Cost calculator case study #1

This is the story behind a quote calculator which was recently launched. It's for a domestic and commercial window cleaning company to allow potential customers to generate personalised quotes based on their specific requirements and location.

The original request came from an existing client who sent me a link via WhatsApp, and he asked me if I could do something similar for his website.

The link took me to a web page of London based window cleaning company, which displayed their cost calculator.

My client hadn’t realised that TargaWeb already develops calculators, and so I immediately told him that I could do it.

Some of TargaWeb's calculators include features which the example my client showed me do not have. One such feature is the ability for potential customers to send their personalised quotes to their email address at the touch of a button.

Most of our previous calculators, including Targa’s own web design quote calculator, have a quote summary which lists the selections that the user has made.

For my client’s new window cleaning calculator, I wanted to produce a descriptive summary using sentences, such as This is your personalised estimate for your 4 bed detached house in Stamford and You have approximately 12 metres of gutters and fascias which you would like us to clean.

From my client’s perspective, he needed to tell me precisely how he usually quotes for work. He began by telling me that sometimes they just make up a price which sounds about right and his team are often asked for on the spot quotes.

Some of them would leave an estimate with the customer, whilst others would make a note of how many windows and other relevant information, and leave the note for the boss at the end of the day so he could come up with a quote and get back to the customer.

I could immediately see how I could bring some much needed consistency and accuracy to his quoting process, but I also had a few other tricks up my sleeve.

So I got to work on a new bespoke quoting calculator which, as you’ll see below, does more than just multiply the number of windows by a fixed cost.

Bear in mind that the costs per window, feature, length, etc., were provided by my client, as were minimum charges, discounted rates, and price adjustments based on location and other factors.

• Customers select the number of windows, and it applies a pre-defined rate for the first 10 windows, and a reduced rate for any additional windows. *
• There are separate rates for patio doors, bi-fold doors, and conservatories with or without roofs to clean.
• Gutters and fascias have their own separate per-metre rates, and also a discounted combined rate.
• Solar panel cleaning is based on a per-panel rate.
• There is an absolute minimum charge which makes it worthwhile for one of my client’s team to turn up at all, whilst gutters, fascias and solar panel cleaning also has independent minimum charges due to the setting up of special equipment used to do the work.

When I gave access to the first incarnation of the calculator to my client, he could immediately see that it could do things which the example he originally showed me couldn't do.

As previously mentioned, one of those things was the ability for potential customers to email the quote to themselves, which also sends the details of the quote to the boss back at the office.

But then he then had an idea, and he excitedly asked Could my lads use this when they’re on a job and someone comes up and asks for a quote?

Well of course!

What I’m about to describe is the SAME calculator which I made capable of displaying and behaving in slightly different ways depending on whether it is being used by a potential customer or a member of my client’s team.

I configured his calculator so it could also be used in a staff only mode. To achieve this I provided my client with a separate URL (link) which would pass a specific parameter into the calculator when it displays.

The difference to the employee

The staff-only link displays the version mainly for mobile, without the usual website styling and navigation features. The employee simply saves a shortcut to his or her phone, and then at the touch of a button they’ll be able to instantly access the calculator and get straight into the quote.

The most noticeable difference is that the staff only version displays an additional panel at the top of the quote form, which lists all of the members of my client’s team.

By selecting their name, the subsequent quote will be personalised with the name of the employee, who will then offer to send full details of the quote to the customer.

This also makes it easy for my client to monitor sales quotas for each of his team members, when the email gets sent not only to the customer, but to the boss back at the office.

The difference to the customer

Some of the differences in the emailed quote are subtle, but they add a nice touch.

If the potential customer has generated the quote on the website, the subject of the email would read Window Cleaning Estimate from Purerclean and the first line of the email would say The estimated cost shown below is based on the selections you made whilst using Purerclean's online calculator.

However, if the member of staff has produced the quote, the subject of the email would read Window Cleaning Quote by Steve of Purerclean and the first line of the email would say The quote below is based on the selections that Steve made whilst using Purerclean's online calculator.

Note the difference in the use of quote and estimate between the customer and staff generated versions.

Meeting the needs of the business

The pricing combines a number of maths formulas which not only handle multiplication and addition functions based on the user’s selections, but they’re able to apply specific rates based on, for example, the first 10 windows selected, and discounted rates for any subsequent windows.

There are predefined per meter rates for clearing debris from gutters, and separate per meter rates for cleaning fascias. But if there are lengths shared by gutters and fascias, those will be calculated at a discounted combined rate.

There is a minimum charge applied to gutter and fascia cleaning. A minimum charge is also applied to solar panel cleaning, which is costed at a per-panel rate.

Location can also affect the total costs, and overall there is a minimum job charge, which reduces the chance that my client and his team will do jobs at a loss.

Handling updates

ALL of the pricing values, minimum charges, price caps, etc., can very easily be adjusted in a master file. The makes it quicker and more reliable that having to manipulate the calculator functions for basic rate adjustments.

And of course if any of the calculation formulas need to be updated to accommodate future changes in the requirements of my client, they can be carried out in conjunction with any necessary updates to the master file which holds the rate details.

The display panel

Most of Targa’s calculators work inside of an iFrame

In simple terms, an iFrame is like a window within a web page (the parent page) in which another page (the child), can be displayed. The child page can even be hosted entirely separately to the parent page.

Think of one of your web pages being a parent page, and the calculator being the child which is hosted and managed by Targa.

The selection page

In most cases the calculators consist of a starting page, a 2nd page which contains all of the options for the user to select from.

In this case the 2nd page is where the customer (or member of staff) selects the quantities, sizes and types of windows, gutters, solar panels, conservatory, etc.

The results page

The next page is the results page which has all of the calculation formulas build into it so it can crunch the numbers and display the results to the user.

Results can be displayed in a list with or without an itemised price breakdown, and on some calculators (especially for higher priced items) there can be a split payment plan displayed which is based on the specific amount of the quote.

All of these options mean that the length of each page of a calculator can be different, and therefore there has to be some control to seamlessly adjust the height of the iFrame depending on the height of the specific page which it’s displaying.

The iFrame height can change again if the user returns to the selection page to change any of the details, and also after the user has sent the quote to their email address and received a brief Thank you message on the final page.

You can see how this works in real time by trying out the calculator below.

All of the maintenance and management of the calculator is handled by ourselves at TargaWeb, completely independently of the web designer or agency which maintains your website. And of course we’ll advise and assist your web designer to implement the small piece of code which will allow your calculator to display on your website.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to call, email or set up and meeting in the booking calendar below.

The actual calculator referred to above can be found at Purerclean, but please be mindful that by using it you could be sending your emailed test quotes through to the business at Purerclean, who would be expecting genuine quotes.

However, their calculator has been added to this page below, and you can test emailing your quotes to yourself without them being received by Purerclean.