CHARGE MORE!!!! People will pay for it!

I'd rather have 20 clients @ $7.00 because that's 18 more ppl I can upsell to.

It's better to have 2 clients at $50 than 20 clients at $5.

It sure is...

Yes indeed. Better to go for people with higher income! You can make more money better in the long run.

I think charging a fairly high price is especially
important if you're planning to have affiliates
make lots of sales for you... they expect to make
a decent return (and lots of them use PPC which
can be costly).

Clickbank apparently agrees... "Don't be afraid
to set a high price for your product, as long as
you're delivering serious value to buyers."
Pricing Your Product

Brian

I have experienced those people paying "little" money are even worse with trying to bargain and later on demanding refunds.

If i sell a book or report for $7 the chances are higher that the customer is some ch****ss who will find something to complain no matter what - while the one paying $90 for a product is actually truly interested in using the product.

I agree it might be wise to target the latter audience and NOT always attract the ones who have to think twice whether to spend $10 on a product or not.

I've decided to find an average between wanting people to actually Read my eBooks and wanting to make money from them. Not sure why I feel this way.

I agree with the OP.

From my ecommerce work, I've had a lot of experience with customers in a huge price-range (much bigger price-range than with my online/digital products).

The customers who suck up the most amount of support-time and do the most bitching and griping are almost inevitably those who made two-digit orders, not those who made four-digit orders...

Have a strict 'no refund policy' when the price is very low. That's quite acceptable, everybody understands. Use paypal.

If somebody like Bryan Kumar can come up with good info products that are reasonably priced, I really wonder. I have unsubscribed from all the 'usual suspects' lists with their $1997 products. They get a bit boring and predictable. At least that's what I think.

Oh dear ... not another $1997 pitch in my mailbox! Thank you very much.

The same counts for 'homestudy courses' with 20 dvd's ($997) or membershipsites ($97).
Who needs all this 'waffle' and 'handholding', if you can read the bottomline much clearer in a 20 page cheatsheet report priced $ 7 - $ 27?

Some food for thought....

All marketers are aware that 1,000 x 1,000 = 1 million


Sell 1,000 units of an item priced at $1,000 and you've got a million bucks.
Sell ~650 units of an item priced at $1,495 and you've got a million bucks.

And for all the $7 pricepoint fans who posted above.....

Sell ~140,000 units of an item priced at $7 and you've got a million bucks.


ps.....

I've noticed that a majority of launches by A-list marketers
sell product at the $1,395 to $1,695 pricepoint

Different strokes for different folks. There are plenty of newbie and part-time IM'ers out there who are perfectly content selling in the $7-$17 range and making a few hundred dollars a month. Even someone with minimal knowledge and ability can produce a decent info product in that price range. It's easy to put everyone in the same "I want to be a millionaire" box, but there are lots of marketers in our niche who just want to put some icing on their cake every month without having all the stress and risks associated with huge product launches with hefty price tags.

Plenty of room for everyone in this here ocean.

John

Thanks Maverick.

Different buyers have different quality.

If buyer A buys a $1000 product, from my own experience, he is more committed to working towards his own success.

For those who buy $7, most likely, the book is for a good read and chuck aside.

Many of us do that.

My 2 cents,
John

I sell hundreds of products.

I have items priced from $1 to $57.

There are days that I sell 2 or more copies of $1 products
and days when I sell 1 product worth over $20

Though I like seeing sales stats. I just don't feel happy to
see $1 sales coming in even if I had 2 or more in a day.

What makes me jump for joy is when I see those $20 in my stats.

Those things really make my day.

All the best,

it would have to depend if your product is crap. lol most of them are.

Well that's not really correct. There are big
companies that have made a fortune from
selling cheap stuff.

I do agree that high paying clients are normally better
than clients who buy only cheap products though.

I'd rather have any customers than none!!!

Why not have both types of products. At least you get to earn either of those - low or high priced.

