How do you price your work to sell more? The answer may surprise you!
Its important to know the type of business you focus on, and what your market is. It is just as important to sell your prints priced HIGH enough, as it is to not undersell them by pricing them too low.
One of our top sellers became aware of this pricing issue a couple of years ago. They raised their base prices on their 4x6s, and then priced their larger prints off that price. Their sales actually took off! Why? because now they were perceived as true professionals and their work was worth the price.
Pricing your prints too low positions you as someone who is a "hobbyist" photographer. It puts your work in the realm of being a "giveaway" rather than someone who is a serious photographer. The perception is that your photos are unremarkable, and they (the customer) can possibly even take their own. We often see that photographers are afraid to charge enough for their work. They fail to factor in their cost of doing business - their expenses, their time, and most importantly - their expertise!
The Basis for All Pricing - the 4x6 Print
The basis for all pricing in online print sales is the 4x6. In the case of most photographers, the 4x6 is still the "staple" of all their sales. Because of that, it should not be a "giveaway" but a profit center. Most photographers in our top sellers are not afraid to price them in the $7 - $9.00 range. (Some even higher!) A short jump up from those should be your 5x7 prices, somewhere in the $9 - $11.00 price range.
What factors are considered ?
- It establishes a fair price for YOUR efforts to take and prep that single photo that's printed on a 4x6. That shot is the same shot that someone would use to purchase an 8x10, so make it worth your time and effort!
- Very little business is gained by dropping the single 4x6 print prices down to $3-$5 or even lower. The people who felt that $8.00 is too high will still think that $3.00 is too high. Either way, they aren't your customer. The ones who will appreciate your efforts and the skills you possess are the market you sell to - always.
- IMPORTANT! By pricing 5x7s just $2.00-$3.00 higher than your 4x6s, you encourage customers to spend just "a little more" to move up to a much bigger photo. You're building in an incentive to automatically increase your sales by 20% in upgrades to 5x7s.
- To reward those people who are big purchasers of smaller prints
("scrapbookers, etc") build in substantial volume and package discounts
that will reward them for higher volumes of purchasing. A typical
volume discount might be:
- 0 - 3 prints = no discount
- 3 - 6 prints = 10% off
- 6 - 12 prints = 20% off
- 12-24 prints = 30% off
- 24+ prints = 40% off - etc. etc.
View from the top down:
Take the reverse view, and look at pricing from the top down.
If you were one of the successfully established photographers charging $8.00 for a 4x6, you could then ask, how many more customers would you suddenly get if you priced them at $3.99 ? The answer is - hardly ANY! (and in fact, it might actually result in LESS customer participation!)
What this tells us, then, is that unless you would get more than twice as much business at the lower price, then why not charge more, make more per order, and project yourself as a professional - thus making your work in more demand!
Here is a table that can help you find your pricing strategy:
| Low Price | Medium Price | High Price | |
| High Quality |
Underpriced for your efforts. Low price suggests work isn't worth it and may overshadow the true quality you offer. | Attractive pricing: ideal for market penetration. Your sales should start to be good because its a great deal. | High end pricing. Prestige, Connoisseur" pricing strategy. Quality is good and your prices reflect it. Maximize profit. |
| Medium Quality | A decent bargain. May be a good price to get started or for temporary specials. | Price and value are in balance. Great place to start for aspiring photographers. | Sales drop when the high pricing is not supported with high quality. |
| Low Quality | Cheap price cannot override poor quality. A bad image to portray all around! | Customers are wary of too high a price for quality that is suspect. | Don't even think
about it. Here is where your product can't support the high end pricing strategy. |
More Pricing Strategies - LESS IS MORE!
We've said it before, and this is worth repeating: Don't overwhelm your customers with a laundry list of products to choose from. Offer the basics, and a couple of value - added specials. Too many choices offered often will result in NO choices!
Over 85% of print sales are still the 3 basic sizes: 4x6s, 5x7s, and 8x10s. Focus your pricing and your sales presentation on those 3 items, and watch your sales increase!
- Don't inundate the viewer with too many sizes to choose from. Someone savvy enough to want a special size will be savvy enough to track you down to ask for it. Otherwise, keep it simple!
- Offer at least one or two value-added products - something only you, as a pro, would offer. (A commemorative graphics poster, something with the participant's name, etc....)
- Make sure you group your products list so its well organized: Prints, Enlargements, Gifts, etc... Make it easy to find what they want to buy.
- Offer one or two packages or discounts - not so many as to confuse them!
Quality - The best pricing strategy of all!
The pricing strategies above work best with quality images. The best strategy is for an honest assessment of the work you are presenting on the screen:
- Cull out all photos that are not your absolute best quality.
- Be honest about your work. Try to raise the quality of your work from merely "unremarkable" to excellent! (If your work isn't remarkable, then improve your work by learning better technique)
- Be special! Don't take average quality shots in an average location and expect people to pay top dollar! Try to always put yourself in circumstances where the shots you take are unique and you're the only provider!
Are you not sure of your pricing strategies? Contact us in Support and we'd be happy to review your site and offer our suggestions. While we cannot dictate what your prices should be, we can give you suggestions based on what our most successful photographers find works for them!
BOTTOM LINE - Price your work as though its worth it, and then the public will think it is, too!
