Raising a care plan price without drama

A designer has looked after a physio clinic's website for three years. The care plan price hasn't moved since the first invoice. In that time the clinic has added a booking system, a second location and a blog, and the designer's own hosting and tool bills have gone up twice. She knows the price is too low. She also likes the clinic, and every time she starts the email she imagines them reading it and feeling cheated.

So she doesn't send it, and another year goes by. For a one-person AI agency, care plans are recurring revenue, and a price that never moves quietly shrinks it.

Raising a care plan price is normal, and most clients expect it at some point. What makes it go badly is surprise: a new amount on an invoice, a vague reason, no notice and no choice. Give plenty of notice in writing, say the new price and the date plainly, give one honest reason, say what stays the same, and offer a real choice, including a smaller plan or a clean exit. The rest of this article is when to do it, how much notice to give, a letter you can copy, and how to answer the replies.

When should you raise a care plan price?

Pick a moment that makes sense to the client, not just to your bank account. Good moments:

• Once a year, on a fixed date. The anniversary of the plan, or the same month for every client. Predictable reviews feel fair.
• When the plan's work has grown. More pages, a booking system, a second location, more requests each month than the plan was priced for.
• When your costs for that client change. Hosting, backup storage or tools you pay for on their behalf.
• When you change your plans for everyone. A clearer set of care plan tiers is a natural time to move each client to the plan that fits.

Bad moments: straight after something went wrong on their site, in their busiest season, or on an invoice with no warning.

If the plan includes hosting, work out the new price from both parts, the hosting and your time, so the reason you give is the real one. Pricing a hosting and maintenance package walks through that split.

How much notice should you give?

At least one full billing period, and more is kinder. For a monthly plan, 30 to 60 days gives a client time to think it over without the change hanging around for months. For a yearly plan, tell the client well before the renewal date so they have time to decide.

Before you pick a date, reread your agreement. If it sets a notice period, that is your minimum. If it doesn't say anything about changing the price, the fair assumption is that the client can say no and leave.

That fairness point isn't only good manners. Australia's consumer regulator, the ACCC, gives a worked example on its contracts page. A business with three-year contracts can change its price at any time, and customers can't leave even if they don't agree: that term is likely to be unfair. Another business has the same price term, but customers who don't agree can end the contract without penalty: that term is likely not to be unfair, because the right to leave balances it. The rules differ between countries, and this is general information rather than legal advice, but the principle travels well. A price increase with a real way out is one a client can accept with their dignity intact.

What should a price increase letter say?

Five things, in this order, in as few words as you can manage:

1. The new price and the date it starts. First, not buried.
2. One honest reason. Not three. Not an apology.
3. What stays the same, or gets better. So the client sees what they're paying for.
4. Their choices. Continue, move to a smaller plan, or finish up with a clean handover.
5. An offer to talk. A quick call for anyone with questions.

Here is a letter you can adapt:

Subject: Your website care plan from 1 November

Hi Sam,

From 1 November, your website care plan will be $X a month, up from $Y. I'm telling you now so you have plenty of time to think it over.

The reason is simple: the site now has the booking system and the second location, and looking after both properly takes more time each month than the plan was priced for three years ago.

Everything you have now stays the same: updates and backups, the monthly form and booking checks, your small changes each month, and the short monthly note.

If the new price doesn't suit, you have two other options. I can move you to a smaller plan that covers updates, backups and checks without the monthly changes. Or, if you'd rather finish up, I'll hand over everything you need so another designer can take over without a gap.

Happy to jump on a ten minute call if that's easier. Otherwise, no reply is needed; the new price will start on 1 November.

Thanks for three good years.

Replace $X and $Y with your real prices. Keep the tone of the last line. It's true, and it's what the client will remember.

How do you answer pushback?

With good notice and an honest reason, many replies will be a short "fine", or no reply at all. The ones that need care usually take one of three shapes.

"That's a big jump." Agree that it's a change, restate the reason in one line, and offer the smaller plan. Don't negotiate the price down in the same email; if you want to soften it, offer a later start date instead.

"Can we keep the old price?" Say no kindly, and offer the smaller plan at a price near the old one. Keeping the old price with the same work is how you end up resenting a client you like.

"We'll look elsewhere." Thank them, confirm the end date, and hand over properly: the site, the accounts in their name, and a short note of what you did. A clean exit keeps the door open. If they ever come back, a follow-up that brings back a quiet client is much easier to write when the parting was friendly.

Whatever you agree, write it down in a line or two and send it back. "You're moving to the smaller plan from 1 November at $Z a month" is enough.

How do you change the price in your billing tool?

Change it on purpose, after the client has had their notice, and check the first new invoice.

If you bill through a subscription tool, read how it handles price changes before you touch anything. Stripe's documentation for changing a subscription's price, for example, warns that if you don't replace the existing price on the subscription, the new price is added alongside it and both stay active. That's a double charge on a client you've just asked to pay more. Test the change on one client, look at the next invoice preview, then do the rest.

Keep a note on each client of the old price, the new price, the date you told them, the date it starts and what they chose. A year from now you'll want that history, and so will they if they ever ask.

How do you avoid needing a big increase next time?

Build the review into the plan from the start. In your service recipe for each care plan, add one line: "Prices are reviewed once a year in [month]; we'll give you at least [notice] notice of any change, and you can always move plans or finish up." Then a yearly review is something the client agreed to at the start, and small regular changes replace one large awkward one.

Put the next review date on your list for each client the day they sign. If you quote care plans alongside the website, keep that line in every offer too; quotes, deposits and payments in one place make it easy to see what each client agreed to pay.

Where Volant fits

Volant keeps each client's plan, price and renewal date on their record. Renewals are decided on the client's record, and accepting one changes no billing by itself, so a new price only reaches an invoice when you change it in your own billing account. Keeping track of clients and what you promised shows how renewals sit next to everything else.