Increasing your prices for customers can be scary. And risky.
Will you lose customers?
Will you get attacked on social media?
Will it harm your reputation?
Will it give your competitors an advantage?
But sometimes market conditions and mere business survival leave you no choice. You have to keep your business profitable.
Wrestling with Increasing Prices
Last November, HLTH Code CEO & Founder Joel Bikman, a long-time friend and current client, asked me to review a price increase notification he had written.
It was well done, but it was from the company — not him.
He had told me how much he wrestled with a price increase. He said he resisted for as long as he could, but his production costs had steadily increased until he no longer had a choice… if he was to stay in business.
Let me tell you about Joel. He’s the epitome of people before profits. He truly with all his heart wants to help people become healthier. Obesity, insulin resistance, etc. are soaring in the U.S., and he wants to do what he can to solve it.
That’s why he and his metabolic scientist brother searched the world for the finest ingredients they could find to create a metabolically balanced meal replacement shake. One that would give customers — who didn’t always have time to plan and prepare homemade, metabolically balanced meals — the best possible option to support energy, satiety, weight management, and blood sugar stability.
(Personally, I believe the HLTH Code Complete Meal is the best meal replacement shake, hands down.)
Tell a Story!
Leticia and I keep preaching this, but whenever possible you need to weave stories into your communications.
Humans are wired for story. That’s how we connect and make sense of our world.
I recommended to Joel that the letter be a personal, heartfelt message from him and not just from the company. That he must tell the true story of how much he didn’t want to increase prices for the first time in the history of the company (even though it worked out to only 66¢/meal more).
Share how he wrestled with this decision; how it kept him up at night because he didn’t want to do anything to dissuade customers from their health goals.
At first, Joel was resistant. He likes to avoid the spotlight whenever possible. But after reading the communication I carefully penned for him, he decided to use it, word-for-word.
You can read HLTH Code’s price increase notification here.
5 Keys for the Perfect Price Increase Notification
- Be honest/authentic/transparent about why you need to increase prices.
- Share the cold, hard facts/numbers. Customers can’t (or shouldn’t) argue about reality.
- Show compassion and empathy, and that you’re human. That’s hard to do if the communication is from a company.
- Be willing to be vulnerable. Share how the decision kept you up at night. Show the human struggle behind the business necessity.
- Tell a story. Don’t just announce the increase — walk customers through your thinking, your research, your resistance. Make them feel what you felt.
Customers Love Honesty, Transparency
Did HLTH Code lose some customers from his price increase? Sure, that can’t be avoided.
But did the company also strengthen its customer relations? Absolutely.
Joel shared some of the feedback he received from customers after the notification was sent. I was pretty blown away by some of the comments.
In fact, I’ll share some of them with you. But you’ll have to wait until next week.
The 3 Big Takeaways
- If you have difficult news to share with your customers, like a price increase, do so as transparently, honestly and heartfelt as possible. And tell a story in the process.
- Customers connect better with people, not customers.
- Copywriting is an art. If you’re not comfortable writing copy, hire a pro.
What did you think of HLTH Code’s price increase notification? Do you have experiences dealing with a price increase? Did you ever feel ambushed by one? Do share!
Stay authentic— even when the news is hard to deliver!
Jeffery E. Pizzino, APR (seen here in a vintage photo circa 1983 serendipitously doing a Clash impersonation in a since-forgotten location) is a spin-free public relations pro who is passionate about telling the why of your story with clarity, impact and authenticity. He began his PR career in 1987 at Ketchum Public Relations in New York City but has spent the majority of his career as a solopreneur. He’s the Chief Authentic Officer of the Johnson City, TN-based public relations firm, AuthenticityPR. He also functions as the fractional CCO for technology startup Converus.
Jeff has an MBA in Management from Western International University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications — with an emphasis in PR — from Brigham Young University (rise and shout!). He’s a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but also holds an Italian citizenship. Jeff and his storyteller wife Leticia have four children and four grandchildren. In his extremely limited nonwork hours, he studies italiano, practices guitar, write songs, gardens, disc golfs, reads, listens to New Wave music, serves in his church, watches BYU football, and plays Dominion and Seven Wonders. Email Jeff.
