7 Ways to Increase Prices without Losing Your Customers

A price increase is one of the essential parts of any business. At the same time, it is one of the things that no customer ever wants to experience. Unfortunately, the economy constantly changes, and companies tend to spend more money on maintaining the quality of the service, paying salaries, and handling all sorts of operational expenses. As a storage business owner, you probably realize that, at one time, you will have to raise the price of your services. The real challenge is to increase prices without losing your customers.

Today we want to show you 7 distinctive ways to up your costs without angering your clients. Here is everything you need to know!

1. Be transparent

The worst thing you can do is hide the price increase behind pretty words. Here is how you should never announce a price increase:

• There will be a price adjustment.
• We will make changes to our pricing.

These are all fluffy words that try to soften the reality of what is happening. If you decide to tiptoe around the subject, you will only anger your clients.

Another common mistake is using passive voice. For example, "the price will be adjusted." It may seem like you are trying to avoid taking responsibility.

Instead, you should clearly say, "We will do a price increase because of this and that." Also, explicitly state the percentage of the price increase. Give all of the information to the clients, and explain to them why this is happening. Even if they are not satisfied, they will at least respect your honest approach.

TIP: Find a way to do a breakdown of company expenses and costs of running a business, and show it to your customers. If they understand where the change is coming from, they will understand the price increase as well.

2. Time for the price increase at the right moment

Whatever you need to do in terms of changing your business, it is always better to do it when your customers are satisfied. We can apply the same rule to doing price increases. If you want to increase the price of your storage units, it is crucial to do it while your business is doing good.

If you did your best to prove your worth, and the clients are happy with the service, you have all the rights to increase the prices at that moment. After all, it is a growing business, and the expenses are also increasing.

3. Offer discounts at the same time

A price increase does not have to be the end of the world for your clients. Make sure they understand that. Let us say you are opening another facility. Usually, your business expenses will go up at that moment. That is an acceptable reason for increasing the cost of your services.

What you can do is, explain to your clients that the business is expanding. And offer discounts as a promotional bonus for a limited time. This way, they enjoy the benefits you submit before the price increases.

TIP: Play with the packaging of your offers. If you do a slight increase, try to offer two suggestions bundled as one. You are selling more services, and the price increase seems logical.

4. Never say you are sorry

If you are feeling empathetic toward your clients, you might feel the need to say you are sorry for raising the prices. According to Zapt Movers, this is a huge mistake. By saying sorry, you are admitting that you did something wrong. If you see it that way, your customers will also see it in the same manner.

Remember, as a business; you have the full right to increase your prices. No client can ever understand the hardships you go through to run your business. Never say sorry for an important decision you had to make.

5. Add more value to the service

If you up the prices and at the same time offer more value, that will seem like a reasonable decision. This is a strategy worth exploring.

Go over your offers and see how you can improve them. For example, a monthly cost of a storage unit may go up, but you can also raise the security level of your facilities. No client will ever say no to adding more safety measures to protect their belongings.

6. Include the price increase in your marketing campaign

We already mentioned how you should be transparent with the price increase. If you build a marketing campaign around explaining why the price increase is a necessity for your business, you will maintain a trustworthy relationship with your clients.

They need to understand the need for a price increase. Here is where social media plays a crucial role. You need to share your advertisements on social media to make sure all of your clients are informed about what is happening.

If you are running a blog, start posting articles that further explain the situation in the market and how that affects the price increase in your company.

7. Be prepared for a backlash

Even if you do everything in the best possible way, there will always be some unsatisfied customers. Whatever happens, you need to be ready for it. Do not allow yourself to be caught off guard.

The public relations department and customer support need to have all the answers prepared in advance. Whenever an unsatisfied customer shows up, they need to handle the situation quickly and efficiently.

Make sure to let your clients know you understand how concerned and unhappy they are. However, you should still stick to your strategy and try to explain the reasoning behind the price increase. At the same time, offer them special deals or discounts to keep their loyalty.

The harsh reality is that, even if they leave your business and go somewhere else, they will again at some time experience the same price increase. That happens in every business. The least you can do is maintain a positive line of communication and leave a good impression. That way, even if they leave, they might come back at some point.

Follow our steps and increase prices without losing your customers

As you can see, there are many ways to increase prices without losing your customers. What is important is that you keep your integrity as a business and maintain a positive line of communication. Price increases happen all the time. As long as you are transparent and you can explain the reasoning behind it, there is nothing to worry about.