With your primary projects coming with appropriately large price tags, it can be tempting to offer a lower-tier or discounted e-design package. After all, this lower-priced option can attract a different audience, fill in the gaps between other projects, and of course provide additional revenue. However, what it actually does to a luxury brand is split your positioning, dilute your marketing authority, and create operational chaos. Worst of all, it signals to ultra-high net-worth clients that your expertise is a commodity, rather than a premium offering.
What is E-Design?
Let’s define e-design, though it’s good to note that this can apply to all low-tier commodity services. E-design, however, is very popular, as it’s easy to do and lets designers flex their creative muscles in some ways. These digital packages allow a designer to create mood boards, floor plans, shopping lists, and renders based on a client’s photos, room dimensions, and preferences. They are usually products bought for a flat fee and have a quick turnaround. Their greatest strength for the customer is their greatest weakness for your brand, which is that the customer can then give this e-design package to any designer in the world and have them execute on it. While this product can help fill in the gaps in your pipeline, someone else executing your designs means that your work is nothing special―at least in the eyes of potential clients.
Brand Dilution and Loss of Positioning
Luxury and affluent clients are not just purchasing an interior design service. They buy exclusivity, risk mitigation, and turnkey execution. When you offer a budget digital tier, you’re signaling to that clientele that your company has a lack of demand, and it undermines your premium pricing power on your other offerings. When your website displays bespoke multi-million-dollar estates alongside easy-to-purchase mood boards, prospective high-end clients start questioning the authenticity of your luxury know-how. Essentially, seeing these offerings will begin to plant seeds of doubt about how exclusive your services truly are. If your design vision can be bought for relative pennies, why would a luxury client want to pay for your premier services?
Operations Chaos
If your team excels at high-touch, white-glove experiences, switching gears to rapid-fire, low-margin e-design turnarounds can be disruptive. Managing two completely different operational pipelines creates major back-end friction. Especially if the same team members work on both and have to switch, you just increase the chance for mistakes. These projects can also eat up a disproportionate amount of time. If the client has any more input than just clicking the “buy” button on your website, it’s almost a guarantee that these low-margin clients will require more hand-holding than your top-dollar ones.
The Psychological Disconnect
When you split your offerings between e-design and full projects, you create a disconnect with both tiers of clients. Low-budget digital clients expect the type of high-touch communication and endless revisions that a full-price client might be afforded. Meanwhile, high-budget clients lose their sense of exclusivity when they know that just anyone can have your design expertise for cheap. And you’ll notice the differences between both types of clients very sharply. High-margin clients respect your expertise, professional boundaries, and spatial understanding. Low-margin clients are more likely to micromanage, question line items and markups, and waffle on decisions.
Monetizing Mid-Market Leads Without Diluting Your Brand
Just because low-tier e-design is a poor fit for a luxury interior design brand, that doesn’t mean a similar product isn’t possible. You can still attract a mid-level client by replacing these low-cost digital packages with higher-ticket, single-day consultations. These meetings have a similar deliverable to the e-design offerings, but are more high-touch, to properly serve as an intro to your more premium offerings. Additionally, they carry a steep financial minimum along with zero expectations to execute on the designs―at least until the client is willing to sign on for the full luxury service. Now your smaller packages are an onboarding ramp to clients who are a bit more hesitant to sign on to a full project, as well as an opportunity to support colleagues. If you come across a non-ideal client, you can refer the project to trusted designers in your community who might be a better fit.
Uncompromising Market Authority
The most elite brands command top-tier fees because they refuse to compromise on quality and focus. Some of the most recognizable luxury brands have a small selection of products or services, rather than a sprawling, customizable menu. So audit your current offers and make sure you have a cohesive, easy-to-understand selection. Remove low-margin menu items and re-establish your firm as an exclusive, full-service enterprise!