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Why are clients shocked by the price for web development?

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Re: Why are clients shocked by the price for web development?

#31

Post by evdawg »

This is an extremely complicated question. I run a UI/UX studio here in Toronto and we go all up and down the spectrum, with some clients being shocked at our prices for web design/development but we've also lost jobs from other prospective clients because our prices were too low (no joke).

It depends on two things:

  1. Where you get your business

  2. Who your competition is
For many, #2 depends on #1. We see three main sources of business: Google (we rank highly for 'Toronto web design'), Dribbble (we have the 2nd most followers in Toronto, and 8th in Canada), and of course, referrals.

Dribbble leaves us with clients with the biggest budgets, who aren't afraid of 5-figure prices for web design. This is where we're competing with other high-end designers and thus our prices are more in-line with theirs.

Referrals are the strongest leads, with clients who when they don't have larger budgets are more comfortable stretching a bit because of our strong work for a friend or mutual acquaintance (and we're often happy to mark down a bit for a referral).

Leads from Google are where the clients who get really shocked come in; they don't really understand or appreciate the work that needs to go into good, iterative, considered UI/UX (and the custom development that goes along with it). The competition here includes a swath of companies who game SEO and outsource work offshore, and they can charge considerably less. Thus, our prices look unreasonably higher to the untrained eye.

There's also a phenomenon where cheaper clients expect more. If you move up in terms of positioning yourself as premium, better clients will consider you and your services-- the types of clients who aren't shocked by "high prices" for design and/or development.

So, if you find all of your clients are shocked at your prices, you're not marketing towards the right clients.

I would also highly recommend listening to patio11's podcast #3 about making more as a consultant: http://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/10/10/kalzumeus-podcast-3-grow..., and charging more http://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/09/21/ramit-sethi-and-patrick-...

Re: Why are clients shocked by the price for web development?

#32

Post by _mpf »

vinceguidry wrote: post #29
blindhippo wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cut my teeth building wordpress/drupal brochure sites for small businesses. I have inherited custom web sites for these customers who got duped by some punk developer who didn't feel like using an established solution. I want to punch all developers in the mouth who think a custom application for this type of situation is a good idea. They give us all a bad name and exacerbate the cost problem.

I want to smack all the developers and designers who think Wordpress is "good enough". It's not. It's an unmaintainable mess. Every client-run Wordpress site I touch is disgustingly out of date and everything added since the first design looks like crayon drawings done by five-year olds with ADD. I don't see much Drupal in the wild so I can't comment on that. Web development has not reached the state where non-techni…

@vinceguidry IMHO being out of date isn`t a WordPress problem, it`s a clients or a developer problem. Any software must be upgraded from time to time.

Can you suggest any more elegant solution? In my opinion WordPress is good solution with great community.

With many different people you get a lot of different levels of deployment, so maybe you didn`t have a luck?

Re: Why are clients shocked by the price for web development?

#33

Post by jroseattle »

I've found that most of the confusion comes from a mis-understanding of the service that is being provided.

My clients understand they're not buying a blog, or an e-commerce shopping cart, or a newsletter system, or {insert some feature here}. Rather, they're paying for my time and expertise -- and to provide that in context of what they want.

Any time I've encountered a customer who has sticker shock, I've always focused on making sure they knew what they were buying. More often than not, that always made customers much more comfortable. And, in a few cases, I explained that they should look for someone to provide their requested service at a lower cost. (Surprisingly, several customers freaked out and then pleaded with me to take their project. Go figure.)

Re: Why are clients shocked by the price for web development?

#34

Post by rbsn »

jiggy2011 wrote: post #26
learc83 wrote: post #14

Because a wordpress[1] site with a $20 template is all most small businesses need for their brochureware site. The average small business needs a website with their hours, phone number, some pictures, and maybe a blog that they'll never actually update, but they don't really know the difference between paying someone to set up wordpress and paying someone to build a bespoke web application. The only reason the majori…

On the flipside, sometimes building something custom allows you to help the client focus on what makes their business unique.

This is very true. The clients we have had to date which are prepared to spend good money on a website have done so to differentiate themselves from their competitors with great success.

Re: Why are clients shocked by the price for web development?

#35

Post by michaelpinto »

Because you're talking to inexperienced clients! So if your client owns a small store and wants a site like amazon.com that client will have sticker shock pretty quickly. On the other hand if your client is an IT manager who is looking for a specific widget that client will have a very good idea what things cost. In fact that IT manager may even assume that costs will go higher than your estimate.

