When redesigning an older website, pricing information is often the part most likely to be copied over without much thought. In design mockups, a pricing page usually looks like just a few numbers and a short description—easy to move as-is. But anyone who has actually been through a redesign knows that pricing content is mixed with historical quotes, campaign terms, channel differences, and verbal commitments. Copying it directly will carry old problems into the new site.
The core of handling this isn't about deciding on page layout first. It's about answering: Which pricing statements on the old site are still valid? Which have expired? Which should never have been public in the first place? Below, we walk through the process in order: inventory, assessment, execution, and review.
Step 1: Find Every Page on the Old Site That Contains Pricing Information
Don't just look at a single section labeled "Pricing" or "Quotes." Pricing information is often scattered across these locations:
- "Reference price" or "starting price" paragraphs on product introduction pages;
- Package comparison tables on service pages;
- Promotional prices mentioned in news or campaign pages;
- Answers to "How much does it cost?" or "How are fees calculated?" in FAQs;
- Downloadable materials, PDF quote sheets, or price tables embedded in images;
- Price hints in consultation call-to-action text in footers or sidebars.
In practice, combine site search with manual browsing: first search the backend using terms like "price," "cost," "fee," "charge," and "discount," then open each section to confirm. Organize the results into a table with at least these fields: page URL, page title, pricing content summary, last updated date, and owner.
The value of this table is that it turns pricing handling from a gut feeling into item-by-item confirmation. The biggest risk during a redesign is that an old quote sheet image gets bundled and uploaded along with everything else, still sitting there after the new site goes live.
Step 2: Assess Each Item—Keep, Rewrite, or Remove
After the inventory, assess each piece of pricing content. You can base your judgment on three questions:
- Does this price still represent the actual public pricing policy?
- Does this statement depend on a campaign that has ended or a business scope that has changed?
- Does this content still have a corresponding page in the new site structure to host it?
Based on the answers, there are roughly three types of handling:
| Action | When It Applies | Key Points |
|---|---|---|
| Keep | Pricing policy is stable, business scope unchanged, and the page structure is still needed | Migrate as-is, but verify numbers, units, currency, and applicable scope |
| Rewrite | The price itself is fine, but the wording depends on old site context or a past campaign | Remove campaign-specific qualifiers, make it a general statement, and keep only the billing method if necessary |
| Remove | Campaign has ended, business has changed, or the price is no longer public | Remove from the new site and handle redirects or notices for old URLs |
One reminder: rewriting doesn't mean deleting the numbers and replacing them with "Contact us for details." If the entire pricing page becomes "Please contact us," users lose their basis for judgment, and the inquiry channel is more likely to receive unqualified leads. Keep the billing method, pricing unit, and factors that affect price whenever possible.
Step 3: Don't Let Old and New Prices Be Visible at the Same Time During the Redesign
A redesign is usually not a one-time switch—the old site keeps running while the new site is built gradually. This stage is where problems most easily arise: old prices haven't been removed, new prices are already live, and users see inconsistencies on both sides.
A more reliable approach is to set a switchover point for pricing content. Before that point, the old pricing pages stay as they are, and the new pricing pages are not yet public. After that point, the corresponding old pages either redirect to the new site or display a clear notice. Which method to use depends on whether the old site is still being visited and whether external links point to the old pricing pages.
If old pricing pages have external links or user bookmarks, letting them become 404 errors is a poor experience. You can create a simple transition page stating that pricing information has been updated and pointing to the corresponding new page. How long to keep the transition page depends on actual traffic—there's no need to leave it up indefinitely.
Step 4: Add Boundary Information That the Old Site Was Missing
Many older websites list only a number without explaining what conditions that number applies to. A redesign is a good opportunity to fill in these boundaries. A usable pricing description should at least clarify:
- What scope the price covers (product model, service content, quantity range);
- Whether the price includes tax, shipping, or implementation fees;
- What factors can cause the price to change;
- How the final price is confirmed.
This information doesn't need to be written as legal terms—plain sentences are enough. Their value is reducing back-and-forth confirmations and making the pricing page itself a useful business description rather than an isolated number.
Step 5: Specifically Check Pricing-Related Pages Before Launch
In the pre-launch checklist for a redesign, pricing content should be a separate item. Checks include:
- Open every page on the new site that contains pricing, and confirm numbers, units, and conditions match the finalized policy;
- Check that redirects from old pricing pages work and that no old URLs are missed;
- Check that prices in images, PDFs, and other attachments have been replaced;
- Check that site search, navigation, and related recommendations no longer point to removed pricing pages;
- Confirm that text near online consultation entry points doesn't conflict with the pricing page.
These checks don't require complex tools—a manual click-through usually catches most issues. The key is having someone responsible and allocating time in the redesign schedule.
A Common Misconception
Some managers think that the vaguer the pricing description, the safer it is—so during a redesign, they change everything to "Contact us for pricing." In the short term, it seems easier, but users can't tell whether you fit their budget, which may reduce their willingness to inquire. Operations staff also spend more time answering questions that could have been addressed on the page. The goal of pricing information isn't to hide prices—it's to clearly explain the billing logic that can be public and clarify the parts that can't be fixed.
If a fixed price truly isn't possible, describe the billing method and influencing factors, such as by project scale, service period, or configuration combination. This preserves information value while avoiding numbers you can't deliver on.
How to Maintain Pricing Content After the Redesign
Pricing information isn't finished once the redesign is complete. We recommend adding a simple tag to pricing-related pages in the backend, or creating a separate pricing content list that records the person who confirmed each price and the confirmation date. When business changes, update this list first, then update the pages. This way, the next redesign or campaign won't require searching the entire site for prices again.
If multiple people manage content, you can also agree on a simple rule: any page edit involving pricing should note the reason for the change in the title or a comment. This rule is low-cost to implement but reduces the chance of someone later guessing what a number represents.