It depends really

Depends on the product. If you have a high quality product then people will be happy to pay $97.00. For example, just the other day we sold a software for $67.00 and over 90 people paid resulting in sales over $6000+

Low priced reports and products are good for long-term and list building.

Low price = Low quality? I don't know why, but I get more sales when the price is higher. A friend of me split tested the prices:

a) $17 - b) $27 - c) $37

What do you think which price was the best? He tested it for one week and he actually had more sales at $37.

You have to find a balance. If something is priced to inexpensively there is a perception that is cheap. Yet it is also my opinion is to have a larger customer base rather than a just a few who pay a lot, it makes your business stronger because you do not rely to heavily on one customer, if you lose one occasionally it won't hurt your business.

but i've seen people ranting and screaming about $7,$17,$25 products. Some even saying they are "high ticket". The Net does seem a bit of "car boot sale." It is true though..the higher your price the more "qualtiy" customers you seem to get on a whole.

I would also rather charge more, if people join my list then I would rather have heavier spenders than $7 ebook purchasers due to the fact that virtually all of my mail shots would be promoting quite expensive IM products which people who are interested in $7 ebooks invariably will not end up purchasing.

I've found if you have a product that people want, then you can charge more. People will pay if they are serious about it. You will always get people complaining that its to expensive, but they are normally the people who will give up after a few hours of something.

Adam,

I blogger I speak to frequently related to me that sales, of his eBook (he sold over $200,000 worth last year), actually INCREASED when he raised his price...not only that, but customers would write to him and actually recommend that he raise his price, and not give away what they perceived as a being very valuable information, for so cheaply.

The same has been my experience. Pricing, in and of itself, can be a way to secure quality customers.

If you're going to charge $100 for a social bookmarking e-book that tells a novice the basics of how to use social bookmarking to get traffic to their website, I guess the person selling that ebook will lose all his reputation.

Price depends on value you offer to your customers.

If you're selling a $27 e-book, then you MUST provide value of at least $270 else it does NOT make sense for a buyer to buy your ebook or product.

You need to decide the price as per the value of what you're offering to your customers and not because you think whether they can afford your product or not.

If you wish to make more money, you need to provide MORE VALUE.

It has to be proven.

Very interesting thread and very good for those of us just starting out!

Provide good content & value & the rest will follow. I know someone who was failing miserably because the price was deemed too low! She raised her price & sales took off.

People will see the higher price as a higher quality issue. Most serious marketers tend to use a low-priced report simply to build a list. A list of people who have bought at any price is better than a list of people who have only come for a freebie. Yes, some of them are cheap, but it's much easier to upsell a previous buyer. You don't move them from $7 to $1997 in one step. Give them a $57 ebook next,, then a $197 product, then coaching, then live events, etc. You'll lose some in the process, but you'll gain a great customer base who will spend real money for what you offer. (Assuming you offer a quality product - If you offer crap, the you won;t last too long anyway.)

To some extent, I do agree with the OP.

He's right. Spot on.

If you're going to under-price your product or going to sell a product worth $7 only, I guess you're wasting your time and energy.

Better get paid more than think of making small chunks of money for the same amount of effort, maybe a little extra would be definitely worth it.

Value is relative, and what most people don't get in this business is that price is a function of what the person perceives they will get in return.

If I teach you how to make a million dollars, isn't that worth $50,000?

I would hasten to remind you all that a guy named
William Wrigley amassed a fortune selling nickel packs
of chewing gum.

If you're focused on the naive newbie make money
IM market then... sure... price it high and promote
the heck out of it...

But... there are MANY markets where substantial
money is available selling modestly priced how to
information material.

When was the last time you walked into Barnes & Noble
and found anything selling for $1997? They seem to doing
ok selling books under $50.

Tsnyder

To me, there are two ways of justifying higher prices. Either demand pushes the price up or the product provides better value. If you're just "acting as if", then in my view you're better off selling low priced products until you get there.

But like others have said, as long as you're not doing the work, there's huge value in selling things lower than your competition. Especially if you're product has any kind of viral nature to it.

