Sending a price list automatically, and keeping it true

Automating price list delivery looks like the simplest thing in this whole category. Somebody asks what things cost, a document goes out, everybody is happy. It is simple right up to the first time the document is three months out of date and somebody arrives expecting the old number.

The delivery is trivial. The part that takes thought is that a price you send is a commitment in a customer's mind, and frequently something closer to a commitment in law, so the interesting questions are all about keeping what you send true and knowing what to do when the honest answer is that it depends.

What we'll cover

• One source, and everything else points at it
• The stale copy problem
• A sent price is a quoted price
• Document or message
• Building it with CodeWords
• When the answer is "it depends"
• Variants, options and the things that change a price
• Allergens and anything you are obliged to state
• What comes after the price list
• Making it survive
• Limits worth knowing about
• What to fix first
• Frequently asked questions

One source, and everything else points at it

Most businesses have their prices in several places: a website page, a printed card, a PDF somebody made last year, a spreadsheet, and whatever the owner says on the phone. They disagree, and nobody knows which is right.

Automating delivery from one of those copies makes the problem worse, because now the wrong version goes out faster and more consistently than before.

So the first piece of work is picking the source of truth and making everything else derive from it. One place where a price is changed, and the message, the website and the printed version all come from that. Where deriving is not possible, at least know which is authoritative, and put a date on everything else.

This is unglamorous and it is the whole job. A business that cannot say where its authoritative prices live is not ready to automate sending them.

The stale copy problem

Once a document is sent, it exists on somebody's phone indefinitely, with your name on it and no indication it has expired.

Three mitigations, in increasing order of effort.

Date what you send. Every list carries the date it was issued and a line saying prices may change. Cheap, and it does most of the work.

Send a link rather than a file where that suits your customers, so what they open is current whenever they open it. Less convenient for some audiences, and worth offering both.

Send only what was asked about. A customer asking about one service does not need the whole list, and a short accurate answer today beats a comprehensive document that will be wrong in March.

The version to avoid is a permanent PDF attached to an automation nobody remembers to update. Put a review date on it and give it an owner.

A sent price is a quoted price

Worth being clear-eyed about, because the informality of the channel disguises it.

When a customer asks what something costs and you send a figure, they have been quoted. If they then arrive, book or order on the strength of it, you are in a much weaker position to charge something different, and in a consumer context the expectation that the stated price is what they pay is strong.

Three practical consequences.

Say what the price includes and excludes. Most disputes are about scope rather than the number.

Say how long it holds. A list that says prices are valid for a period removes the argument about a figure sent last summer.

Separate a price list from a quote. A list of indicative prices and a quotation for this customer's specific job are different documents doing different jobs, and blurring them is where trouble starts.

None of this requires legal language. Plain sentences do it, and they read better.

Document or message

Both have a place and the choice is usually made by habit rather than fit.

A document suits a long structured list somebody will want to read properly, show to somebody else, or keep. It carries formatting, and it is easy to date.

A message suits a specific question. Somebody asking the price of one thing wants that answer in the thread, not a twelve-page attachment they have to open and search.

The pattern that works is answering the specific question in the message and offering the full list as a document if they want it. Leading with the attachment answers a question nobody asked and has a noticeable drop-off.

Whichever you send, keep the file small and use a format everyone can open.

Building it with CodeWords

CodeWords connects to more than 3,000 integrations, and the connection is made once and reused.

1. Open CodeWords and start a new automation.
2. Describe what should happen in plain language to Cody, the automation builder: where prices live, what gets answered directly, and what must go to a person.
3. Authorize the connections to wherever your authoritative prices are held and your WhatsApp Business Platform account.
4. Describe the exceptions: a service that cannot be priced without seeing it, a request for a discount, a question about something you no longer offer.
5. Point it at the source rather than at a copy, so an updated price is live everywhere the moment it changes.

You describe the outcome; Cody builds it, connects it, and deploys it. The free plan covers light use, with Pro at $39 per month and Business at $100 per month as usage grows; details are on the pricing page.

When the answer is "it depends"

For a lot of work, the honest answer is a range or a conversation, and the temptation is to give a number anyway because a number feels like better service.

A figure that turns out to be wrong costs more than a range that was honest. The customer who was told one thing and charged another does not remember that it was an estimate.

What works is a genuine range with the reason attached, plus what would settle it. "Usually between this and this, depending on the condition, and we can confirm once we've seen it" is a good answer. "From this" is a bad one, because customers hear the number and not the word before it.

