If you review your chat transcripts (the saved records of chat conversations), one question will likely appear more than any other, which is some version of "how much does this cost?" It is often the first question visitors ask. How your chatbot answers it affects how many visitors become leads (people who share contact details so you can follow up) more than any other part of the conversation.
Many businesses handle this question poorly, and they usually make one of two mistakes.
Two common mistakes with price questions
The first mistake is deflection, which means avoiding the question. A typical example is "Pricing depends on your needs, can I get your email and someone will follow up?" Visitors understand this, correctly, as a refusal. They asked a direct question, received no answer, and are now asked for contact details before they can learn anything. Many of them will close the page and ask a competitor who does answer.
The second mistake is over-answering. If you give a full price list to someone whose situation you know nothing about, they may compare prices using a number that does not apply to them. It also ends the conversation just as it was about to become useful, because once visitors have a number, they often see no reason to keep talking.
Both mistakes have the same cause. The business treats the price as a single fact to share or withhold, when it should be the start of a conversation.
Give a range, then ask a question to narrow it
A better answer looks like the following example.
"Most jobs like this land between six and nine hundred. It depends mainly on access and how much has to come out. What are you looking at?"
This answer does three useful things. First, it treats the question as reasonable, which sets you apart from businesses that avoid it. Second, it lets visitors who cannot afford the range see that early, which saves both of you an unnecessary phone call. Third, it ends with a question the visitor is glad to answer, because answering it will get them a more accurate price.
The answer also avoids two problems. It does not promise a price the business cannot honor, and it does not ask for an email address before giving any information.
This article is part of our guide to answering the price question without losing the lead.
Explain what the price depends on
Sometimes the price really does vary, and saying so is acceptable. However, "it depends" on its own tells the visitor nothing, and visitors often take it as avoiding the question.
By contrast, "It depends on square footage and whether the existing floor has to come up" gives the visitor useful information. It explains what affects the price, it shows that you have experience with this kind of work, and it often leads the visitor to share both details without being asked. In this way, the visitor's own question helps you qualify the lead, that is, learn whether they are a good fit.
A simple test helps here. If your pricing answer would leave a stranger knowing no more than before they asked, it needs more information.
What if you genuinely cannot publish a number
Some businesses have a real reason not to publish a price, such as custom work with many variables, negotiated contracts, or prices set by regulation. Even then, you can almost always say something accurate, such as one of the following.
- A floor. A floor is your minimum price. Saying "We do not usually take projects under about two thousand" costs you nothing and saves time for visitors whose projects are too small.
- A unit. You can give a price per room, per user, per visit, or per month. Even when the quantity is unknown, a unit price helps the visitor estimate the total.
- A comparison. For example, "About the same as a mid-range replacement, and less than a full rebuild." People judge prices by comparing them with things they already know.
- A typical case. For example, "A three-bedroom home in this area usually costs X." This is specific and honest, and it is clearly not a formal quote.
If none of these options is possible, ask yourself why, because your competitors are finding something to say. When a business cannot state any number in public, the usual reason is that it has not yet decided how to set its prices.
Give the chatbot your real pricing information
This is a strong reason to give your chatbot your actual price ranges, written into its conversation steps or the business information it answers from, rather than vague approved phrases. If you would give a range over the phone, the chatbot should be able to give it at 10pm on a Sunday, when many of these questions arrive.
There are two cautions. First, the pricing information must be current, because a chatbot quoting last year's prices does more harm than one that says nothing. Second, the chatbot needs clear permission to say it does not know, so that an unusual question gets a reply such as "I am not sure, let me get you to somebody who is" instead of a confident but wrong answer.
What to do after giving the price
The price answer belongs in the middle of the conversation rather than at the end. Once the visitor has a range and has told you a little about their situation, it is the best time to ask for contact details, because you have already given them something useful.
The order matters more than the exact wording. When you ask for a phone number before answering, visitors feel they must pay to get information. Asked afterward, it feels like the natural next step, and visitors are much more likely to respond.
When you ask, explain what will happen next in a way the visitor can check. "Someone will call you before 5pm today" works better than "we will be in touch." It is more reassuring, and it is a specific promise the visitor can check. If nobody is going to call before 5pm, do not make that promise.
When to give an exact price instead of a range
Ranges are the right choice for custom work, but many businesses do not do custom work and should not price as if they did. If you charge a fixed fee for a cleaning, a consultation, a service call, or a monthly plan, state the fixed fee. A range for something with one price looks evasive, and the visitor may assume the highest price applies to them.
The same applies to the call-out fee, the charge for coming to the customer's location, which many trades businesses do not mention. Visitors learn about it eventually, and learning about it at the door is much worse for you than in the chat. If you state the fee early, you lose only the people who were never going to pay it, and you earn the trust of everyone else.
A simple rule can help you decide. If two customers with the same request would be charged the same amount, publish the amount. If they would not, publish the range and the reasons the prices differ. Almost every pricing answer fits one of these two cases. Businesses usually run into trouble when they describe a fixed price as a range because a range feels safer.
Follow up quickly after collecting contact details
All of this work is wasted if your follow-up is slow. If a visitor gets a good pricing answer, gives you their phone number, and then hears nothing for two days, you have not gained a lead. Instead, you have given that person a reason to be unhappy with your business, and they will likely remember it.
Before you turn any of this on, make sure of three things. New leads should go somewhere a staff member already checks, one named person should be responsible for responding, and the response time you promise should be short and realistic. Speed matters a great deal here, because the visitor is comparing you with whichever business answers first.
A short checklist
- Answer the question. Give a range, a minimum price, a unit price, or a comparison.
- Say what affects the price. Two factors are usually enough.
- Ask one question back. Ask for the detail that would narrow the range the most.
- Then ask for contact details, only after you have answered.
- Promise a specific follow-up time you can actually meet.
- Read the transcripts monthly to see where visitors leave during the pricing conversation.
Many businesses avoid discussing price because they are afraid of being compared with competitors. However, visitors compare businesses anyway. When you answer plainly, your business is included in that comparison rather than left out, and that usually costs you less.
Related reading: How Website Chatbots Capture More Leads, Chatbot Lead Qualification: Convert Visitors into Customers.
To see how Alma is set up for different kinds of businesses, browse chatbot builders by industry.