When I see something being offered for $7 I just assume it isn’t worth much.

Whether you are selling a $7 product or a$7000 product the question is the same - how do you kow that it is worth that amount? Or better yet, how do you know that is all people will pay for it?

If you never test your prices you are just guessing. (Perhaps it’s an educated guess, but it’s still a guess). I’ve never seen a decrease in sales the first time I rasied the price of a product.

I understand the logic of selling a low cost product to start with and then upselling. But how to do you know $7 is the place to start? Maybe just as many people will buy your starter product at $27. Maybe not, but you’ll never know until you ask.

I just made another post that is similar in nature, only my post discusses increasing the prices of tangible merchandise. Perceived value by the consumer is a very powerful thing. If your price is too low, then there is no perceived value.

One thing that I don't understand is why the "gurus" like Eben Pegan, Frank Kern, Andy Jenkins, etc. have the $1997 courses, but they don't also sell less expensive, "lite versions" of their courses in the range of $97 to $497 let's say.

I guess you may say because they don't have to, they already make millions doing what they are doing. Yes, but they are excluding a very large piece of the market that either can't afford to spend $1997 or have not yet developed enough trust to spend that type of money.

If you can sell 100 products at $1997, why not sell an additional 1000 (maybe) at $97 and later on up-sell those people to the $1997 product.

Obviously, they know what they are doing, but I'm just curious.

John P

I decided some time ago to stop selling $7 e-books. After all, the effort it takes to drive traffic to get visitors for a $7 product is the same it takes for a $47, $97 or even more expensive. So why having all that work to sell $7 products?

Now, once you have visitors in your site, is easier to sell $7 products if you don't know or don't put effort in your conversions. Or it you don't plan rightly your sales funnel.

Someone told she prefers a lot of $7 buyers because then she can upsell. I prefer the opposite: get $97 visitors and if they don't buy present downsells.

But that's me...

Jorge

And it's better to have 2 clients at $5 than none at $50.

You have to go with what works. Some people get rich (or at least make a living) selling trinkets while others do the same selling big-ticket items.

You cannot look at price alone. There are so many factors that go into it, and price is but one of them.

Let's say you have a group of 1,000 prospects. Joe has a $50 product to sell. John has some $1-$5 products to sell. Who will have a more profitable day?

Now, let's say that the venue is a high school football game. Joe is selling an IM product and John runs the concession stand. Who will have a more profitable day?

Now, let's say that the venue is an online marketing conference. Joe may do better here, but John may do well too.

The price of the item being sold is just one factor. Other things to consider are wants vs. needs, value, quantity of prospects, quality of prospects, strength of marketing, business strategy, etc. Price alone is not going to be a determinate factor.

Another thing is what if you lose one of your customers? In that case, is it better to have 2 clients at $50 or 20 at $5? If you lose one customer, you'll have either 1 client at $50 or 19 at $5. Who would be better off?

The bottom line is that each situation carries its own risks, rewards and headaches.

As for whether "low-paying" customers cause more headaches, the marketing strategies being used to attract buyers may be a bigger factor in that than the price. Let's say you have Mike and Matt.

For Mike, $20 is like loose change in your pocket. He'll drop $20 on your product, read it and put it to use if it's applicable to him. If it's not applicable, he may not even request a refund, because it was only twenty bucks.

For Matt, that $20 is the difference between Ramen noodles and tomato packet soup and a more substantial dinner. If your product promised him riches, he's going to need to earn at least his $20 back. He may be more desperate. He may have more questions. He may have a need to back sure he's not spending additional money in vain. Should he buy a domain name? Is this a good domain name? Are you sure this will work? Why am I not seeing results yet? Did I do this right? Is this a good niche? Etc.

The issue isn't the price, but whether your marketing efforts are attracting more Matts than Mikes. The person with 20 Matts as $5 customers will be more frustrated than the person with 2 Mikes as $50 customers but, conversely, the person with 2 Matts as $50 customers will be more frustrated than the person with 20 Mikes as $5 customers.

