Price lists: do they help or hinder?

When it comes to writing price lists are we helping or hindering .. what I mean by this is on one side our message is ‘Come for a consultation and let us build your treatment plan’, we try and encourage our patients to see their Aesthetic treatments as a long term process that cascades over years… but, when we list treatments like a shopping list in a retail store are those messages contradicting each other.. 

For me, I find it frustrating when patients contact me for ‘a chin’ or ‘a jawline’ because I know that although sometimes you can treat an area in isolation, this is not always the case and more often than not when you treat one anatomical area you need to assess how that can impact another.. 

For example if you treat the lips without the chin are you sending the balance off? When you treat the cheeks without the temple, could you be allowing an indication to dominate.. 

For a long time I have danced with the concept of removing the price list altogether and just working on a price on consultation basis, but deep down when I consider my demographic I worry that this ‘hidden’ cost idea may create anxiety and be a reason people don’t come in.. 

I guess the point of this blog is, that we need to evaluate what our messages are and question whether the manner in which we convey costs is right for our demographic- our patient. 

As a clinic we are making baby steps towards this new process, and I hope by doing so we reach a point where the message matches our ethos- where the price lists helps and doesn’t hinder and where a patient journey begins with that vital consultation. 

Has this been an area you have looked into before? Has this blog made you question your methods.. we are all different, our clinics are different and what works for one may not work for another so here’s a bit of food for thought to help you on your way.. 

1. Who is your patient- and do they rely on that price list or do they not even bother looking at it? 

2. When was the last time you adjusted your price list.. does it showcase your services without confusion? 

3. How can patients access the price list? We have ours on our website so it can be downloaded and we get a notification of these downloads so it allows us to monitor how many patients book in following its download. 

4. Do you compare your price lists with your peers? 

5. Are there treatments on there that you don’t believe in.. should they be there?

Thanks for reading! 

Kate