Online Sellers: Hiding Prices Does Not Win You Customers

In 2017, I wrote an article about 6 things that every online seller must get right to win, and retain customers. The focus of the article was on the foundational things you must do, such as branding right, and getting a courier who is good with directions. This post, is about something many might consider fickle: the practice I call, “DM for prices”.

As I have trawled the web looking for stuff I need, I have noticed an interesting trend especially on Instagram, where a beautiful photo draws your attention to a beautifully written caption about the product, only to get to the end and it says “DM for Prices”.

I have “DMed” a couple of times, but I have never bought any of these products.

Why?

Because of customer perception. This phenomenon is often discussed on Twitter, and the conclusion always is that sellers who ask customers to DM them for prices do it for price discrimination. They want to profile interested customers and then adjust prices according to the profile. For example, if your Instagram account reveals that you love luxury, you will get a higher price than someone whose account is more modest. It is possible that this isn’t true. Maybe these sellers hide prices from their competitors to avoid a price war with competitors. Which does not make sense because a business should price competitively. Supermarkets display their prices for all to see, including competitors.

The reason for this practice may be nobler than the internet thinks it is, but you cannot change customer perception. No matter how cheap your product is, if a customer feels you are doing this to overcharge them, they will feel scammed. Secondly, online buyers are lazy. Asking us to DM you to find out how much your price just adds another step to a process that should be as simple as possible.

Dear online sellers, hiding prices cost you, customers, stop doing it.