The Intuitive Customer - Improve Your Customer Experience To Gain Growth: How can I establish a reputation for low prices WITHOUT seeming cheap and of low quality?

How can I establish a reputation for low prices WITHOUT seeming cheap and of low quality?

Sep 16, 2023

A podcast listener is in a pickle! Catherine wants to establish that her firm is known for low prices. However, she wants their reputation to avoid seeming cheap or low quality.

Cheap and low quality is brand promise few firms want to make. However, many brands want to have a reputation for low prices and high quality. Unfortunately, this brand promise is challenging to get right. Most customers don’t believe such a thing is possible.

However, it is possible. Amazon got their start with a reputation for low costs for high quality books. Over time, they built a brand known for service, delivery speed, and continuous improvement, which customers view as hallmarks of high quality. These examples are non-price influences that affect the price image.

For example, if you walk into a shop where they are serving complimentary espresso or champagne, you know that the prices are going to be high even before you see a price tag. By contrast, if you walk into a shop where everything is piled on a fold up table and supervised by a single, sullen employee scowling at their phone behind a makeshift counter, you know prices will be low.

In this episode, we explore the ways Catherine can establish her firm’s reputation for low prices without seeming cheap or low quality. We also give you practical advice that will help you make the case to your customers that you are the best deal in town.

Here are some other key moments in the discussion:

03:26 We talk about brands that have done an effective job of establishing themselves as affordable and high-quality.
05:49 Ryan starts off the discussion of how to achieve this tricky feat by explaining all the influences that affect a customers’ perception of a company’s price image.
17:19 We talk about reference points and how they affect price evaluations.
22:22 The discussion turns to how communication of how you are doing this amazing thing of providing high-quality items at low prices so customers can accept it.
27:48 Ryan summarizes his advice in practical ways that Catherine, and you, can apply these strategies to overcome this pricing challenge.