Can You Raise Prices Without Losing Members? – Part 1

Many membership site owners eventually realize they have to raise prices in order to “keep the light

s on”.

Eliminating wasteful practices, up-selling, cross promotions, and even highly effective ad strategies may still result in the very real need to raise prices.

When the payments coming in are out-weighed by the time and effort put forward, it’s time for a price increase.

Once this decision is made, how can you increase your prices without upsetting current members and making the revenue problem even worse?

Upset members quickly turn into former members.


So how can you raise your prices but still keep everyone happy (including yourself)?

Many of the following techniques we are about to look into can easily be applied to anything you sell on your site. Increase CD set sales or Pay Per Post downloads. It’s not limited to just Membership Levels.

While raising prices for everyone is a valid business practice (how many burgers still cost 20 cents today?), I prefer rewarding existing members with unchanged prices.

It’s my “Thank You” to them for signing up early and a powerful enticement to stick around (if they leave, they need to pay the higher price to return).

The following tips will help to minimize the potential of members deciding to leave, and show how you can still reward your early adopters.

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Why Should I?

What will be the reaction from your community if you increase the cost of membership?

To the member, it feels as though they’re paying more for the same thing.

This means each dollar, pound, yen, etc. spent seems to gives them less value. This is exactly why your members need an explanation for why prices are going up.

Explain in simple terms (no need to get into spreadsheets and 5 year projections) how expenses related to the running of the membership site have increased and prices must follow suit.

Otherwise, there’s the potential for the membership site to have to close. If members enjoy the community, more revenue is needed. They may not like the increase but most will understand.

This is a good example of when keeping the existing member price the same can benefit everyone. New registrations would pay the new price while existing members continue to pay the “grandfathered” price.

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Notify Ahead of Time

Most people don’t walk out the door at 5:00pm telling their employer they just quit or blurt out bad news.

Time and warning are required to allow for adjustment to the change.

If fair warning is not given, anyone receiving the information will rightly feel it’s being sprung on them which can create a feeling of uneasiness and start things off on the wrong foot.

This is a good reason why you should have an internal spreadsheet of projected income. This gives you plenty of time to try other solutions before price increases are the only option left.

Take the time to decide what is needed and then inform anyone who might be affected by the price change well ahead of the scheduled increase. Make sure everyone knows exactly who the price adjustment will affect (and who it will not).

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Smaller Increases Over Time

Instead of waiting until it’s almost too late and the bill collectors are pounding at the door, act now.

Make smaller price increases in your membership fees now instead of needing to make a large increase in the future.

A few extra dollars a month now will avoid much larger price increases in the future. Ideally, you would only raise the price for new sign-ups or returning cancellations to reward the veterans who have stuck with you.

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With the above tips, you should see a revenue increase which will not only help your membership site to remain active but also raise your monthly income.

Join me for our next article where we dive into more ways to raise prices and avoid issues along the way.

Have you ever raised membership prices? How did you handle this delicate process and how did you members react?