What’s the difference between cost and value for web design?

What's a client to do?

We have lots of enquiries from prospective customers with a wide range of requirements and an even wider range of budgets. Compound these parameters with the fact that, depending who you talk to, web designers can give quotes for the same job from a few hundred pounds up to tens of thousands.

What’s the difference between cost and value for web design?
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This makes it really difficult for clients to, firstly, understand our industry and how we price projects and, secondly, how to choose the right web designer for their needs given the unfathomable and, seemingly, contradictory information they receive when making enquiries. What’s the difference between cost and value for web design?

Ascertaining value

This problem can be reduced with one simple question: What am I going to get for my money? Absolutely everyone, without exception, asks this question to themselves every single day. But, without thinking. Whether we’re buying Lindt chocolate or Cadbury’s, a Smeg fridge or a Hotpoint, choosing Aldi or Tesco, Heinz Beanz or ASDA’s own brand beans, the list could go on. What we’re actually thinking about when making these decisions is the value of what we’re buying rather than the cost.

Value is a tricky thing to quantify as it’s totally subjective. People make different value judgements on the same things. For example, I’d go for supermarket own-brand beans every time, around 35p, as I don’t put enough value on Heinz to pay 75p. For me, the negligible better quality doesn’t warrant an extra 40p. However, some people would never buy own-brand beans and would always choose a name brand. Horses for courses.

Cars are another good example. Intended to keep you from A to B in relative comfort, cars range enormously in price. You can get a brand new Vauxhall Corsa for about ten grand and a new Range Rover will set you back a cool 70K. They’re both decent cars, fundamentally do the same job, but there’s a huge difference in price. And, crucially, a huge difference in what you get for your money. It depends what you value.

The value of web design

This ‘value’ principal and the question, ‘What do I get for my money?’, can also be applied to choosing a web designer. There are different ways of putting a website together. Different designers work in different ways. Different designers are at different stages of their careers, have different skill sets, different areas of expertise, and, really importantly, offer different things as part of their service. Therefore, there are different costs. Clients should find out what this offer is in order to make a value judgement and, thus, choose the right designer for their needs.

What could you get for your money? You could do it yourself for free on Wix. You could go and buy a premium theme for WordPress for about £50. You could get a freelancer to do you a quick template site. You could get a targeted, bespoke and properly researched custom website from a creative agency. Or you could go to a top marketing consultancy down in that London. Each of these, pretty simplified, escalating options represents an increase in cost to clients.

Clearly, Rupert in The Big Smoke will do a better job than you could on Wix. He has the training, the experience and the portfolio to demonstrate this. Rupert also comes with a hefty fee. But do you need Rupert? Is what he offers actually what you need? If not, then Rupert, despite being better, is not good value for you. Rupert is Heinz Beanz.

By contrast, a fifty quid template from Themeforest may seem like a good deal as it’s cheap. But, to the uninitiated, pre-made themes are often pretty badly put together, unmaintained, buggy, poorly coded, and prone to breaking. This can affect your frustration levels and also your business. In addition, and there’s always the risk that you may get stuck finishing and launching a theme website. At best, fifty nicker down the pan, at worst, having to pay a web designer to help you finish off. Not good value, and there are times when we all wished we’d gone to John Lewis rather than Argos.

So what the hell do you do?

Two questions and one action.

The first question we know. Okay, I know it’s going to cost £XXXX, what do I get for that fee? Once you know what’s on offer, you’ll be able to decide if it’s worth it. Lidl or Sainsbury’s? Aldi or Waitrose?

Secondly. Is this the service that I need? It may be that you need something quick and temporary just to advertise your services. It may be that you need your website to generate revenue and grow leads. Your website may need to be ecommerce or a tool for business. Which web designer’s services and offer best fit your requirements?

And the action? Shop around. Speak to different designers, companies and agencies. Learn about the range of services out there. Ask them the question: What will I get for my money? Ask yourself: Is this good value? And, if the designer can’t satisfactorily answer the question, run a mile. There’s no value of any sort there.

What’s the difference between cost and value for web design? If you would like to know what we offer, and what you’ll get for your money, drop us a line or give us a call. 🙂

Image by Gerhard Gellinger from Pixabay 

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