Why "fees on enquiry" costs you the enrolment
A parent comparing three piano teachers at nine in the evening will discount the one whose site says "contact us for pricing". Not because they cannot afford it, but because finding out costs them an email and a wait, and the other two answered in a second. The enquiries that do arrive are then half budget-checking, which is the least useful conversation you can have on a Tuesday.
Stating fees does the filtering for you. The enquiries that come are from people who have already accepted the number, and the trial converts far more often. Here is how to state them properly.
The three units
Lesson providers price in three units and the site needs all of them that apply:
- Per lesson. Thirty, forty-five and sixty minutes, one to one and in a small group. The number a first-time reader looks for.
- Per term. What a term actually costs, with the number of lessons it contains. This is what a parent budgets against and it is the number most sites omit.
- Per course. For language courses, exam preparation, adult evening classes and multi-week workshops, a single price with the dates and the hours.
Show the arithmetic once: "£X per thirty-minute lesson. A term is eleven lessons, so £Y, payable in one payment or three." A parent who can see how the term price is built does not query the invoice.
The fee record
Build fees as records rather than as a paragraph typed into several pages:
| Field | Purpose | |---|---| | Name | "Piano, 30 minutes, one to one" | | Unit | Lesson, term, course, block | | Amount | The figure, with tax treatment stated | | Duration and count | Thirty minutes; eleven lessons per term | | Applies to | Subjects, levels, teachers, locations | | Concessions | Sibling, multi-lesson, early payment, eligibility | | Notes | Materials, exam fees and travel, if extra | | Effective from | So a rise is dated |
The fees page, every subject page and every teacher profile then render from the same record. One change, and it updates everywhere, which is the only reliable way to avoid a stale price on a page nobody remembered.
Everything that is not the lesson
The complaints that follow a good first term are almost always about a cost nobody mentioned. Put them on the fees page in a short list:
- Exam entry fees, and whether the centre or the parent pays.
- Books, music, materials, kit and software.
- Instrument hire or purchase, with a rough band rather than a promise.
- Travel charges for lessons at the student's home, by distance.
- Registration or enrolment fees, and whether they are annual.
- What happens to a missed lesson, which is a fee question in disguise.
The policies that belong beside the price
Fees and policies are read together. On the same page, in plain sentences: how many lessons a term contains and when it is invoiced; what notice is needed to stop; whether missed lessons are made up, credited or charged; how a teacher's absence is handled; whether holidays are charged; and the deposit or first payment taken at enrolment.
Say them plainly and say them once. A parent who reads a clear cancellation policy before enrolling does not argue about it in March.
Where the fees appear
- A Fees page with the full table, the concessions and the policies. Linked from the main menu, not buried under About.
- On each subject page, the fee for that subject only, so the violin reader sees violin numbers.
- On the trial page, the trial's own price or the fact that it is free, plus what the ongoing fee will be.
- In the booking tool, matching exactly. A price on the site that differs from the price at checkout loses the booking.
Tax, currency and honesty
State whether the figure includes tax, in the currency your students pay in. If lessons are exempt or zero rated in your country, say the price is the price. Avoid "from £X" unless the range is genuinely wide, and where it is, show both ends. Do not publish a discount you always run; make it the price.
Raising them
Date the rise, tell current families before it appears on the site, and change the record on the day it takes effect so nobody enrols at a number you no longer charge. A single line, "Fees reviewed each September", sets the expectation in advance and removes most of the awkwardness.
Free trials, paid trials
Both work. A free trial fills the diary faster and attracts some browsers; a paid trial, often at a reduced rate, arrives with more commitment and converts better. Whichever you choose, say it on the trial page and on the fees page, and say what the trial includes: length, who teaches it, where, and what happens next if they want to continue.
We do not quote our own build prices in posts like this; those sit on the pricing page. The same principle applies to you: put the number where the reader is looking.
Where this sits
Stated fees, per lesson and per term, are one of the six essentials on every lessons website we build, and "fees only on enquiry" is one of the three problems that brings providers to us. It matters most for tutors and adult education providers, where the reader is comparing several options in one evening and the site with the number wins the enquiry.