Should therapists publish their prices?

Let’s start with the obvious; along with ‘Will it work?’, price is one of the things that every therapy client wants to know. Many of them have not used a therapist before and have no clue whether your prices are nearer £5 or £500.

A lot of businesses consider it essential to put their prices online and when you’re selling a product like shoes or tins of peas this seems very sensible. Imagine buying from a site like Amazon or eBay if they removed their prices.

But when you’re selling a service, like therapy, it’s not just about cost, it’s about value as well. You might feel that publishing prices doesn’t allow you to demonstrate that value. So how do we resolve the question posed in this article?

Reasons not to publish prices

• Other local therapists (i.e. your competition) might see them and undercut you.
• ‘Sticker shock’ – the client may see the price and decide it’s too expensive without considering value.
• Your prices might vary depending on what the client needs.
• It encourages ‘value conversations’ – people who are interested in what you offer will call, and you can help them see the benefits they’ll gain as well as the cost in pounds.

Reasons to publish prices

• You might prefer to let clients who are primarily price-oriented go elsewhere.
• It reassures clients who might assume you are more expensive than you are.
• It gives transparency and allows potential clients to make informed choices.
• It reduces the number of enquiries you get, leading to a reduction in the time you spend on the phone or answering emails.
• There are SEO (search engine optimisation) benefits - if someone Googles ‘price of hypnotherapy’ and you’re the only one in your area displaying them, they’ll likely see you first. If you’re the only one who doesn’t include prices, they may not see you at all.

How to decide whether to publish your prices

In the end, the choice is yours, but remember that many of your clients have a finite amount of income. However well they understand the value of what you are offering, your price is likely to be a consideration.

Just a personal aside here. I have never really gone along with that idea that says, ‘If you make them want it enough, they’ll find the money’ and it really annoys me if I email someone enquiring about prices and get back a blurb about how wonderful their staff or services are, with no price included.

It works with some, but many clients are making a choice between spending the money on you, and on something else they value. (Maybe you could include a ‘what else can you buy for this?’ blog on your site showing how you compare - both for price and value - with a dinner out, a night at the pub, a typical plumber’s callout fee, a tank of petrol etc.)

Seriously, you probably should publish prices if:

• You have plenty of clients and would prefer to spend more time seeing them and less on answering queries.
• You have a website which is crammed with information that makes the value of your service obvious.
• Your services are well-defined and contained; for example, you have a set price per session or package.

Take your prices off your website if:

• You would like more clients, and want to encourage people to call you.
• You are a good sales-person and enjoy talking to people about the value of your services.
• You have a high conversion rate from calls.
• Your prices vary (although you could include a guide, perhaps with anonymised case studies illustrating the top and bottom of your range).

So - to publish prices or not? Let me know below whether you have your prices on your website, and why you made that decision.



--------------------------------------------------------------------

Author: Debbie Waller is an experienced hypnotherapist and hypnotherapy trainer. She is the author of Their Worlds, Your Words and has co-written the Hypnotherapy Handbook, both of which are available from Amazon.
Find out more about Debbie's services on
Yorkshire Hypnotherapy Training - multi accredited hypnotherapy practitioner training, taster days and foundation levels.
CPD Expert - accredited CPD and other therapy training (online and workshops options), expert and qualified hypnotherapy supervision