Many copywriters, both new and experienced, struggle with how much to charge their clients. In fact, it is a problem that many in the service industry face.

The dilemma?

Charge too little and you risk losing credibility in the eyes of your customers and potential clients. Additionally, the quality of your work, even if it is worth 100 times what they paid for it, will be seen as having diminished value.

Worst of all, when you charge too little, you may begin to resent the project, the client, or even your chosen profession.

In short, charging too little doesn’t do anyone any good, least of all you.

On the other hand, if you charge too much you run the risk of losing a potential client. You may lose out on opportunities to work with clients who could open doors and provide you and your business with an abundance of work.

The solution?

Olympic Factor Pricing

Athletes in the Olympics have the opportunity to win one of three awards: the bronze medal, the silver medal, and the coveted gold medal.

That’s how your pricing should work, too. When a customer requests a quote, you present them with a comprehensive package that includes three levels of pricing.

Here’s an example (and it’s only one example, so change it to fit your skillsets and services):

The Gold Level

This level includes all the bells and whistles. The “premium package,” if you will. You offer everything they’re asking for and more.

If they want a salesletter written from scratch, you write it but also provide them with the optin copy, order form copy, and confirmation page copy. You can also provide design elements, layout suggestions, and formatting, too.

(Make sure to denominate all these elements in your package, even add estimated values for each one. The object is to make the client understand that these add-ons are extras, have intrinsic value on their own, and are included in the Gold package only.)

This Gold Level pricing also includes the highest quoted fee of your three offers.

The Silver Level

This level includes basically what the customer has asked for and generally fits into your “standard copywriting package.” You also charge a bit less than the Gold level pricing but still more than the bronze level quote.

For example, it can be writing the salesletter copy (and only the salesletter), with some formatting and basic design suggestions. And just as with the Gold, you denominate each element in this package.

The Bronze Level

This is your barebones and least expensive offer. Perhaps it’s writing just the main copy and that’s it. Perhaps it’s rewriting existing copy. Or perhaps it’s critiquing it and giving the client a list of actionable suggestions to improve it.

No bells. No whistles. No extras.

However, don’t underquote, here. There is a possibility that your client will choose this level and you don’t want to be in a situation where you’re resenting the work and the client.

Why Three Levels Of Pricing?

When you educate your client on the value of your work, you give them something to compare to. Something concrete. Something they can chew on.

Instead of just having a dollar amount, he now has a concept of what that value is worth. Because he’s not comparing your price against another copywriter’s price. He’s comparing one of your services against another.

In reality, you are creating not only higher perceived value but also higher intrinsic value. In other words, you’re boosting the perceived value not only of your services but also of the Gold package itself.

A good example is the price of gasoline.

If you tell me to choose which gas to put into my car with the following options (and since I’m Canadian, I’m using metric examples, here):

Premium Gas: $1.10 a liter
Better Gas: $1.03 a liter
Regular: $0.99 a liter

The only logical choice is to choose the cheapest solution because price is my only metric. However, if you tell me I have the choice of:

Premium Gas: $1.10 a liter
Has 94 octane (which means it burns better and more efficiently), cleans the engine as it burns, contains less pollutants, includes gasline antifreeze for the winter months, and perhaps includes a discount on car wash with 25 liters purchased.

Better Gas: $1.03 a liter
Has 89 octane, less pollutants, comes with free coffee at coffee bar with a minimum of 15 liters purchased.

Regular: $0.99 a liter
Has 85 octane.

This way, I know why the higher one has more value (not just higher price), and why the cheaper one is, well, cheap. You’ve given me more information to appreciate the value, as well as more information to compare each other with.

The same holds true for your copywriting services.

The Olympic factor gives your customers not only a choice but also a basis for comparison, and it increases the perceived value of your offer overall. Your Gold offer has the highest perceived value, and your Bronze offer, the lowest.

Which offer will your client choose?

When I used to teach marketing at a local college, I taught my students about a concept called the “price-quality continuum.” Meaning, people will either choose a product based on where it is in this continuum.

Whether it’s the low-end of the continuum (i.e., lowest price), the high-end (i.e., the highest quality), or somewhere in between, people buy according to what they feel is aligned with their values, desires, and goals.

With only one option, you serve only one type of customer at the expense of the other. But offer more than one, and you have the ability to cater to a wider spectrum of buying behaviors.

Doing so, you’ll likely find that the majority will go for the Silver (middle) option. These folks want the best of both worlds: good quality at a reasonable price.

However, many will choose the Gold level because a lot of people will want the best there is. Those are the quality seekers on the price-quality continuum.

Yet some people will, without a doubt, go for the cheapest solution. They are the deal seekers. But if they do, they do so with the full knowledge that they are getting less.

And that’s the key!

The real beauty of the Olympic factor pricing strategy is that it also stops the grinding away process after your service has been rendered.

Your customers won’t complain (most won’t, anyway) because, buttressed with the higher one when they made the choice, they know that, if they didn’t get more, they should have chosen the higher one to begin with.

It puts the onus and the responsibility of the decision — and the end result — firmly in their hands. Not yours.

The End Result

By incorporating this Olympic Factor Pricing strategy into your business, you’ll find a number of clients choose your Silver level package and be quite happy with it because you’ve educated them on the value of your work.

You will sell more of the Silver package, which is your standard offer anyway, because they don’t need to shop around. You’ve done that for them.

Plus, you’ll be able to demand and justify higher fees, and your clients will be more content with their decision and the price they paid for your work.


Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, author, speaker and consultant. Watch him consult actual clients on video on how to improve their unproductive sales copy, and get tested conversion strategies and response-boosting tips in the process! Go now to www.TheCopyDoctor.com and watch a free 2-hour video sample!