RentalHomesPlus just lowered its prices by adding a new ad plan. The new ad plan is called “Basic 30 Day Ad” priced at $19.99.
The $19.99 ad is different from the $39.00 ad by allowing you to only post 1 photo. It also appears that you don’t get a virtual tour, open house info, and traffic to your website like you do for the $39 or $79 plans.
I am not sure what to think of this. My research shows that ads that have photos receive a lot more traffic, but I am not sure if just having one photo will hurt traffic or not.
I am still trying to decide what my discount pricing should be, but this info now should help me figure it out. Looks like I need to get my volume discount worked out before the Scottsdale NARPM conference.
What are your thoughts on this new pricing structure?
Update 5/17/07: A representative from RentalHomesPlus tells me that you also don’t get any customer service, no toll free number, no link to company website, no logo, and no lead reporting for the $19.99 ad plan. And the biggest thing of all is that the $19.99 ads sort below all the other higher paying ads .
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12 users responded in this post
Wow. But now I am concerned. Does this mean the product was over priced before? I paid a lot more than it in the past…twice as much. Not that it will cost me twice as much less to post an ad, does that menan they over charged me before?
I think RHP needs to understand that you get what you pay for. If the product works, I will pay for it…..dropping their pricing will not mean that we will flock to their product….my time to post the ad is an expense. Even if it were free, if it does not work, I won’t use it.
This smells like an act of desperation to me. RHP is chasing CSI’s heels but won’t catch up by monkeying with their pricing.
-Dissappointed
What interest me if the fact that RentalHomesPlus did not make a big deal out of the price reduction.
Dave/Stella,
We are simply taking a look at some various pricing strategies, our Standard 30 day ad was priced at $49 and we have been offering it at $39 for the spring season. We feel strongly in the value we provide at $49 but just like many companies, occasionally they have a sale or test new pricing to see if it drives volume. We also wanted to test a “Basic” ad for single listing customers who are extremely price sensitive, the ad is no frills, one photo, no Customer Service, etc. Most companies we are working with who understand the value of what we provide in terms of Customer Service, Leads, Extensive photos, Links to Mgmt company site, Toll Free phone tracking, etc would not be interested in this package.
I can assure you that there is no desperation, simply trying some new things.
Brian Frisby
Director of Sales
Rentalhomeplus.com
Brian,
Thanks for stopping by and adding your comments.
Interesting that you are testing the price - I kind of understand now why you didn’t make a big deal out of it.
I am not much of a businessman, but I know from a consumer stand point that once you lower your price (especially on the internet) you can never raise it again.
That is why I am taking my time figuring out my discount volume plan.
Dave
Ok…Am I getting confused here??? Brian you said in your other post:
“The Basic Listing is not offered by our Sales team. Therefore, people placing those ads don’t interact with our Salespeople, but certainly have access to our Customer Support staff and provide them with excellent service.”
But on this post you said:
“We also wanted to test a “Basic†ad for single listing customers who are extremely price sensitive, the ad is no frills, one photo, no Customer Service, etc. ”
So I read this as your providing “no” customer service with the “basic” no frills package??
Your statements contradict themeselves.
Either way I think for rentalhomesplus to grow in this market and be successful you need strong customer service . And that will apply for any company. Large or small..
Just wanted to clarify
Have a great weekend! While you corporate guys are enjoying the memorial day sun I will be behind the screen working hard to get to the top! LOL
Robbie
Robbie I am working too this weekend while the corporate guys take a vacation.
Hmmm…..Have you noticed how rh and rc number of listings have droped in “jacksonville” today?
They used to have 600 + listings in Jax alone…I sure hope they can run a large company with just a bunch of blinding advertisements all over there pages. Because that is what these sites have come to be.
You would think as large as CSI is they would know that for the most part about 66% of users “HATE” all of the flashy,bulky,junk advertising they have on every page of there sites.
But I’m just the small regional guy…what do I know…LOL
Btw…That was 600+ listings per site.
RentalHouses is down to 391 right now for Jacksonville when they used to have a ton more.
I guess I can’t really talk because I would love to have 391 listings in Jacksonville right now.
Robbie,
Those missing RentalHouses ads must be going somewhere, are they ending up on your site?
Some of them are….I’m at 233 tonight. I have picked up a few new companies recently, But this area is very tough!
I normally run around 210-245 at any given time. I would like to get my listing count to around 600 by the end of the year..
I have a few tricks up my sleeve to get me there.
We will see!
Robbie
[...] I reported last month RentalHomesPlus without any fanfare produced a $19.99 plan and now has just as quietly gotten rid [...]
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