What is a budget selector?
First things first, what is a budget selector?
A budget selector is usually a pull down menu located in a designer’s contact form or
project request form. It contains various price options for the potential buyer to select
from.
Pros and Cons of using a budget selector
I have always wondered if having a budget selector could be of benefit to freelance
designers. Some designers have this option in their questionnaires and claim that having
this available when the prospect fills out the initial contact form can be very beneficial.
The feedback I have received from people who have not implemented the budget selector
proves that many designers skeptical of the idea, yet the ones that do use it, say they love
it.
Reasons for including or not including a budget selector
Some have expressed that a prospect does not know what a web site should cost and we,
as designers, are the experts for recommending a price. Others, conversely, believe that
everyone knows how much they can spend and have compared it to buying a car. When
buying a car, you don’t walk into a dealer and ask for a car discussing budget. I have also
been told that as a freelancer, I should be the one to educate the prospect on the value of
my services and persuade them to go with the better more expensive option.
Some designers say they are too busy to educate price-shoppers and occupied with
working for well-paying clients, which is very understandable. Others say a cheap
prospect will always search for a price cut and will not change their shopping habit based
on price.
Below is some more feedback I have compiled on this topic from other freelance
designers.
Cons:
- prospect feels as if your all about the money and not the service
- prospect ignores the budget selector by not selecting it
- prospect refuses to proceed with contacting you and leaves your site
- prospect will always choose the lower amount
- starting a low budget range may lure the tire kickers (Below $1000)
- starting a low budget range may be necessary for print designers (Below $500)
- a wide price range may exceed prospects budget ($1000 - $3000)
- a narrow price range may limit wiggle room for quoting the project ($1000 - $1500)
- over complicates the contact form
- not knowing the budget can run the risk of a bad initial estimate because of a bad initial scope.
- not knowing the prospects budget can waste valuable time putting a quote together
- prospects assume you will max their budget
-
Pros
- make the budget selector optional to fill out also include “Not sure” option
- avoids the dreaded question in person “what is your budget”
- it adds a sense of professionalism, gives prospect idea of quality of work
- a budget selector gives the prospect some idea up front of the range of prices they
should think about
- cuts down price guessing and helps conversion rate
- allows for educating and presenting various design/price solutions
- tire kickers will leave you alone
- designer can focus and spend more time putting together a proposal that fits a higher
end prospect (corporate and larger companies need a more elaborate presentation)
- sets expectations from start
Written by Behzad Jamshidi
Behzad’s focus and passion has been the graphic design industry since 1991. His
commercial experiences range from design services such as illustration, print and web
design.
www.designfacet.com