Then make the next step easy: booking the assessment that produces the real figure is the actual goal of the conversation.

Variants, options and the things that change a price

Price lists get out of date in a second way that is less obvious than the numbers changing.

Sizes, finishes, quantities, delivery, urgency, whether something is charged per hour or per job. These modifiers are usually understood inside the business and absent from the list, so a customer reads one number and the eventual invoice has several lines.

List the modifiers alongside the base prices, plainly. It makes the list longer and it removes most of the friction at the point of payment, where friction is expensive.

Minimum orders, call-out charges and anything applying only in certain circumstances belong in the same place, stated rather than mentioned later.

Allergens and anything you are obliged to state

Where a price list is a food menu, it carries obligations a price list does not, and sending it by message does not change them.

Allergen information has to be available, and the rules differ depending on whether food is made to order or prepacked for direct sale. Do not let an automation imply that a dish is free from something unless that is established: for shared kitchens the honest answer is frequently that you cannot guarantee it, and saying so is safer than being accommodating. The current position is set out in the FSA allergen guidance.

The same principle applies in other trades to anything you are required to disclose, such as whether a price includes VAT, or a charge that only appears in certain circumstances. If it must be stated, state it in the thing you send rather than when asked.

What comes after the price list

The price list is rarely the end of the conversation, and the message that follows it decides whether anything happens.

Most people who ask about prices have a next question: whether you can do their particular thing, whether you have availability, how to book. Anticipating the likely next step and offering it converts a much larger share than sending the list and stopping.

Where the next question needs a person, say so and say when. Silence after a price list reads as the end of the exchange.

Making it survive

Give the price list an owner and a review date.

Date everything you send, including documents.

Point the automation at the source, never at a copy.

Log the questions the list did not answer, which tells you what is missing from it.

Re-check anything you are obliged to state whenever the list changes.

Limits worth knowing about

An automation cannot price bespoke work, and pretending otherwise produces disputes.

A sent document lives forever on somebody's phone, dated or not.

Customers read the smallest number in anything you send.

Discount requests need a person, since an automated refusal is a worse answer than a considered one.

Sending a price faster does not make it more competitive, it just gets you to the same answer sooner.

What to fix first

Decide where your authoritative prices live, and point everything at that one place. Until a business can say which version is correct, automating delivery only distributes the wrong one more efficiently.

Two habits make the difference. Date everything you send, because a document without a date is a price with no expiry sitting on somebody's phone. And give a genuine range with its reason rather than a number you are not sure of, since customers remember the figure and not the qualification around it.

Frequently asked questions

What is the first step in automating price list delivery?

Decide where the authoritative prices live and make everything else derive from it. Automating from one of several disagreeing copies distributes the wrong version faster.

How do I stop old price lists causing problems?

Date everything you send and state that prices may change, send a link rather than a file where that suits your customers, and answer the specific question rather than attaching the whole list.

Is a price sent by message a quote?

In the customer's mind, yes, and often in a stronger sense than that. Say what it includes and excludes, say how long it holds, and keep an indicative list distinct from a quotation for a specific job.

Should I send a document or write the price in the message?

Answer the specific question in the message and offer the full list as a document if they want it. Leading with an attachment answers a question nobody asked and loses people.

What should I do when the price genuinely depends?

Give a real range with the reason, say what would settle it, and make booking the assessment easy. A wrong number costs more than an honest range, because customers remember the figure.

What gets left off price lists?

The modifiers: sizes, finishes, quantities, delivery, urgency, minimum orders, call-out charges, and whether VAT is included. They are understood inside the business and invisible to the customer until the invoice.

What about allergens on a menu?

The obligations follow the food rather than the channel. Allergen information must be available, the rules differ for made-to-order and prepacked-for-direct-sale, and an automation should never imply something is free from an allergen unless that is established.

What should happen after the price list is sent?

Offer the likely next step, which is usually availability or booking. Silence after a price list reads as the end of the conversation, and a large share of enquiries stop there.

Can discount requests be automated?

They should reach a person. An automated refusal is a worse answer than a considered one, and it is a conversation where the relationship is decided.

How often should a price list be reviewed?

On a schedule, with a named owner, and whenever anything you are obliged to state changes. A document attached to an automation that nobody reviews is the commonest version of this going wrong.

Related reading

• Taking orders and keeping the record straight
• The cutoff on changes
• Designing the conversation