“DM for price”: The customers lost between a post and a purchase

Imagine a customer in Najjera spotting a bedsheet set on TikTok. She likes the colour, shares the video with her partner and checks the seller's page. The size is right. Delivery appears possible. There is only one piece of information missing:

The caption says: "DM for price."

She sends a message. While waiting, she continues looking elsewhere. The seller may eventually respond and complete the sale. Equally, the answer may arrive after she has bought from someone else. The business sees a message that went quiet, without necessarily knowing what happened.

This is the problem I have with "DM for price", particularly when the product is standard, and the seller already knows what it costs. It places a conversation between the customer and information that could have been available immediately. For a small business with limited time to manage messages, that decision deserves more scrutiny than it gets.

The customer journey does not end at the post

Consider how a purchase might move across channels in Uganda. Someone discovers a shoe seller on TikTok, checks Instagram for more photographs, asks a question on WhatsApp, pays through mobile money and collects the order from a shop in town. A later exchange, complaint or repeat order may happen by telephone.

Marketers describe a connected experience across those channels as omnichannel. The customer is unlikely to care what we call it. They expect the price, availability and promises to remain consistent as they move from one place to another. Having several accounts is not enough. A customer should not have to explain the same enquiry afresh because they have moved from Instagram to WhatsApp. Nor should an item advertised as available turn out to have sold out days earlier.

A funnel is simply a way of tracking progress towards a purchase. People do not move through it neatly: they compare alternatives, return later and seek reassurance. Nevertheless, the business should understand where interest becomes an enquiry, where an enquiry becomes an order and where the process breaks down.

The small businesses that concern me are those putting considerable effort into attracting attention without making equivalent arrangements for what happens next.

There is a resource constraint here. For an owner handling purchasing, selling and dispatch, an unanswered message may reflect an overloaded working day rather than indifference. But the customer experiences the delay either way. Requiring everyone to ask the price adds to that load. As a simple illustration, answering 60 price enquiries at two minutes each takes two hours. That is before discussing sizes, availability, payment or delivery. Some of those conversations could have started much further along had the price been visible.

A price helps customers decide whether to continue

There is evidence from online retail that uncertainty over cost can interrupt purchases. In Baymard Institute's survey of US online shoppers, 12 per cent cited an inability to see or calculate the total order cost upfront as a reason for abandoning a purchase during checkout. That finding does not measure Uganda's social-commerce market, but it supports a relevant principle: customers need cost information to decide. Publishing a price will not make everyone buy. It may produce fewer messages. That can be a useful outcome.

A customer whose current budget is UGX 40,000 does not need to spend an afternoon discovering that the item costs UGX120,000. The seller can devote more attention to buyers for whom the product, price and timing are a plausible fit.

This is an early form of qualification. It is not a complete lead-scoring system, and price alone does not establish whether someone is ready to buy. The product they need, quantity, location and intended purchase date also matter. But withholding the price prevents customers from making even the first assessment themselves. Businesses should be careful about labelling people "unserious" when those people were required to ask a question simply to understand the offer.

There are legitimate exceptions. A custom kitchen or home construction project, a bespoke suit or catering for a kwanjula may require a discussion before an accurate quotation is possible. Materials, measurements, guest numbers, location and service requirements can change the cost.

Even then, some guidance is usually possible. Publish genuine starting prices, typical ranges or clearly defined packages, and explain what changes the quotation. A starting price should correspond to something a customer can actually buy, rather than serve as an attractive figure that disappears once the conversation begins.

For standard products, show the price, what is included and any additional charges. Where delivery varies by location, explain how it is calculated. Where stock prices change frequently, date the price information and keep it updated.

The fear of competitors is understandable. A seller may worry about being undercut or having their offer copied. Yet requiring a private message does not prevent a competitor from making the same enquiry as a customer. It mainly transfers the inconvenience to everybody else. A business charging more should use the space around the price to explain why: better materials, alterations, reliable installation or another benefit it can demonstrate. Customers cannot assess value properly when half the information is withheld.

Start with the tools already available

A business does not have to commission an elaborate e-commerce website before improving this experience.

WhatsApp Business offers a practical starting point. Its catalogue allows businesses to present products with descriptions, prices and product codes. Catalogue and individual-item links can also be shared beyond the chat, helping customers reach the relevant information without asking for photographs one at a time.

For an owner still trading through a personal account, the business app is worth considering. For one already using it, completing the profile and maintaining the catalogue should take priority over adding another social media account. A useful listing should answer the questions that repeatedly delay a sale: what the item is, its size or specification, what it costs and how to order. Stock information must be kept current. A catalogue full of unavailable products creates a different kind of frustration.

The inbox also needs organisation. Entrepreneurs can use lists to group conversations by what needs to happen next and quick replies for recurring questions. A small seller could separate new enquiries, customers awaiting confirmation, paid orders, deliveries and after-sales issues. Saved replies can cover delivery arrangements and payment instructions, while still being adjusted to the individual conversation.

These tools support a person; they do not remove the need for one. A saved reply still needs to answer the customer's actual question. An automated acknowledgement should not be counted as a resolved enquiry. Give someone responsibility for the inbox, even where that person is the owner. Set a realistic response standard, state the hours during which messages are handled and make time to check conversations that have stalled.

As order volumes grow, a maintained website with a catalogue and a clear ordering process can reduce dependence on individual chats. A business should also keep its own product and order records rather than allowing vital information to exist only inside a platform account. That need not begin with expensive software. A simple Google Sheet can record the product requested, the next action, who is responsible and whether the order was paid for and fulfilled.

Count what happens after the enquiry

At the end of the week, a business owner should be able to answer a few basic questions. How many relevant enquiries arrived? How long did customers wait for a useful response? How many became paid orders? What prevented the others from progressing?

There is a difference between losing an order because the price was unsuitable and losing it because nobody answered. The first may be normal market selection. The second calls for a change in how the business operates.

The same discipline should continue after payment. Confirm the order, communicate delivery arrangements and make it easy to raise a problem. Ask permission before sending future promotional broadcast messages and give people a straightforward way to stop receiving them.

This is the practical meaning of managing customer value over time. It involves knowing enough about the relationship to serve the customer well, rather than treating every sale as an isolated transaction or every saved number as permission to advertise.

"DM for price" is not wrong in every situation. A conversation can be essential to choosing the right product or agreeing on the right service. The question is whether the conversation helps the customer or merely compensates for missing information.

Before spending more money and time bringing people to a page, small businesses should examine what happens when someone is ready to buy.

The price should not be the hardest part of the purchase to obtain.