Re: Why are clients shocked by the price for web development?

#36

Post by headcanon »

blindhippo wrote: post #17
learc83 wrote: post #14

Because a wordpress[1] site with a $20 template is all most small businesses need for their brochureware site. The average small business needs a website with their hours, phone number, some pictures, and maybe a blog that they'll never actually update, but they don't really know the difference between paying someone to set up wordpress and paying someone to build a bespoke web application. The only reason the majori…

I cut my teeth building wordpress/drupal brochure sites for small businesses. I have inherited custom web sites for these customers who got duped by some punk developer who didn't feel like using an established solution. I want to punch all developers in the mouth who think a custom application for this type of situation is a good idea. They give us all a bad name and exacerbate the cost problem.

I feel kind of the opposite, where I've seen wordpress used to create what is effectively a static brochure site - what good is a Content Management Solution when the content isn't being managed? The only reason they're using it is that's all they know, and it allows them to create the site without looking at any code. Plus, giving customers a wordpress site opens up the door for user error, plus the inevitable security issues (even though I insist on using HTTPS, but now I have to explain what HTTPS is). My solution so far has been to build static sites with Middleman. If they need a couple other features (like a contact form), I can use third party services called client-side. Ultimately, my turnaround is about the same as a wordpress site with the same features, and is quite a bit less complex, at least in my opinion. Of course this only applies to very basic websites, if they want a more complex app and will update the content regularly, I will use a CMS. I guess I'm just not sure what's wrong with this solution, but then again I'm pretty new at this.

Re: Why are clients shocked by the price for web development?

#37

Post by katzgrau »

_mpf wrote: post #28
katzgrau wrote: post #23

I'd strongly suspect you're working with smaller to mid-sized businesses — or maybe just individuals. I've done a ton of work for smaller outfits, and the fact is that whatever you're billing is coming directly out of their own wallet, or close to it. Imagine the shock when the mechanic says you need to spend $2,500 on a new transmission. That's what your clients feel. That's also why I've turned away smaller project…

@katzgrau I also agree with that opinion. I think it could be extrapolated to making sth for money in general.

True, but I've also noticed that large companies, where budgets are involved and the mentality of "it's not my money" prevails, rate never really matters.

Even if they fight back at first, they typically give in, because quality is more important than expense (since everyone wants to cover their arse).

Re: Why are clients shocked by the price for web development?

#38

Post by mpclark »

vinceguidry wrote: post #29
blindhippo wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cut my teeth building wordpress/drupal brochure sites for small businesses. I have inherited custom web sites for these customers who got duped by some punk developer who didn't feel like using an established solution. I want to punch all developers in the mouth who think a custom application for this type of situation is a good idea. They give us all a bad name and exacerbate the cost problem.

I want to smack all the developers and designers who think Wordpress is "good enough". It's not. It's an unmaintainable mess. Every client-run Wordpress site I touch is disgustingly out of date and everything added since the first design looks like crayon drawings done by five-year olds with ADD. I don't see much Drupal in the wild so I can't comment on that. Web development has not reached the state where non-techni…

WordPress is excellent, and there are some mighty big WP sites out there. You're barking up the right tree when you say "you need a developer on staff" though. Web sites are not just "set and forget" deals. They need continuing care and maintenance. And the whole idea of having a site that the receptionist can take care of on a Friday afternoon, which I have found pervasive in small businesses, has just never really worked at all.

Re: Why are clients shocked by the price for web development?

#39

Post by vinceguidry »

_mpf wrote: post #32
vinceguidry wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to smack all the developers and designers who think Wordpress is "good enough". It's not. It's an unmaintainable mess. Every client-run Wordpress site I touch is disgustingly out of date and everything added since the first design looks like crayon drawings done by five-year olds with ADD. I don't see much Drupal in the wild so I can't comment on that. Web development has not reached the state where non-techni…

@vinceguidry IMHO being out of date isn`t a WordPress problem, it`s a clients or a developer problem. Any software must be upgraded from time to time. Can you suggest any more elegant solution? In my opinion WordPress is good solution with great community. With many different people you get a lot of different levels of deployment, so maybe you didn`t have a luck?

It's not Wordpress that's the issue, it's with the current state of the problem domain. People want websites that they don't have to pay a programmer to maintain. Wordpress solved this for blogging, but using it for anything else and not having technical talent on call makes for a giant mess.
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