When I had fancy names, I found a lot of clients were saying, during phone calls, "we are very interested in the, ummmm, err, the (insert price here) package.
After a while, I figured why bother. My consumer behavior background tells me people won't really be turned on by names, but they can be a turned off by them. Therefore, so long as your names aren't something negative, they will probably resonate the same with clients.
TRReichman wrote:
Why name packages? Why have packages? Totally not trying to be a dick, just trying to get a little more purposeful with why we offer in the way we do.
- trr
Why have packages?
The idea that if you patronize a business by purchasing multiple items will result in a price savings is ingrained in our culture. Even our luxury culture. If you go buy a Mercedes or a BMW I'm pretty sure that they will likely have different "trim levels" AKA packages that are convenient ways for BMW to up-sell you by more than you'd otherwise be upsold if the 2 our of 6 items in the package that you REALLY want were available at the component price of the package.
The other reason is that in many cases you either make the sale before the wedding or you don't make the sale at all. The reason for this can easily be found in one of the TED talks you linked to in your blog... most brides will overestimate their wedding day to the point of truly believing it's the most special day in their lives.
I would suspect that if you experimentally tried to sell wedding albums to couples who then have a baby, 2 days after they have the baby, you wouldn't be selling many albums.
Anyway... if you do buy the idea that you can sell more before than after then it should follow that it would make sense to incentivize the purchase before the fact. Hence offering a package is a way to say "you can pay me X now or as you know it's gonna cost you more later".
For a while I was thinking about how to reinforce the concept of classic photojournalism in my offerings, and briefly considered naming my top-tiered selection my "Magnum Package..."
I had one bride and groom who wouldn't stop giggling about when I talked about "my package"
"My package includes this..." gigglegiggle "I think you'll find I have loaded my package nicely..." gigglesnort
I knew right then and there.....that I had to sign that couple.
*And that I should give my package a different name than "the package".
lisy78 wrote:
The idea that if you patronize a business by purchasing multiple items will result in a price savings is ingrained in our culture. Even our luxury culture. If you go buy a Mercedes or a BMW I'm pretty sure that they will likely have different "trim levels" AKA packages that are convenient ways for BMW to up-sell you by more than you'd otherwise be upsold if the 2 our of 6 items in the package that you REALLY want were available at the component price of the package.
So then the purpose of packages is to satisfy expectations and upsell?
lisy78 wrote:
The other reason is that in many cases you either make the sale before the wedding or you don't make the sale at all. The reason for this can easily be found in one of the TED talks you linked to in your blog... most brides will overestimate their wedding day to the point of truly believing it's the most special day in their lives.
So the purpose of packages is to ensure a certain amount upfront?
lisy78 wrote:
I would suspect that if you experimentally tried to sell wedding albums to couples who then have a baby, 2 days after they have the baby, you wouldn't be selling many albums.
So the purpose of packages is to segment purchasing decisions?
lisy78 wrote:
Anyway... if you do buy the idea that you can sell more before than after then it should follow that it would make sense to incentivize the purchase before the fact. Hence offering a package is a way to say "you can pay me X now or as you know it's gonna cost you more later".
So in order for packages to work there has to be a discount for opting for them?
So, if we're trying to upsell, ensure a certain amount, segment decisions, etc then why not just charge what you want upfront and forget all the run around?
Oh yeah, why not list packages by how much they cost?
