two of the websites gave me an estimated price range, rather than a hard, fast price. At least I know what range Iโ€™m looking at, which is a lot better than knowing nothing at all and waiting for a sales-heavy email to show up that Iโ€™m going to have to unsubscribe from later, all just to find out an estimate.

In this case, I didnโ€™t fill out a single โ€œrequest a quoteโ€ form. I did, however, write down the prices from the four websites that listed them. And when we are ready to have our documents translated? Iโ€™m going to go with one of the four options that gave me a price up front.

I want quick, simple information, and I want it when I search for it. Twitter bird icon The companies that give me that information up front are the companies that will get my business. I donโ€™t have the time or patience to beat around the bush and get sucked into some companyโ€™s email list. No, the four companies that gave me the information I sought today do not have my contact information, but they each have a 25% chance of getting my business when Iโ€™m ready to buyโ€”which is 25% more of a chance than any of the โ€œrequest a quoteโ€ companies have.

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Jeremy Lindstrรถm

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  1. […] Case Study: Offering Prices v. Offering Quotes | Boostability Blog. […]

  2. Maria Williams on July 8, 2015 at 12:38 pm

    Jeremy, I like this article because it happened to me several times in the past. I always choose to go to the company that shows me what I want and need to see at the moment, rather than wait.

  3. Jamison Michael Furr on July 8, 2015 at 1:51 pm

    Thanks for the insight, Jeremy! So, in all seriousness (and I’m not meaning to spark a big debate here), but what are your thoughts on our use of the “request a free quote”? Do you feel posting actual prices would be better?

  4. Renee Pugh Smith on July 9, 2015 at 7:41 pm

    What if NONE of the other companies in the same field put their prices on their website?

    • Jamison Michael Furr on July 10, 2015 at 1:32 pm

      Hm, you could look at that 2 ways I suppose. 1. You could get away with not putting price because no one else is either – it wouldn’t count against you or 2. It could be one heck of an opportunity to really stand out and differentiate yourself from the competition.

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