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I'm working on the website for a startup. They offer three plans tiers depending on your business size: small, medium and enterprise. The first two plans have a fixed price, but the price for the Enterprise plan depends on the client's requirements, so they must require users to leave their email address (or other contact info).

I've been suggested it might be a good idea to also require an email address to see the prices of the first two plans (and afterwards show their prices right on the page or on an automated email).

Is this a good strategy?

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  • So you mean that even though the Small and Medium prices are fixed and the same for all users, with only the Enterprise prices being variable, you're considering hiding all prices? Why not show "Small:$X - "Medium:$XX, Enterprise $Please-call us" or something like that?
    – JonW ♦
    Commented Apr 16, 2015 at 14:43
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    Frankly, this is a poor suggestion.
    – Wander
    Commented Apr 16, 2015 at 14:52
  • Absolutely not. People have to be able to judge whether or not your company offers them any value worth investigating further. They can't do that if you deliberately hide the relevant info. Would you just hand over your contact info to a random website? I'd leave very quickly thinking "either your prices are not competitive, you're hiding something, or you're just going to spam me." Show the lower 2 fixed tiers & then offer a hassle-free way for enterprise customers to speak w/a rep & request a custom quote.
    – mc01
    Commented Apr 16, 2015 at 15:24
  • No, it's not a good strategy as out of the gate it breeds distrust in the relationship. It makes your company feel like a used car salesman who makes prices up on the spot.
    – DA01
    Commented Apr 16, 2015 at 15:32
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    If you need my email to give me information then I move on.
    – paparazzo
    Commented Apr 17, 2015 at 18:31

3 Answers 3

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I've been suggested it might be a good idea to require an email address for the first two plans before showing the price.

This would also discourage people from staying on your site. I personally would have to be very motivated to leave my email address on your site for a product which I don't even know if I want. I'm not alone in this and price is one of the factors included in decision making.

The following quotes are from an article at the Nielsen Norman Group. They aren't directly applicable to your use case but it addresses a very similar concern: users being forced to do something (submit email address in your case) in order to see critical information.

Summary: Demanding that users register or log in before they can use an app or see website information has high interaction cost and defies the reciprocity principle.

...

Login Walls Don’t Belong in the Initial Experience Even though we have recommended against this since 1999, some sites still force users to log in before presenting them with any real content. Especially on mobile, it’s common to show a login wall when the app is launched for the first time or when a web page is first accessed. http://www.nngroup.com/articles/login-walls/

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No, I would strongly recommend otherwise.

A month or so ago I was searching for a library that was compatible with Xamarin.iOS and Xamarin.Android. Technical stuff aside, I was comparing the product of different companies. Some companies provided a straightforward, fixed price, whereas other companies required you to leave info for a tender. The latter was really annoying, and I'm still receiving emails inquiring about the tender.

Please, just show the price if it's fixed. It makes life a lot easier for people searching for and comparing a product you are selling.

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Asking a user for anything is a barrier to entry

I've seen some websites ask for a list of friends email before you can use it and see if it is even worth recommending which is ridiculous. Let me answer your question with another question...

Would you go into a grocery store if someone at the entrance required your mailing address?

If you have something good to offer the world then offer it to the world. Explain what it is, how it will improve their life and the complete cost with no hidden charges up front.

Honesty is always good UX!

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