How to announce a price rise

Explaining a price rise to a customer through a well-crafted letter is a crucial communication strategy that can help maintain transparency, build trust, and manage customer expectations.

It’s never easy to implement price rises, but they are a fact of life, and your customers won’t desert you if you put up your prices. Sometimes they have to be increased due to the cost of raw materials, or maybe because utility bills or business rates have increased dramatically.

Once you can no longer absorb the extra costs you will have no option but to implement price rises. 

It’s better to increase prices than to lose your business.

Here are some key reasons why you should write a letter explaining a price increase:

1. Transparency: Customers appreciate honesty and transparency. Clearly explaining the reasons behind the price increase demonstrates that you value your customers and want to keep them informed about changes that may affect them.
2. Build Trust: Trust is a vital component of any business relationship. By providing a detailed explanation for the price rise, you show that you respect your customers enough to keep them in the loop about changes that may impact them financially.
3. Maintain Customer Relationships: Communication is essential in maintaining healthy customer relationships. Keeping customers informed about the reasons behind a price increase helps prevent confusion, frustration, and potential dissatisfaction.
4. Set Realistic Expectations: A well-written letter can help manage customer expectations. If customers understand the factors contributing to the price increase, they are more likely to accept it and continue doing business with you.
5. Demonstrate Value: Use the opportunity to highlight the value your products or services provide. Emphasize any improvements, added features, or enhanced quality that may justify the price adjustment.
6. Provide Alternatives or Incentives: If possible, offer customers alternatives or incentives that soften the impact of the price increase. This could include discounts for long-term commitments, loyalty programs, or bundled packages.
7. Competitive Comparison: If relevant, compare your prices to competitors, emphasizing that the price increase is necessary for your business to continue providing high-quality products or services.
8. Educate Customers: Sometimes customers may not be aware of the various factors influencing a price increase, such as rising production costs, inflation, or increased demand for certain resources. Educate them on these factors to help them understand the economic context.
9. Seek Feedback: Encourage customers to share their thoughts and concerns. This not only shows that you value their input but also provides an opportunity to address specific issues or misconceptions.
10. Prevent Negative Speculation: Without clear communication, customers may speculate on the reasons for a price increase, leading to misinformation and potentially damaging your brand reputation. A well-explained letter helps control the narrative.

In summary, writing a letter explaining a price rise is an important part of effective customer communication, helping to maintain trust, manage expectations, and sustain positive relationships.

Of course from a customer’s point of view, price rises are never welcome but you should let them know in plenty of time about the imminent price rises, by letter or email.

When you write your letter, make it personal, and address the recipient by name.

This is what you should include in a letter announcing a price rise:

1. An apology for having to implement a price rise.
2. A short reason why, for instance the increased cost of raw materials.
3. An acknowledgement that this will be unwelcome news.
4. A date by which the price increases will take place.
5. Which specific products or services are affected.
6. A wish that they will continue to be a valued customer.

Being upfront and honest about the impact of this decision will help continue a good relationship of honesty and openness with them into the future.

Letter to announce a price rise – sample 1:

[Contact Name]
[Address]

[Date]

Dear [Name of Customer],

We would like to inform you that we are unfortunately planning to increase the price of certain goods due to the sudden increase in the cost of the raw materials we use in our production process. Since we still have a limited stock of those raw materials, the price increase will not be made until [Target Date].

 

We have tried to prevent this price increase for as long as possible because of course we want to provide our products at a  competitive price. However, the recent increase in the price of the raw materials is now too great for us to absorb, and we regrettably have no choice other than to implement a slight increase on the items listed below.

[list items here]

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to call [person’s name] on [phone number]

Thank you for your understanding.

Yours Sincerely,

[Name]
[Title]
[Name of Company]

 

Letter to announce a price rise – sample 2:

[Address]

[Date]

Dear [Name of Contact],

We regret to tell you that we will be conducting a price increase on some of our products due to [Specify Reason].

Below is the list of products that will be affected by the price increase:

[List of Products]

We have of course tried everything we can to avoid a price increase, but unfortunately not to do so would directly affect our ability to trade. We would like to apologise in advance for any problems that the price increase may cause.

We hope that you will understand our situation and will continue to support our products.

Sincerely,

[Name]
[Title]
[Phone Number]
[Company Email]

 

Informal announcement of price increase – email sample:

Hi [Name],

You might have seen in the news that [news headline about raw materials price rise] this year because [reason]. We wanted to reassure you that we don’t need to increase our prices yet as we buy our [product] 3 months in advance.

We told you in [month] that we might have to increase our prices again if wholesale costs remained high and unfortunately, they’ve gone up by 5% since then. This means we’ll have to increase them in [month].

We understand that price increases are never welcome and of course you can leave us at any time, but of course we hope that you will stay with us as a valued customer.

[optional sentence – We’ve written a blog post with more information if you’d like to find out more. (link here)]

Best Wishes

The team at [company name]