How We Price: Simple & Transparent
As the self proclaimed “un-agency” we take a very un-agency approach to pricing…which is simple transparent pricing. Our prices are based on the hours and resources required to accomplish the task at hand.
Pure and simple. That’s it.
Typically agencies give flat rates for projects, which often leads to friction with clients because they don’t understand where the price comes from.
It’s as though the agency waves their magic wand, says “abracadabra” and pulls a price out of a hat… it’s magic!
While certainly agencies put a significant amount of effort into defining their pricing, clients are completely blind to the system.
Pulling Back the Veil
Instead, at Metacake, we price based on the resources required to complete your specific project. We spend a great deal of time and effort accurately tracking our internal resources and project data so that we are able to do this. We run analysis on past projects and use that data to inform a pricing estimate for your project. Whether it’s a branding, web design, development, ecommerce, or conversion-oriented marketing project, we can very accurately predict what work is required and how long it will take.
What’s more is that we tell you exactly what’s included. We don’t just tell you a number based on our analysis…we outline exactly what you get, from how many hours of work to how many rounds of design feedback to how many unique layouts you are included.
For example, let’s say you need a marketing website with 3 custom templates, developed from scratch on WordPress. We know how many hours of design, project management, and development time are needed. We know how many weeks each phase will take. This not only lets us be transparent with our clients and set realistic expectations up front, but also to stay within the promised timeframe.
This allows us to accurately project a price for you. No abracadabra. No magic or pulling rabbits out of hats. Just a simple pricing structure.
Client Control
And if the price is out of your budget? No problem. You have complete control.
We expose all the levers to pull and adjust the price to fit within your requirements. Change the number of rounds of design, the number of custom templates, the marketing budget or channels and the budget follows. With one caveat, we understand our area of expertise and that’s why brands work with us over other teams so we’ll still push hard for the path that we believe will deliver the results you’re looking for. We shoot straight.
But it’s always clear. There is no secret veil covering our pricing.
In our experience, without transparency, clients and vendors always feel like they are getting a bad deal – it’s a lose-lose. But with us, clients don’t. Each element of the price is clearly laid out and if the price is to high, we simply ask “What do you want to take out?” The client is in control always.
Simple Payment Terms
We are also have simple payment terms. Most agencies die because of cashflow issues. So we require all money to be paid at the beginning of each month of work electronically.
We are strict with this. If we are going to deliver on time, our clients need to deliver on time also. We work hard to scope out the entire project accurately and deliver within the estimated timeline and budgeted hours, so we expect our clients to deliver also, providing feedback and approval within the pre-agreed timeframes as well as payment.
