Making contact us for pricing feel like honesty

Sometimes a conversation really is the only way to price the work. The problem is never that position. It is that most pages taking it give the reader nothing at all and expect them to enquire anyway.

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If you cannot publish a figure, publish everything else: what drives cost, what a typical engagement includes, what happens on the first call and how long it takes, real examples with context, and the answer to whether you are likely to be expensive. Then the invitation reads as openness rather than concealment.

Why the usual version fails

A page consisting of the words contact us for a quote and a form gives the reader nothing to decide with. They cannot tell whether you are plausible for them, so a share of them do the safe thing and leave.

The reader is not demanding a fixed price. They are trying to work out whether the next step is worth their afternoon, and almost anything helps them do that.

What to publish instead of a number

There is a great deal available before you reach a figure, and together it does most of the work a price would have done.

  • What drives the cost up and down, in plain words.
  • What a typical engagement includes, and what it does not.
  • The process, step by step, with rough timings.
  • Real examples with enough context that a reader can find themselves.
  • What happens on the first call, how long it takes, and whether it costs anything.
  • An honest answer to whether you are at the affordable or premium end.

Answer the question they are too polite to ask

Everybody wants to know whether you are expensive. Most pages avoid it, and the avoidance is itself an answer that readers interpret unfavourably.

You can address it without a number: we are not the cheapest option and here is what the difference buys, or we work mainly with projects of a certain scale. Either is more reassuring than silence.

Describe the call in detail

A surprising share of the hesitation is about the conversation rather than the cost. People imagine being sold to, and they decline the risk.

Remove it by describing the call precisely: how long, who they speak to, what you will ask, what they will leave with, and whether there is any obligation. This is one of the highest-return paragraphs on the whole page.

Make the form match the promise

A page promising a friendly conversation, followed by a form asking for twelve fields including budget, contradicts itself. The reader trusts the form, not the paragraph.

Keep it short: a name, a way to reply, and what they need. Everything else belongs in the conversation you have just promised.

Be consistent everywhere

If you do not publish prices, make sure nothing else on the site implies one: an old blog post with a figure, a service page from three years ago, a schema entry left in the code.

Contradictions of that kind are found more often than people expect, and they undermine the position you have carefully explained on the pricing page.

How Licheo does this

This is our own position, so we hold ourselves to it. We publish what the work involves, what shapes it, and exactly what happens on a first call, and we give the figure during that call.

We also keep it consistent: no price appears anywhere on the site, in the structured data, or in any generated file, so nothing contradicts the conversation.

Part of a larger guide

This page is one part of The pricing page. The other parts:

Questions people ask

How do I say contact us for pricing without losing people?
Publish everything except the number: what drives cost, what is included, the process, real examples, and exactly what happens on a first call. Then the invitation reads as openness rather than concealment.
Should I say whether I am expensive?
Yes, in some form. Everybody wants to know, and avoiding it is itself an answer that readers interpret unfavourably. You can position yourself honestly without giving a figure.
What should I say about the first call?
How long it takes, who they will speak to, what you will ask, what they leave with, and whether there is any obligation. Much of the hesitation is about the conversation rather than the money.
How long should the quote request form be?
Short, or it contradicts the friendly conversation you just promised. A name, a way to reply, and what they need. Anything else belongs in the call itself.
What else should I check if I do not publish prices?
That nothing else on the site implies one: old posts with figures, outdated service pages, or price fields left in structured data. Contradictions like these undermine the position you carefully explained.

Invite the conversation properly

Everything except the number, so a serious buyer has what they need to raise their hand.

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