Presenting the Package on a Page
Layout, copy and visual rules that let a stranger read your package menu in ten seconds and pick the option that fits them.
A well-designed package set with a poorly-designed page underperforms badly. The customer arrives, can't quickly tell the options apart, gets a vague sense of confusion and clicks away. Most don't email to ask. They just go. The presentation isn't a polish step. It's part of the offer.
This chapter is about the presentation rules that make a package menu work in the ten-second window most customers actually give it. By the end you'll know how to lay out three tiers on one page, what copy goes where, what to leave out and how to test the page on real strangers before you publish.
The full chapter walks through the three-column layout that almost always wins, the copy hierarchy for each tier, the visual cues that highlight the recommended option without dishonest dark patterns and a worked page for four kinds of business.
The three-column rule
For a three-tier package set, the three-column horizontal layout almost always wins. Each column shows one tier. The columns are the same width. The customer's eye scans left to right and compares the same lines across each tier - what's included, how much, what's the call to action. Vertical layouts (one tier stacked above the next) look fine on a phone but make comparison much harder and reliably underperform the three-column version on conversion.
On phones, the three columns stack into three rows. That's fine, but the rows should still be designed so the customer can scroll quickly and compare equivalent lines. The mistake is to use the stacked mobile layout as the design for desktop too - desktop customers want the side-by-side comparison.
What goes in each column
The same five elements, in the same order, in every column. Tier name. One-line description of who it's for. Price (with billing frequency). Three to five short bullet points of what's included. A single call to action button. That's it. Five elements. Not ten. The temptation is always to add more reassurance, more bullets, more comparison detail. The temptation is always wrong.
Tier name
Short, boring, descriptive. "Starter, Standard, Premium" works. Two words maximum. The name is a label, not a marketing message - the marketing happens in the one-line description below it.
One-line description of who it's for
A short sentence telling the customer whether this column is theirs. "For tradespeople who want to try monthly bookkeeping with a one-off books tidy first." "For most independent tradespeople who want predictable monthly bookkeeping." "For tradespeople who also want quarterly tax planning and an annual review." The customer can read the three lines, find the one that matches their situation and stop reading the others.
Price (with billing frequency)
A real number, in plain sight, with the billing frequency. "£120 per month." "£200 one-off." "£190 per month." Don't hide the price behind "contact us" or "prices on application." Don't show only the annual figure when most customers will pay monthly. Don't strike out a fictional higher price - dishonest pricing tactics damage trust quickly with the kinds of buyers who would otherwise have been your best customers.
Three to five bullets of what's included
Bullets, not paragraphs. Each bullet starts with the same kind of word across all three columns - all nouns or all verbs - so the eye can compare. "Monthly bookkeeping. Bank reconciliation. Monthly profit and loss summary." Five at most. The temptation to list everything you do for that tier should be resisted. Pick the three to five that distinguish this tier from the others and let the rest be assumed.
Single call to action
One button per column. Same button design on all three (size, shape). Same kind of action ("Get started", "Choose Starter"). Different text only where the action genuinely differs ("Book a fit call" for the premium tier, where you want a conversation before signing up, versus "Sign up" for the lower tiers, where the customer can self-serve).
- Tier name (short, boring, descriptive)
- One-line description of who it's for
- Price with billing frequency
- Three to five bullets of what's included
- Single call to action button
Highlighting the recommended option
Most package pages benefit from one column being visually distinguished as the recommended choice - usually the middle one, since most customers should land there. A subtle highlight (a tinted background, a small "Most popular" tag, a slightly thicker border) works. Aggressive highlighting (large coloured banners, multiple urgency tags, fake countdown timers) backfires. The highlight should help the busy customer pick faster, not push the cautious customer towards a decision they'll regret.
Be honest about which tier is most popular. If your data says the middle one is, label it. If actually most customers buy the starter, don't label the middle tier as most popular just because tier-marketing convention says you should. Customers can tell when the labels don't match the reality of what they hear from people they know.
What to leave off the page
Long FAQs. Multiple testimonials per tier. Detailed delivery process diagrams. Comparison tables with twenty rows. None of these belong above the fold on a package page. They can live below it - the customer who wants to dig in will scroll. The customer who wants to pick fast should be able to do so in the top three hundred pixels of the page.
Comparison tables in particular are tempting and almost always make things worse. A long table of ticks and crosses across many features makes the brain tired. The customer disengages and either picks the cheapest option (if they're cautious) or the most expensive (if they're keen) without really comparing. Three columns with five bullets each is more compare-able than one table with twenty rows.
The ten-second test
Show the page to three people who don't already know your business. Give them ten seconds. Take the page away. Ask them three questions. Can you describe the three options? What's the difference between the middle and the premium one? Which one would you pick if you were in the market? If they can answer all three from a ten-second look, the page is working. If they can't, the page is too dense or the differences are too subtle and the layout needs tightening before you publish.
Worked layout for four businesses
Bookkeeper: three columns. Starter ("For tradespeople trying monthly bookkeeping for the first time. £200 one-off. Books tidy review. Bank reconciliation. Written summary report. [Get the books tidy]"). Standard ("For most independent tradespeople. £120 per month. Monthly bookkeeping. Bank reconciliation. Monthly profit and loss. Quarterly tax estimate. [Sign up]"). Premium ("For tradespeople who also want tax planning. £190 per month. Everything in Standard. Quarterly tax planning call. Annual end-of-year review. [Book a fit call]"). Middle column highlighted as Most Popular.
Plumber: three columns. Boiler service one-off (£100). Annual home plan (£200, one visit, priority callouts). Premium annual plan (£340, two visits, priority callouts, parts discount, written report). Middle highlighted.
Freelance designer: three columns. Brand basics (£400). Brand and website (£1,500). Brand, website and three-month support (£3,500). Middle highlighted, premium tagged Capped at 3 per quarter.
Homewares shop: three product cards in a row on the bedding category page - single duvet cover (£60), bed bundle (£110, marked Best Value), premium bundle (£170). Middle card marked Best Value.
What to do this week
Build the package menu page using the five elements per column. Show it to three people who don't already know your business and run the ten-second test. Note which questions they couldn't answer. Tighten the page until all three can describe the options, the differences and which one fits them best from a ten-second look. Then publish.
The package menu is a hypothesis, not a final answer. The next chapter, 'Testing and Improving the Package Set', covers how to read what real customers do once the menu is live and how to evolve it without redesigning the business every quarter.
The rest of this chapter walks through the practical steps, the templates and the checklists you need to put it into action. It includes worked examples, copy frameworks and the small decisions that make the difference between a plan that sits in a drive and one that gets used.
Inside you'll find a step-by-step playbook, a downloadable template, a checklist you can run this week and a short list of common mistakes to avoid before you start.
- The full action plan, broken into weekly steps.
- Ready-to-use scripts, templates and checklists.
- Worked examples for different sized businesses.
- Common mistakes and how to avoid them.
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