I actually find it ironic that some people are pushing hard to win the debate here.

High-volume low-price selling can work. But you've to plan your operating cost and cash flow first. Do not jump into conclusion telling the world that if Walmart makes millions selling at low price so can anyone. Walmart has deep pocket remember? They can afford to incur loss for a time being and make profit later.

Low-volume high-price selling can work too. Again, it's about planning the cost and cash flow first. Don't believe? You can ask those traditional antique houses. They can afford not to make a sale for a year or two, and reap in profits in the third year. Just an example.

Stop pushing around those theories, guys. If it works for you, then it's yours. Let's get back to work and find out what's best for you.


Hardi

you have to consider the expectations though. the $5 per month people are likely to stick longer and you can upsell them easier then the $50 people, who might even ask for the refund at the end of the month

Why dont people just test and find out what works best for them?


Chris

Don't guess, test. Does not matter what you think the right answer is. Until you test at least the most common permutations, you won't know what your potential audience is or is not willing to pay for your product.

TomG.

This principle is fine.

But ONLY on the condition that you can give value based on the price you charge. If it is and you support the people that become your clients, they will become your raving fans.

If you over charge and under deliver... expect to go back to selling $7 e-books pretty quick.

Quality as in being realistic about expectations. Not biting my head off because I didn't email them back within 1 hour or demanding a refund becasue they failed to make money within 20 minutes. Paying their dues.

The people who are true business people realizing good products/service etc does cost a bit of money. I pay my accountant $1,000+ no questions asked...yet I have people ranting at me for a $27 piece of software. Threatning to "expose me" Calling me scam before I even had the opportunity to reply. It's draining. I am glad I got out of it.

The people who pay their lawyers top fees to protect their business, knowing generally you get what you pay for. I am talknig about people who really can afford to spend $5,000, $10,000,$50,000 to get what they want as opposoed to the "pretenders".

You know what I mean. The difference between trying to sell your service to the Jerry Springer crowd or the country club crowd. It's not that difficult.

We might be missing something out here, the question to ask is what makes people buy, is it the price, the product, the advert or the sales person......

The No1 reason is not actually non of the above, its the VALUE. people will pay any amount of money for any product that is valuable for them at the point in time.

So i suggest instead of reducing the price of your product, just add a value to to it and even opt the price, you will be supprice how much more you will sell.

holy crap man, a $7 ebook? lol I agree, if you are a quality writer people will pay for it

I agree. Price also affects the perceived value of what you offer. If 2 ebooks have the exact same content and just different titles and cover, the one that is sold $50 vs the one that is $7 will be perceived as much higher quality than the $7 one. Not everyone goes for the cheaper price because some people prefer quality.
It's just how society works, we always associate price with quality.

True but then again those who are able to pay more probably already know how to profit and that means they are only looking for products which can make their business even better.

So personally my mentality is if I'm launching a new unique method or concept then price it cheap so those who actually need it can afford it since if I price it high anyways those who need it can't afford it and those who can afford it don't know their need for it.

I understand the premise of your post, in fact, I've proven it to myself thanks to some customers who told me I should be charging more for my first product. I raised the price twice and sales increased both times.

However, a person can't just raise their price because they decide to increase their self-perception of their value. Higher prices means the product creator has an increased responsibility to deliver value equal to or greater than the higher price.

Not everyone wants that increased responsibility, and not everyone knows how to increase the value of their products beyond what they are already doing.

Additionally, lower priced products have their own set of benefits that are more difficult to achieve with a higher end product, especially for beginners. My products range in price from $10 to $197. Believe me, the intent behind them is different. The ten dollar product is to get someone to buy something and have them experience the quality of my work so they'll learn to trust me and buy something more expensive later on. Ten dollars worth of trust is easier to sell than $197 worth of trust.

Having said all that, I do agree with you that many people underestimate what their knowledge is worth.

Yes, you can sell bigger tag items. Perhaps you even should. Those $7 ebooks will never make you any serious money.

