Should you put pricing on your website as a wedding photographer?

A few weeks ago, we asked you the question: Do you put your prices on your website? And asked why or why not:

Now, we wanna compile all your responses to give you an idea if it makes sense to put your wedding photography prices on your website or not.

Let’s start with the people that do not put pricing on their site and discuss why that is an option to consider.

Pros of not having pricing on your site

“I would like someone to communicate with me”

“I would rather have a conversation/phone call and allow clients to get to know me”

“I feel like showing your prices can sometimes shut down an inquiry before you get one. When you don’t show everything you can still potentially win over a client with your personality, response time and so many other things!”

These were some of the responses we got. They are all about gaining a lead first and then turning that lead into a client. Let’s imagine your dream elopement client is on your website and leaves it because of a 200$ price difference. We don’t know about you but if someone were to inquire for an absolute dream of a portfolio wedding, we’d give them a 200$ discount and take it.

This aligns with another response we got: “Getting more inquiries. Maybe there’s something special which I could go lower for”.

Be carefull about offering different prices tho! We also had someone saying the benefit of not having prices on your website is offering higher prices for Job’s you don’t like as much. This can be extremely dangerous and hurt your business, especially if clients communicate with each other. We wouldn’t recommend this tactic.

In a conversation it is way easier to explain your pricing and what they will be getting. We know, we are photogs, but we are also selling something so we should get used to it and learn how to sell something. If you are good with words, you might get that 500$ extra that they initially wouldn’t spend while simultaneously making them feel good about it. If you had prices on the website, you maybe wouldn’t get that chance, they would just say “that’s not our budget” and leave.

That being said, we realise not everyone is good at or likes selling, we are artists not sales ppl after all. BUT if we wanna make some serious $$$ we gotta be both, so research how to do sales.

By not having prices on your website, you also get inquiries of people that like your work – not your prices.

Especially when you are just starting out and have lower prices, the chances of getting clients that don’t really value your art and only care about the price are way higher. And trust us – you don’t want those clients at all.

The main takeaway of not having prices on your site is that you get more inquiries and chances to turn someone that is interested in your work into a client. Even if you are slightly out of their budget, you may win them over once they got to know you, recieve more information from you and connect on a more personal level.

The benefits of having prices on your wedding photography site

Now onto the benefits of showing your prices. If it makes sense to do it depends on some factors which we’ll discuss later.

Here are some of the answers you gave us:

“I want transparency with my clients from the get go! If my pricing isn’t for them it’s ok!”

“To avoid spending time responding to inquiries for people who have a lower budget”

“I don’t want to be responding to dead end inquiries about pricing”

“Showing $$$ brings in serious inquiries! Can’t waste valuable time when running a biz”

“From a personal standpoint I hate when I can’t see if I can possibly afford something”

“It weeds out the price shoppers”

“Less back and forth through email! Quicker bookings!”

The main point here is saving time and avoiding annoying back and forth conversations and clients that are just looking for something cheap. You will get less inquiries but you won’t have to negotiate on price as much and don’t waste your time with countless emails about your prices.

Sure, you might loose one or two clients you maybe could convince if you speak to them, but the time you save is huge. This totally depends on how you are doing at a business right now. If you get many inquiries and find yourself emailing all the time and getting less inquiries but the right ones sounds good – do it!

If you are just starting out or need to take on as many jobs as possible and are already struggeling with getting enough clients, maybe wait and do it at a later point when you are doing better. You may also try it for 2-3 months and see what happens, if that isn’t to risky for you or photography is “just” your side hustle and you aren’t too dependend on that income.

If you can afford to put your prices up, the time you gain by doing this is huge.

It also provides transparency and makes it way easier for the brides and grooms. This was our main reason for putting prices onto our site. We remembered how we felt when we were looking for a wedding photog. Here in germany, most of the people don’t put prices up. Can you imagine a stressed bride sending hundreds of emails back and forth to get to know the prices?

Once we showed them, we got many comments about how it adds transparency, trust and makes things way easier.

Just make sure to include all the information you normally send in your pricing guide on the website. Or even better – do a video explaining your prices and embed it on your pricing site. We did just that which also gave us a significant SEO boost because google prioritizes websites with video content.

The compromise

There is also a third option: Listing “starting at” prices, so your potential clients can get an idea about your pricing but still have to contact you to get all the information.

That weeds out price shoppers but also get’s you more inquiries than having all prices on your website. We think this is the best of two worlds.

Conclusion

All in all it really depends on how you answer these questions:

Do you already have enough inquiries?

Do you get many leads that just ghost you after sending your prices?

Do you have too little time at the moment and need to make room for other tasks?

If you answer all three with “yes”, put your prices on your website. If not – maybe wait until at least two of them are true.

Did you find this article helpful? Do you list your prices on your wedding photography website? Do you have more reasons we haven’t included? Please let us know in the comments!