I think that in the world of B2B, the website isn't meant to sell product; it's meant to start a conversation/look legitimate. Sounding like your competitors == legitimacy.
All of the real sales and marketing is done offline
Tell me what your company does
121–130 of 195 posts
Re: Tell me what your company does
#122I think the main problem is that people assume that in order to sell expensive products/services, the website needs to have 50 pages and feel like a complex entity. We sell a B2B UI Design service to web and mobile development companies, all we have is a simple one pager that doesn't do anything except explain in plain-english what the service is about. We have people buying/subscribing to our service sometimes as fa…
It all depends on what kind of business you are running. Your 2k design package might be great for someone on a budget but a large number of businesses want value and don't focus on price. Ironically you are attracting a certain kind of client yourself. You post about attracting 300 clients but do you talk about the quality of life of your employees? Do hey work minimum wage? Outsourced to India? I have no idea what kind of quality of life you create for your employees at your rates. Not to mention you are selling a commodity not a specialized service so to say that people are blissfully unaware of affordable companies like yours might be better achieved on junk showcase sites like dribbble - spew out a bunch of garbage and see what sticks.
Re: Tell me what your company does
#123Reminds me of "I am Pied Piper": http://siliconcali.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/I_AM_PIED_...
Re: Tell me what your company does
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
I felt that way in my 20's too. I have since grown up and made a lot of money realizing I was wrong, but I still feel that way.
So... why is he wrong?
There are a number of reasons some websites do not list prices:
1. Pricing sets the wrong expectation for the true price you may actually pay once you get all the features you need and may not be aware of thus making the sale more difficult.
2. Pricing sets a transactional tone vs a mutually beneficial relationship
3. Pricing anchors your mind set to how much something costs vs how much value / ROI you get out of that product or service.
All of these do disservice to seeker and provider.
Re: Tell me what your company does
#125Re: Tell me what your company does
#126I blame A/B testing actually. Too many folks run experiments without choosing which metric to optimize carefully. Here, marketers probably monitor click-through rates of their main homepage buttons. And unfortunately, if you change the landing page text from a few actually descriptive sentences to the BS described in this article, you probably end up with higher click through rates on your buttons.
I run a/b tests and this is the furthest from the truth. A good tester works with professional copywriters who create clarity not add to confusion.
Re: Tell me what your company does
#127> the more expensive the service a B2B company provides, the more incomprehensible its website > I think the big companies do it to get you on the phone — so they can upsell. I was thinking these things, and then BOOM, he says what I'm thinking haha. These are sales oriented companies. By contrast, B2C is quantity oriented. They need more customers buying their mostly undifferentiated price tiers. Selling expensive p…
You may want to get them "confused" (or, to use a more positive phrase, excited), but crucially, you don't want them to get sticker shock. Most software is essentially free on the margin. You don't want to leave $20k on the table by scaring them with a $40k price tag, but you also don't want to charge someone who'd be happy to pay you $50k tens of thousands less, just because you felt called to put a number on your w…
That kind of pricing is bad in the long run, though, because that customer who paid $50k is eventually going to learn that their competitor only paid you $20k and then they're going to be pissed at you about it forever and ever.
Re: Tell me what your company does
#128I always assumed this is just the result of the people who design the site not knowing what the company does.
Designers have nothing to do with it. Most designers unless specifically hired to also write copy, use placeholder text. It's usually the inhouse marketing person who has marketing language fatigued drilled down from their bosses that can't think straight to get the right words out. I don't blame those people, I feel sorry for them.
Re: Tell me what your company does
#129I can understand avoiding clickbait, but it seems that HN has a policy of making sure titles are sufficiently boring. Originally this post's title matched the blog post's title:
> For the love of God, please tell me what your company does
Adds some flair. Expresses the sentiment of the article. Now it simply says:
> Tell me what your company does
On the other hand, HN is an impressively effective, open minded atmosphere for discussion. The bit of pruning that is done must be working. I wonder if this policy somehow leads to success overall.
Re: Tell me what your company does
#130I can understand avoiding clickbait, but it seems that HN has a policy of making sure titles are sufficiently boring. Originally this post's title matched the blog post's title: > For the love of God, please tell me what your company does Adds some flair. Expresses the sentiment of the article. Now it simply says: > Tell me what your company does On the other hand, HN is an impressively effective, open minded atmosph…
I've been wondering the same thing. It does, sometimes, seem to come across a bit like the thought police...