Raising prices later

Deciding when a rise is genuinely necessary

Revisit your cost sheet every quarter and raise prices when margin has eroded meaningfully, not the moment a single cost ticks up. A useful trigger is when your per-envelope margin has dropped by more than roughly 15% from where it stood when you set the current price, since that's usually enough to justify the disruption of a change without overreacting to one supplier's temporary price hike.

Avoid raising prices to fund new features or bigger bonuses — that's a positioning decision, best solved with a new higher tier rather than a rise on the existing one. Reserve price rises specifically for keeping pace with real cost increases, so the reasoning stays honest and easy to explain to members.

Grandfathering: who keeps the old price

Grandfathering means existing members keep their current price while new sign-ups pay the new one. It rewards loyalty and dramatically reduces cancellations at the moment of a price change, since the people most likely to churn — long-standing, price-sensitive members — are the ones least affected. Most established clubs grandfather annual and long-tenure members indefinitely, or for a defined period such as twelve months, after which everyone moves to the current price.

Decide your grandfathering rule before you announce anything, and write it down internally so you don't improvise different answers to different members who ask. Inconsistent answers, even given kindly, damage trust faster than the price rise itself.

• Raise prices when margin has eroded roughly 15%+, not at every fluctuation
• Grandfather existing members for loyalty and lower churn
• Decide the exact grandfathering rule before announcing anything
• Keep price rises separate from new features or bonuses

The notice period and the wording that keeps members calm

Give at least 30-60 days' written notice by email before any price change takes effect, even if your subscription platform would let you push it through faster. That window lets members budget, ask questions, or cancel without feeling ambushed, and a calm cancellation is far better for your reputation than an angry one.

In the email, lead with thanks, state the new price plainly, explain the real reason in one honest sentence (postage rates, material costs), and confirm exactly when it starts. Avoid vague corporate language like 'in order to continue providing you with the best possible experience' — members can tell when a price rise is being dressed up, and plain honesty reads as more trustworthy, not less.