how can I be more productive, efficient and profitable. Part of this thinking has included reviewing my logo design prices… am I charging enough?
The Ultimate Guide to Logo Design
In it’s simplest form, pricing your logos comes down to one thing.
Value. Value is the regard that something deserves. It’s the importance, worth, or usefulness of something. I hear it all the time, “How much should I charge for a logo?”
It’s a fair question, but one that can’t be determined universally—your logo rates are not a one-size fits all type of scenario.
And really, that’s the beauty of it. We have the opportunity to price our logos based on the value each one of us provides.
Value-based pricing is all around us.
Starbucks sells a cup of coffee at a premium price — about $3. On the opposite side of the street a cup of coffee from McDonald’s goes for $1. Consumers are willing to pay a premium, but only if there’s enough value to pump into that $10 you’re about to hand the Starbucks cashier.
Let’s say a designer creates a custom logo for only $80.If I asked them if they thought their logo design services are worth $100, they would emphatically say, “No way”.
So why do some of us settle for cheaper logo pricing when we know our logo services are worth more?
To figure out the “why”, we have to discover root of the decision to settle on the cheap price, and the role we play in the cheapening of our work.
Here are a few reasons we can settle for pricing our logos too cheaply:
1. Fear.
Not knowing where the next project is coming from can be a scary thing. You’ve got bills to pay, expenses to cover and taxes to plan for. Fear has a crippling nature. It not only has a numbing affect on our decision making, but stunts our creativity too.
We can’t let fear put a strangle-hold on how we price our logo services…not to mention creativity. There’s good news, though.
We can easily counteract these fears by having a backup plan—a shortlist of avenues to get new design leads/jobs. With a plan in place to acquire new leads, you won’t be tempted to decrease your logo rates just for a better chance at winning the project.
Instead, you’ll be worry-free when design inquiries are sparse.
Also, check out this list of 100+ graphic design resources to make your work more efficient and cost-conscience.
2. Lack of conversion-centered focus.
You’re a creative who wants to do just that…be creative. And that’s completely understandable. But there’s another world that many designers aren’t as attune to. I’m talking about the world of SEO (search engine optimization), A/B testing, analytics strategy, heat mapping, conversion-centered design and conversion rate testing.
Let’s briefly focus in on one of these avenues that won’t take up a lot of your time, but will pay big dividends for your design business.
Conversion rate testing. I’ve found that taking the time to optimize for conversions has correlated to winning a larger percentage of design projects, and in turn, positively impacts design rates.
A higher conversion rate will create a higher demand on your design business. Next to expertise/quality of work, having a high demand is one of the easiest ways to raise your logo design rates.
In order to reach a higher demand, winning more clients is great avenue to pursue. If your demand increases, your logo rates can follow suit. Here’s a conversion test that you need to try out…
I did a simple test to see how many design clients I won from email, and how many were won from a phone call. Pretty straightforward.
The results were eye-opening. The analytics showed a 21% conversion rate when I just used email. But when I was able to speak with the potential client over the phone, the conversion rates skyrocketed to about 65%. That’s a 309% increase!
In other words, you just tripled revenue from this one small change.
This is the power of testing your conversion rates.
Remember…higher conversions mean more revenue, more revenue means your logo rates have more breathing room to increase.
Constantly tweaking and optimizing seemingly small parts of your design business will positively impact your bottom-line over time.
Trust me, if you’re willing to put in the time to optimize for conversions, you’ll increase the demand on your business.
You’ll set yourself up perfectly to price your logos exactly where they need to be.
3. Your logo rate is…comfortable.
The biggest mistake I see my fellow logo designers make is keeping their logo rates the same for years on end. They get comfortable with a rate which prospects often say “yes” to. Since they say “yes” so much, it has to be the perfect number, right? Not exactly.
Think of your logo portfolio from a couple years ago. Most of us would say that we’ve learned and improved quite a bit over that 2 year timeframe. Many of us would even cringe at some of our old logos. We don’t want some of them to see the light of day. Why?
You’ve upped your game. You’ve honed your craft. You’ve gained valuable experience.
David Airey developed a design pricing formula which I feel is pretty much spot on. Take a look at the formula below to get a better idea for each factor that plays into determining your logo rates:
Level of expertise
+
Project specification
+
Turnaround time
+
Service and support
+
Level of demand
+
Current economy
+
Physical location
=
Total Cost
There’s a reason why “level of expertise” is at the top.
Knowledge, skill and design quality all make up this category of expertise. These are some of the biggest determinants of value when your pricing your logo services.
Don’t do a disservice to yourself with a stagnant price which represented your work from a couple years ago.
If you need to set a reminder each quarter to take another look your pricing, get it done. Constantly reevaluate your logo rates so they represent the real value you bring to the table.
