Why trainers hide prices, and why it costs them
Training prices are awkward for a reason. A six-week puppy course and a two-hour behaviour assessment in someone's living room are not comparable products, the second one varies by case, and travel changes both. So the site says "contact for prices" and the trainer spends every evening answering the same message.
It does not work. An owner comparing three trainers will drop the one that will not say, and the enquiries you do get are mostly people who were never going to book. Prices stated by service is one of the six must-haves on a dog training website, and stating them is what makes the booking buttons worth having.
Step 1: split the price list by route
Two routes, two tables. Owners on the class route want a course price. Owners on the behaviour route want to know what an assessment costs and what happens after it. Mixing them into one long list makes both audiences read past their own answer.
Classes. Price the course, not the week, because the course is what you sell. For each one: the number of weeks, the session length, the maximum number of dogs, what is included, and whether the price covers one handler or the household. Where you run a drop-in or a single session, price it separately and higher per session than the course rate, so the course is obviously the better buy.
One-to-ones and behaviour. The initial consult with its real length and price. The follow-up session price. Any written report or plan, whether it is included or extra. Where a case needs veterinary referral before you can take it, say so beside the price rather than after the payment.
Step 2: price the packages honestly
Packages are where training sites usually get vague. Give each one the number of sessions, the period they must be used in, whether the initial consult counts as one of them, and what happens to unused sessions. If a package is cheaper per session than buying singly, show both numbers so the saving is visible. If it is not cheaper and the value is in the structure, say that instead of implying a discount that is not there.
Step 3: state the variables before the owner finds them
Every training business has three or four things that move the price. Put them under the tables in plain sentences rather than in terms and conditions:
- Travel: what radius is included, and what is charged beyond it.
- Home visits versus a training field or hall.
- Two dogs in the same household, and whether that is one session or two.
- Assessment required before joining a class, and whether it is charged.
- Group size, where a smaller group costs more.
One honest line about what changes on the day means nobody feels caught out, which is the same reason a grooming site prices de-matting separately.
Step 4: connect every price to a button
A price with no button beside it sends the owner back to a contact form. Each row links to the thing that books it: class prices to the timetable in TeamUp, Bookeo or Acuity with that course selected, the consult price to the appointment flow with the intake questionnaire attached, the package to whatever your platform sells packages through. Where a service genuinely cannot be booked without a conversation, say why and give a phone number rather than a form.
Step 5: handle deposits and cancellations at the price
The three questions that follow a price are what is due now, what happens if I cannot make a week, and what happens if I cancel. Answer them next to the table: the deposit or full payment taken at booking, whether a missed class week can be caught up in another group, and your cancellation window for a consult. A trainer's diary is a slot with a person travelling to it, so a stated window is fair and owners accept it when they read it before paying.
Step 6: build it so you can change it
Prices go up. If the price table is baked into the design, updating it is a job you postpone, and an out-of-date table is worse than none. Build the tables as editable records so you can change a number and publish it in a minute, and check the platform matches the same day. A price on the site that differs from the price in the checkout is the single most common complaint on training sites, and the fix is to treat the platform as the source and the table as the shop window.
Step 7: review it twice a year
Put a recurring note in the diary. Compare each price against the time the service actually takes now, including travel and the write-up after a consult. Trainers routinely under-price the report writing that follows behaviour work, because it happens at home in the evening where nobody sees it.
Where this sits
Prices for classes, consults and packages, stated clearly and attached to a booking button, is one of the six must-haves in every training site we build, and the pattern of editable, honest price tables runs across every pet business website we make. See our pricing for what the build itself costs. For a trainer, the table is what turns an evening of messages back into an evening.