How to State the Price in Copy

In regards to copywriting prices, I've previously written on the subject in my basic guide on writing copy for non-copywriters. However, the issue of price is one that is so complex that it cannot be covered in a single blog post. In fact, explaining the whole process of choosing a price and presenting your price to your customer would take at least a book to explain properly.

So why write another post on price when a single post will do little to tackle this subject? Mainly because of the following:

Copywriters Are Superstitious...

...when it comes to price. I don't know why. And I don't know when it started. But mainstream copywriters seem to have a fixed notion on how to deal with price. This notion is based on nonsense and groupthink.

I want to quickly address one of the main things I've been seeing from novice copywriters. It likely stems from the following belief:

• Ending a price with the number 7 gives you the best conversions

I don't know where this idea originally came from, but it is prevalent throughout the mainstream copywriting community. Look around for products sold by internet marketers and you'll find loads of $37 ebooks and $97 landing pages.

So why use seven? The answer is psychological: Mainstream copywriters take rumor as fact. The most likely situation is that a successful copywriter or marketer mentioned that he found numbers ending in 7 to be the best converting prices. What he likely didn't mention is any objective statistics to imply that his campaign is representative of most campaigns. And indeed it won't be. I wrote about this fact in a previous post on how most mainstream copywriting techniques are flawed.

The Truth of Copywriting Prices

The truth is that you've got to do research in two places to ever get an objective answer in regards to what's the best price:

1. Your own research.
2. Scientific research.

Your own research means  split-testing. Run prices ending in 7 vs. those ending in 8, 9, or 0. See if any statistical difference is present. In many cases, there won't be. And in such cases, you'd be losing out on a couple bucks per sale due to your insistence of superstition.

Scientific research means poring over scientific journals. I've made a list of good journal and book resources for copywriters, though many may be costly to access. So, I'm going to go ahead and give you a useful heuristic for dealing with the final units of a price, based on what I've read:

• Prices ending in high odd numbers (e.g., 7, 8, and 9) give prospects a feeling that you are pushing the price as low as you can, giving them a good deal.
• Prices ending in zero gives prospects a feeling that they are looking at a product of high value -- i.e., no price cutting is at play because you've got a solid product.
• The difference between 7 and 9 is moot. Perhaps 7 stands out because consumers are more accustomed to seeing prices ending in 9. However, replacing your 9s with 7s mean that you're losing 2 bucks per sale. So, consider the drawback of using 7 before you go with it, especially if your prices are already low.

My personal advice is not to spend too much time worrying about the final number of your price. In the end, you'll find that changing the numbers closer to the front has a bigger effect on your profit!