Displaying price on Adwords ad - A good idea?

[anand84]

Do you think it is a good idea to display the price of the product in the ad copy itself? One way to look at it is that it makes the visitor know that the product is not for free and hence I can get better conversions for the buck. But, I may also end up losing an opportunity to convince a potential buyer by displaying the price outright.

What do you think is the better way to go?

[Leosghost]

use "from $xx" ..and pitch "$xx" low and actually available ..but make it so basic that everyone will want the "gold version" which costs more.

or give them a free trail ..in which case you say "free"..( like happens with software )..timed out after trial period.

depends on the product ..and the demographic it is pitched to.

[alexsel]

Also make sure that if your competitors are doing the same, you have a better offer.

[limoshawn]

it's really a wash, having a price in the ad works great for conversion rate but you end up paying a higher cpc and you open the door for the competition to eat your lunch for less money when they pay a lower cpc. best thing (in my mind) is to get the best/lowest cpc/highest ctr ad that you can and then work on conversions on the landing page side.

[PCInk]

One difficulty would be that AdWords will reset the CTR rates if you update the price.

[netmeg]

I've tried it, I don't like it. For one thing, it's super easy for the competitors to just come along and put prices a dollar less in THEIR ads, and before long, we have a PPC ad war. Nobody needs that. Plus in some cases, prices are volatile and Google doesn't react quickly enough to the change. I'll refer to low prices, discount prices, and great value, but I don't tend to put pricing in ads myself.

[Planet13]

I'd like to follow up on the original posters question, specifically:

One way to look at it is that it makes the visitor know that the product is not for free and hence I can get better conversions for the buck.

So is there a preferred way to discourage people who are looking for free stuff without putting the price in the ad? (aside from using negative keywords like "free" or "complimentary" etc.,,)

[netmeg]

Well first of all, don't be too quick to dismiss people looking for free items. It was a total surprise to me, but for one of my clients, one of his top performing keywords on a particular product is "free widgets" when in fact, HIS widgets have a starting price of $15. It was a total accident that ads were showing on that keyword at all, since I usually put free in the negatives - but I'd forgotten on this campaign, and lo and behold - *conversions* Lots of 'em. So like I said - don't dismiss out of hand.

But if you really want to imply that there's a price, using terms like "low cost" or "bargain" can work on one end, while for another client who is selling very expensive luxury type products, I use words like "premium", "upscale", "high end" and "luxury" so as to hopefully eliminate some of the tire kickers.

[LucidSW]

I hardly ever put price in the ad. If I do, it's "starting at $x" type of ads as Leosghost suggests.

If everyone put price in the ad, Adwords then just becomes a price comparison site.

Price is mentioned last for a reason, whether on a site or listening a sales pitch in a store. You want people to listen/read the sales pitch without them making their mind first based on price. You want to push the benefits of the product and then make it sound like it's the better deal, even if a higher price. Usually, it's not that much higher anyway so the deal sounds even better. But you won't get there if you mention price first.

Also as PCink pointed out, if you change the price of ads, you are starting over. It's a new ad, unless you re-use an older one that was paused.

Best thing is to show benefits, get them through the door and read your sales message. Follow Netmeg's advice to reduce the tire kickers.

[wesmaster]

It depends on your product. For my site I was getting tons of clicks and very low conversions rates without a price. I think people expected my service (crowdsourced product naming) to be free. I added the lowest price ("starting at $XX") so that I don't pay for clicks from users who will never convert.

BUT, if you think your product is so great that people who initially didn't think they would pay $XX for it will change their mind, then I specifically wouldn't put the price.

[Leosghost]

It also doesn't hurt if you are going to use prices , to use the word "only" as in "from only" etc..People hear that little voice in their head saying "only" ..and if they are on the cusp of buying then "only" will tip them in, they can and do justify the purchase by telling themselves ( and others if asked ) that it "was only" or "will be only" ..

The psychology of sales and ads etc ..and motivation ..worth studying ..if you want clicks ..or sales..or conversions.

[Planet13]

It also doesn't hurt if you are going to use prices , to use the word "only" as in "from only" etc..People hear that little voice in their head saying "only" ..and if they are on the cusp of buying then "only" will tip them in, they can and do justify the purchase by telling themselves ( and others if asked ) that it "was only" or "will be only" ..

Thanks for mentioning that.

I read an interesting research project where they had taken door to door Christmas card salespeople, and they found that if they quoted the price IN PENNIES (instead of dollars) and followed it by immediately saying, "It's a bargain!" they could improve their sales (I think it was double, but I will have to check again).

They hypothesize that there is sort of a window of susceptibility that quoting the price in pennies takes advantage of. But only when followed by "It's a Bargain!"

Now, I don't think that anyone would want to quote the price of objects in pennies on the landing pages, where people are going to be taking their time to read things and spend more time to mull over the pros and cons.

But I wonder if someone is going to quote their price in their ads, what the effect would be if they quoted in cents and followed it up with, "It's A Bargain."

[anand84]

Helpful observations everyone. Thanks a lot.

It also doesn't hurt if you are going to use prices , to use the word "only" as in "from only" etc..People hear that little voice in their head saying "only" ..and if they are on the cusp of buying then "only" will tip them in, they can and do justify the purchase by telling themselves ( and others if asked ) that it "was only" or "will be only" ..

A very interesting comment, Leosghost. But I wonder what the reaction would be if the quoted price appears to be higher than the budget a potential customer had in her mind. Could it backfire?

[Eschatonic]

My experience bears out Leosghost's. On top of the psychology of causing people to think it's a bargain, it's also an excellent way to represent your lowest price without misleading people - which goes some way to helping conversions (people want to feel like they can trust the company they're buying from. If you make misleading claims in your ads not only will Google slap you eventually but your conversions will suffer for it).

In fact, I've done a lot of experiments on this sort of wording and have found that in the majority of cases the word "just" (as in, "from just $X") tends to work marginally better than "only". Same amount of characters, too.