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Increasing Your Membership Rates

How to raise membership prices without losing the members worth keeping.

By James Schramko

(as at 2023)

At some stage you will want to increase your membership rates. This is likely because:

• Inflation
• Your experience has increased, enabling you to get better results for clients
• You want to upgrade your ideal client type
• You prefer a smaller, higher priced membership

Whatever the reason, it needs to be communicated well or you will have challenges.

Before you change anything

Hopefully, you have not created difficult circumstances for yourself such as:

a) lifetime access

b) grandfathered pricing

If you are in situation a) or b) you probably have to close your membership or park it and start fresh. It is important to keep your promises.

Lifetime memberships

In situation a) (Lifetime memberships) as a minimum, you should offer members a download or web page where they can access what they bought for a very long time.

Also, honor support requests for a reasonable time. I have had some members of my original membership from 2007 ask me for material as long as 14 years later (which is unreasonable).

When I closed my one-time products, I had my team create a public page where support can send clients who ask where the login went.

Grandfathered rates

In situation b) (Grandfathered rates) you will need to change the product substantially or end it.

Your members will build entitlement and unrealistic expectations if you leave them in a very low program rate for too long, as you improve your offer over time. They get so used to low rates they can't bridge the gap to the new reality. It took me 7-8 years for this lesson to unfold.

Re-starting

In order to re-do my business in 2022 and set it up in a way that was useful for me and clients, I needed to release the burden of grandfathered programs.

I went through serious steps to make it ok. That involved closing my old forum platform, retiring old content, closing the old cart (involving hundreds of thousands of $ worth of recurring subscriptions), switching off my old brand, abandoning some social media accounts, etc. It's not easy or pretty but it was required to re-birth.

Now I have a new platform, new domain, new cart, new content, new membership subscriptions, new members and a new, leaner focus. Also, it is more enjoyable and more profitable.

The alternative was to simply close and not offer anything. Now I have a solid footing for the future for my clients and myself.

If you don't have the above complications it's easy to make price changes.

There are two stages:

1. We plan the rate change
2. Then communicate the changes

Rate change

Decide what your new program rates will be. This may be a factor of what you have seen out in the market (benchmarking).

It could be a factor of what your EHR needs to be.

Here are some numbers ideas:

Avoid 4s

Some people are superstitious on the number 4.

Instead of moving $399 to $499 - go for $599 or $799 or $999.

Avoid ending in 7s

Many copywriters will swear by '7s' however I've seen no difference ending in 9. Why give away a few $?

Round up for sophisticated clients

Instead of $999 - try $1500

Instead of $2999 try $3000

Instead of $9999 try $10k

Premium clients will pay premium round numbers. Avoid being cheap-looking with premium products.

Once you have decided your new rates, roll out.

Communicating the change

You can either adjust the rates immediately on all new applicants, or have a staged date in the future where the rate will change.

In the past I have done both. You might get a surge of people if you market around the deadline of a price increase.

These days I prefer to just start selling at the new rate. As I am no longer grandfathering people, I expect to adjust rates on a reasonable time-frame. Annually might be an option. Remember, the longer you lock people into prices, the longer you are getting a loss to the current market.

Campaign

I update my offer page and cart. Then I update any messaging on the site and podcast. I generally do an episode talking about change.

Use a story

When I made the change in 2022 I created a story-based podcast and video. Explaining WHY the need for change, WHAT was changing, WHAT they get, WHEN it happens, and HOW to get on board.

I used the story of the dragon and the castle. It was about a dragon (the market changing) coming for our old castle (old membership was run-down), and we need to take the gold (all the good content and members) from the old castle and move to a new castle (a new platform) to be better off.

Set up members to receive the message when their current subscription period ends. (This can be automated using tags in your email system. I use Ontraport).

Do social posts, podcasts and videos about it to your public-facing audience and send emails for your existing email database. Segment buyers from prospects. You can run ads to the social media post. Video is ideal.

Be sure to email a few times if your goal is to make sales prior to a deadline.

Use the P.S. section. Encourage members to "reply with questions" to the emails and use support-assisted selling to help them buy.

Sample emails from a 2017 campaign

Email 1

Subject: Important [Insert your Membership] Price Change News (Expires [DATE])

Hey [First Name]

Just a quick message to mention [your membership] rates are increasing for new members on [DATE].

Why is this important?

If you intend to join [your membership] sometime soon, you can access lower rates if you do this right now (must be before [DATE]).

Why are rates changing?

I offer [your key offering] inside [your membership]. I was going to charge $5000 per year for [high level feature] and I am starting the price correction now.

Annual members get [benefit] for a year of high-level coaching. There are also regular live trainings, peer-to-peer discussions and the back-catalogue of all my live event recordings.

Is the coaching effective?

You may know I have coached experts like [client]. This is an extract from a recent post he made about me:

"[Testimonial]"

What about regular folks?

I just got these quotes from the private section where non-famous people who joined in the last month are getting equally impressive results:

New member J:

"[Testimonial]"

New member B:

"[Testimonial]"

New Member O:

"[Testimonial]"

What are the new rates?

The annual membership will change from the current $999 USD per year to the new rate of $1999 per year.

Want to join?

Regardless of where you are in the waiting list, please forward this email to [support] and I'll have someone in my team send you a Join Now link.

Grandfathering policy

Your rate is fixed. You can stay on the low rate you join with as long as you stay subscribed. Enjoy the lowest rates for the length of your membership.

(If you leave and come back, you have to pay the new rate).

I hope to see you on the inside.

Regards,

[your name]

P.S. Even if you are busy at Christmas time, etc... It is worth joining now to lock in your low rate since it will save you 50% on the joining rate.

If you leave it until next year it will be more expensive (although still a bargain at $1999).

I am certain you will change your business's future when you get my help.

Please forward this email to [support] and I'll have someone in my team send you a Join Now link.

Why am I getting this email?

You are receiving this email because our system thinks you subscribed for information from us and you are not currently a member of [your membership].

If you are already a member of [your membership], perhaps using a different email address for your subscription, or if you don't want to join the membership please scroll to the bottom and unsubscribe from this sequence.

Email 2

Subject: Final reminder (Expires [DATE])

Hey [First Name]

Just making sure you saw this:

1. [your membership] rates are going up for new members.
2. You get [the things you provide] inside [your membership] (making the value very high).

I can talk about most business topics with you.

Where would you like to start first?

• [list the topics you cover inside the membership]

3. You can access the lowest annual rate if you join NOW (before [DATE]).

Simply forward this email to [support] and we will reply with a Join link.

Regards,

[you]

P.S. Questions?

Hit reply before [DATE] and ask!

Email 3

Subject: Today is the last day to grab [your membership] for 50% off

[First Name]

Inside [your membership] you will find information that's different from any other place, especially since I've set up a private discussion section in order to help YOU.

Here is an example of some counterintuitive advice. I suggested a member [something you suggested]

"[testimonial relating to suggestion]"

I published a course on [something awesome]

"Testimonial relating to something awesome course"

I've also helped other members [something result-oriented]

"[testimonial of result]"

Perhaps you have been following my podcast for a while and you feel like this new member:

"[typical client concern]"

When you join [your membership] before [the deadline], you can access a year's worth of my help for just $999, instead of paying $1999.

To get started, please forward this email to [support] and [support person's name] will send you a Join link.

Regards,

[you]

P.S.: I expect this will be a great year for you.