15 eCommerce pricing mistakes you’re probably making

Inconsistent pricing, such as having products listed as high-end products on your website and then a group of products consistently offered at an 80% cheaper rate via select marketing channels can lead to problems with how customers perceive your brand. It can also lead to them taking advantage of that channel, ruining your bottom line.

To prevent this maintain a consistent pricing strategy across all channels so that you don’t have too many tiers and can easily ensure consistency.

2. Discounting without control

Discounting can be a great way to sell more products in a brief period and boost brand awareness. However, if products are discounted without any rhyme or reason, then your brand could be questioned, and your customers could be conditioned to expect discounts.

Instead, create a system for discounting at special predetermined times and focus on improving the customer experience.

3. Not segmenting customers

When you don’t segment your customers, you run the risk of offering the same products, discounts and more to all of them. This means you don’t create a personalized experience that is unique to each customer persona, which can negatively impact your conversions.

Instead, create different customer segments and personas so that you can tailor the experience for each customer group, such as your repeat customers vs new customers.

4. Focusing on being the lowest, all the time

You don’t want to end up in a race to the bottom because eventually, you won’t be able to get back up. Instead, experiment with prices and pricing strategies using A/B testing or any other method you can think of until you find the sweet spot for your brand.

5. Not tracking competitors’ pricing and adjusting to market

If you don’t track your competitors’ pricing, that means you don’t fully understand your market and won’t respond to changes or predict what might happen.

Don’t just set pricing and ignore other factors that affect the market. Continue to research what’s happening in the marketplace so that you can position your brand for success.

6. Not matching the price to the brand

You can’t charge a premium price for your product without providing premium customer service or marketing as well.

Similarly, if your brand is presented as a premium brand, then the price should reflect that.

To prevent this, make sure all aspects of your business are alignment with the price you demand from your customers.

7. Using loss leader pricing as a go-to strategy

In this situation, brands may expect loyalty because they provide something at a cheaper cost. If you don’t build a rapport with your customers and continually provide them with more than just the product they asked for, they won’t have a reason to go back to your brand.

Instead, seek ways to build relationships with your customers by providing them with regular updates about your products, following up after purchases and asking for feedback.

8. Showing a lack of transparency

Customers trust expensive brands and their products because they’re able to showcase their value and longevity. Failure to demonstrate your product’s value can leave customers asking why it costs so much or wondering about the value they’re getting.

Be transparent with your pricing and highlight the reasons why customers should be willing to pay the price you’re asking for your product.

To prevent this issue, take opportunities to showcase to your customers why products are priced a certain way and demonstrate value by using testimonials or as part of email campaigns.

9. Opportunistic pricing

Opportunistic pricing can leave a bad taste in your customer’s mouths and ruin your relationship with them.

For example, some companies raised their products’ price to capitalize on demand at the start of the pandemic. Doubling or tripling the price for items without any valid reason can result in your customers losing trust in your company.

Instead, if prices need to be raised for a specific reason such as an overly expected increase in demand, take the opportunity to alert your customers as to the reasons why.

10. Extreme pricing

Avoid extreme pricing thresholds such as overvaluing your product and pricing it too high or undervaluing it and pricing it too low. Instead, research the market to see what’s currently available and avoid ripping customers off or making them question the quality of your product.

11. Adding pricing surprises

An unexpected discount may be welcome, but excess handling fees or surcharges can impact your conversion rates.

To prevent this, try to factor in any potential excess costs into the initial sticker price so that customers are well aware of what they’re getting into.

12. Not listing a price

Another tactic to avoid is hiding the price of your product. Many B2B eCommerce brands especially may consider this so that competitors don’t know how much their products are priced at.

However, this can turn off customers as they need to do extra work to see if your price is even within your budget.

Instead, offer a “starting at” price point so that customers can at least determine if your product or service is likely to be within their budget.

13. Keeping outdated pricing

If you ran a campaign but forgot to put an end-date, you could find yourself with outdated price listings which can be confusing customers. To prevent this, plan any discounted campaigns for a specific period so that customers are aware of when the campaign is ending.

14. Not localizing the price for the market

While eCommerce in many cases exposes you to global markets for your products or services, that doesn’t mean you can list the same price for every market.

You will need to introduce regional or international pricing to appeal to specific market segments and get pricing correct in many cases.

15. Not having pricing options or discounts for volume

Buying in bulk is beneficial for your business, but you should also make it worthwhile for customers. Provide options that enable your customers to receive discounts if they purchase higher volumes of products.