When it comes to pricing, especially online, people have no control over the notion that expensive(or pricier) equates better. That's what I learnt from Frank Kern, and it's darn true.

Then again, the product had better offer quality that's at least ten times what it's priced at.

Regards
Lazy Bryan

Why Only products? It applies to service too.
We see people do negative marketing and sell same service at ridiculously low price. Of course people get attracted to them and it ends up at poor service, loss to buyer and loss to quality seller. If a quality seller is getting competition from cheap provider then after some time he will be forced to think negative.
Not only buyer but we IMrs also need to pay attention to quality provider.

Thanks,
Ed

There is a caveat, I'll give something away for free as an inducement to get on a list.

Perfect line Nathan. You said words of my heart.
In fact fears are more deeper i am sure.
What if a provider is giving you technical support/service at price closer to nothing. Obviously he will be using pirated software because we all know pro softwares are costly. So when one buy such service, actually he is supporting piracy and we all know piracy is supported by whom and whom it supports.
So we must take care that we do healthy business and at the end of the we want to earn for our families, going this way how can we give em a safe future.
These are my personal worries and thoughts, No offence. But really we should create healthy competition.
Cut throat competition is good but competition to cut throat is not good at all.

Cheers,
Ed McMillan

WOW, I'll be rich! I can start selling M&M packs for $100 each! Nah, how about PER PIECE!?!?!?

Steve

We all need to keep a balance between everything. Having a lot of people read your hard work but not getting paid enough is bad in a way. And getting a lot of money but not having too many people read is bad in another way. So we should keep a balance.

It's kinda sad, imho, that so many things are so cheap here. In the end, it devalues the quality of the products because you now get people griping when they have to pay $20 for a product that is worth $200 or asking for refunds on $5 products because they are uber cheap.

Many great marketers will be drawn away from the warrior forum, simply because of these factors. Again, my opinion, but what I know, I wouldn't sell for $20 or even $200. Maybe $20,000 just because I know how valuable it is.

Again, my opinion,

Frank

James schramko says people who pay more complain less the ones expecting free stuff complain the most.

Pricing is important, obviously. And there's some good advice on this thread, mixed in with some really bad advice. lol

(Test and) Do what works best for your market / niche. But don't assume anything unless you've seen real, verifiable proof of it...preferably through your own testing and tracking.

And, also keep in mind that there are some books/reports that guys like Paul Myers and Allen Says have sold for as low as $10 to $30, which have been responsible for creating many of the big names and IM empires that you see around you today.

Also, some of the big names of today continue to drive traffic to their site by offering a FREE report or video. I just got an email from a big name today, went to the site, and found real good value from the free video. (If you do it right, it works.)

The worst thing you can do in marketing, and in life, is to quickly throw everything into one convenient group just to support your own existing belief or assumption. Very dangerous!

There are almost always exceptions to the rule.

Bryan

I've just been dealing with tickets for one business that has about 7000ish customers paying a few dollars to a few hundred dollars each a month. Guess who complains the most?

If you said the cheap customers you would be wrong. They are the second biggest group.

No - it's people on the free trial.

What you say is so on point. But a lot of people feel that the cheaper their product is that they will draw more customers. Because everybody love a good Bargain.

Hello,

There was a time a guide like this would be selling for 27.00 but as you can see people who can't market keep lowering the price and you see all these 7.00 guides. Just think you have to sell about 4 @ 7.00 to one 27.00 guide. Doing 4 times as much work and 4 times asmany people. Do the math convert 2% of 500 people see who makes more money the 7.00guy or the 27.00 guy? Do the right thing lets get ebook prices back up to where we makereal money.

500 @ 2% = 10

10 x 27.00 = 270.00

10 x 7.00 = 70.00

38.5 x 7.0 = 269.50

So at 2% you need about 4 times as many lets say you paid .15 per click

500 x 4 (times as many) = 2000 x .15 (per click) = 300.00
you converted 2% for a total of 269.00 but paid 300.00 in clicks

Do I need to say more

Stop selling to cheap

Richard Dean