A price increase notice that keeps your customers

Costs go up: materials, wages, rent, software, delivery. If your prices never move, your margin quietly shrinks until the business cannot afford to do the work well. Raising prices is part of running a company, yet many owners put it off for months because they dread the conversation.

The good news is that customers accept a fair increase more often than owners expect, when it is announced early, explained plainly and handled with respect. Here is how to write a price increase letter that keeps your customers.

Decide the number with care

Start from your own figures, not from fear. Work out what your costs have done since the last increase, what you need to earn for the work, and what similar businesses charge. If you do not know your margin per product or service, find out first.

Some practical points:

• A small, regular increase is easier to take than a big one after years of silence.
• Round numbers are easier to explain than odd ones.
• You may not need to raise everything. Raise where cost grew and demand is steady, and be careful where a competitor is close.
• Check your contracts. Fixed price agreements and subscriptions may have rules about when and how prices can change, and some places have consumer protection rules for notices.

If you do not have a spreadsheet of your prices, make one: product or service, old price, new price, percentage change. A Sheet is a good place to see the changes side by side and to check the arithmetic before anything is sent.

Choose who hears first, and how

Your biggest and longest standing customers deserve a personal message, or a call from you, before a general email. Smaller customers can receive a clear written notice. Make sure nobody hears it from a third party first.

Send the notice by the channel you usually use with them. If you invoice by email, email is fine. If contracts require notice in writing to an address, follow that.

Give enough notice

Notice protects the relationship more than the wording does. People need time to budget, compare and decide. Put the date the new price takes effect in the first lines, and make sure it is after the notice period your terms or the law require.

Orders already agreed, quotations that are still valid and invoices already issued should keep their old prices. Say so, because it removes a common worry.

Write the notice

Keep it to a short page. A good order:

1. The news. "From 1 February, our monthly plan will cost 54 instead of 49."
2. The reason, in one or two sentences. True and specific. "Our supplier costs and wages have risen, and we want to keep the quality you rely on."
3. What stays the same. Service, support, anything you promise.
4. What it means for them. If an order or plan is running, say what price applies and until when.
5. What they can do. Questions to a named person, the option to change plan or to end the agreement under the existing terms.
6. Thanks.

Our price increase notice template has these parts ready to fill in.

Words to avoid

Do not over apologise. "We are so sorry, we hate doing this" makes the increase sound like a mistake. A calm, respectful tone works better: you are telling them a fact and explaining it.

Do not blame others in a way that sounds like an excuse, and do not hide the increase inside a list of other changes. Do not use vague terms such as "adjustment" when you mean a higher price.

Do not promise "this is the last increase". You do not know that.

Answer the pushback

Some customers will ask why, some will ask for a discount and a few will leave. Prepare for each.

• Why? Give the same honest reason again, with one more detail.
• Can I keep the old price? Decide in advance whether there is any case where you will say yes, such as a long contract or a very small account, and be consistent. If you say yes to everyone who asks, the increase does not happen.
• I am thinking of leaving. Ask what matters most to them. Sometimes a different plan or a smaller package serves them better. If the answer is that they cannot afford it, accept it graciously. A respectful goodbye is better than a bad deal.

Reply to every message within a day. Silence reads as embarrassment.

Watch what happens

After the change, track how many customers stay, move to another plan or leave. Note which reasons come up. A few cancellations after a fair increase are normal. A wave of them tells you the price is out of step with the value people see, which is a reason to improve what you sell, not only to lower the price.

When something goes wrong

If your notice was late, unclear or wrong, say so quickly and fix it. A short, plain apology and a corrected price do more good than a long explanation. The customer apology email template shows the tone.

Where nerix helps

In the chat, tell nerix who the customers are, the old and new prices, the date and your reason, and ask for a draft notice. Email drafts (early access) opens it beside the chat with To, Subject and the message; you can ask for a shorter, warmer or firmer version, and each change is kept as a version. A blank is left wherever nerix could not know a fact, and nothing is sent until you press Send.

nerix does not know your contracts, your margins or the law on notices where you are. Read the draft as the customer will, and check every figure and date.

The short version

Work out the number from your costs. Tell your best customers first. Give clear notice, with the date and the reason, and keep running orders at the old price. Be calm, not apologetic, answer questions quickly and watch what happens.