They Ask, You Answer, 2nd Edition

10 The Big 5, Topic 1 Pricing and Cost: Why We Must Talk About Money

Have you ever researched online how much something costs?

Assuredly, if you’re alive, you have.

But when you’re on a company’s website, and there is nothing about the costs of their product or services, what is the emotion you experience?

Frustration, right?

I’ve asked this question to hundreds and hundreds of audiences, and overwhelmingly, “Frustrated” is the number one response, which is exactly why I’ve dubbed it the “F-word of the internet.”

But let’s analyze this together for a minute. What gives you the right to be frustrated when you’re on a business’s website and you can’t find any cost or price information?

For starters, you’re frustrated because you feel like you’re wasting your time and not finding the answers you’re looking for.

Furthermore, you’re thinking to yourself, “I’m the customer! It’s my money. And it’s my right to know.”

But if we look at this at an even deeper level, you’re upset because you know that the business knows the answer to the question. And because you know that they know the answer, you now feel like they are hiding something from you.

When you’re researching a company and their products and services, the moment you feel like anyone is hiding anything from you, all trust is lost.

Let’s continue, though, to analyze our online behavior in this moment of frustration at not finding the information you’re looking for.

Do you say to yourself, “Well, I’m just going to dig a little ...