We are considering offering a new SEO service targeted to Realtors/Brokers and the question of pricing has come up on numerous occasions. We have access to a large group of these people and wanted to inquire as to what would be the most effective way of finding out what factors and ultimately what price they would be willing to pay for this service? Would a poll be beneficial in this regards?

Can anyone offer some insight on the best way to proceed as well as some pointers?

Thanks in advance.

I think a survey of some sort would be the quickest way to find out what the market your targeting is willing to pay. Your only other option that I see is to start with a price you think is good (but reasonable) and start testing and raise the price over time until response drops off - but that's not a really good option in my book. (If there are competitors doing this sort of thing, I suppose another option would be to copy their pricing structure and assume they've done their homework - but I don't think this is something you want to chance like this.)

If you have access to a large group of prospects, by all means, survey them and ask what they'd be willing to pay.

Cheers,

Steve

Awesome, a poll it is then. In your experience is it best to stick to a short poll asking just a few questions or to go in-depth with the questions in order to get them thinking along the lines of the product offering? Should we offer price selections or allow them the opportunity to decide what they will pay, or both?

Just my own thoughts on this, but even if you're only asking a few questions about price, you'll probably get better results if you offer up something free in return for their help - like most folks do to encourage newsletter signups. Remember that people are always asking "what's in it for me?" and unless these people already know you very well and would do this as a favor, they're probably going to need some encouragement.

I'd probably go with a handful of simple, multiple choice questions, but in regards to pricing you could list a few price points and then a "none of the above" and a spot to fill in their own answer. Might also be interesting to split test and give 1/2 your list 4 choices and 1/2 a fill in the blank and see what they come up with.

If you were thinking of doing an online survey, the folks at Survey Monkey will let 100 people answer 10 questions for you for free.

Thanks for the suggestions Rave, they are much appreciated. I will post back with any interesting results, I think the "split" idea is a good idea.

The price you can charge is going to be directly related to the value you can demonstrate the service provides.

I'd be doing some research on the amount of extra traffic your service can consistently provide (over and above what they're getting now), then work out what that means to their bottom line.

Just selling 1 more house means a lot of money to them. Draw up a nice pretty graph showing all the extra money they'll get over 1, 2, 5 years etc.

If you poll them they might tell you they'll pay $500. But if you can demonstrate to them that your service will bring them an extra $500,000 over the next 5 years... we'll you can pretty much write your own check.