Many years ago, when I was a freelance photographer wrestling with raising my prices, I had a chat about the topic with illustrator and author, Paddy Donnelly. Paddy made an excellent point which stands out to me today as much as it did back then.
“I’m constantly evaluating my price. With each project I complete I’m learning new skills, sharpening my existing ones and gaining new experiences, so why should my price not follow suit and match my constantly evolving skill-set?”
It’s not only about gained experience and investing in your skills with books, courses or conferences, overheads are also increasing. Inflation is up, insurance premiums are higher, and we have more subscriptions than ever to give our clients access to the best tools…
All of this comes at a cost which begs the question, why aren’t you increasing your prices?
For most freelancers the answer will be the same one I had. Fear that you’ll drive clients away and uncertainty around how best to communicate price changes. That’s why we’ve put this blog post together, including a letter to send to your clients when increasing prices.
P.S. Want to know what others in your line of work charge? While this shouldn’t be a deciding factor in setting your rates, both YunoJuno and IPSE publish reports which can be a helpful guide.
How to tell clients you’re increasing your prices
You’ve decided what your new rates are going to be. It’s exciting but now it’s time to communicate this with clients, which can feel a little daunting. This part is all about preparing them for what to expect so we remove any surprises. Respecting the existing relationship. And having conviction behind why you’re raising your rates (this part is very important! More on conviction later).
To effectively communicate your price increase with clients, you should focus on:
- Timescale. You’ll want to give clients a minimum of one billing cycle as notice. This gives you time to answer any questions the client has, and gives the client room to review their budget should they need to. Giving ample notice about any changes to working conditions is respectful
- Value. Updating your pricing means putting a number on all of the hard work you’ve done. You’ve learned new skills and sharpened existing ones. Clients get to reap the benefit of this, but that investment in yourself comes at a cost
- Brevity. You don’t need to go into tons of detail about why you’re raising your rates. Once you go more than 12 months without raising your rates, you’re essentially doing the same work for less money because of inflation. Clients should expect incremental price increases. By keeping your communication brief, it shows you have conviction behind the price increase. Avoid littering your comms with apologies and over-explanations
Since many freelancers have imposter syndrome when it comes to pricing, let me remind you that the instinct of most is to price too low. With this logic you’re likely starting from a disadvantage and your rate increase should bring you closer to what you should be charging anyway.
The added bonus of a price increase is that you’re likelier to attract a higher quality client. You might even filter out those relationships you haven’t felt aligned with. You know the clients that don’t really respect your time or skillset? A price change is great for weeding those types of clients out.
You should see an almost immediate improvement to cashflow and you’re going to raise the value of your own stock. All of this sounds very positive so are you ready to raise your prices? Great!
Sample price increase letter
With the above in mind, here’s a sample template you can use as inspiration. Remember to mould this to your tone of voice so that it doesn’t seem jarring to your usual client comms.
Hi,
I hope you’re well. I wanted to let you know that from XX/XX/XX, my freelance rates will be increasing from X to X.
Since I last reviewed my rates on XX/XX/XX, I’ve invested heavily in my skillset and tools so I can bring even more value, experience and creativity to your projects. This small adjustment helps me keep my business sustainable while continuing to deliver the same level of care and attention to detail you’re used to. This increase also reflects inflation rates.
Thanks for your support. If you have any questions just hit reply and I’ll get back to you.
Thanks,
Freelancer
Let’s break this down. “…from XX/XX/XX, my freelance rates will be increasing from X to X.” We’ve given a date the change is happening (hopefully with plenty of notice!) and the difference in price. The more surprises we eliminate from our client relationships and projects, the likelier it is everything will run smoothly.
“Since I last reviewed my rates on XX/XX/XX” Businesses conduct annual reviews. Freelancers should be no different and reviewing your rates is part of this.
“…I’ve invested heavily in my skillset and tools so I can bring even more value, experience and creativity to your projects” Highlighting the investment you’ve made is important, but keep it brief. You don’t need to justify increasing your rates by outlaying all the costs you’ve sunk into workshops, conferences etc. Over-explaining can lead to self-sabotage.
“If you have any questions just hit reply and I’ll get back to you.” You still respect and appreciate your clients so welcome any queries they have. Just remember to answer with conviction!
If sending this feels overwhelming, one idea is to start by emailing a couple of your favourite clients. You can gauge their feedback or any questions they have before iterating on the template and sending it to the next handful. Rinse and repeat. If there are no questions, this should build your confidence with sending out the next batch.
Having the conviction to increase your prices
For most freelancers adjusting prices is a confidence block. In our last blog post about pricing, why it’s definitely time to raise your prices, we talked about creating a “wins” document to build your confidence. This is a way of reminding yourself that you’re good at what you do, which should make it easier to charge more.
A “wins” document can be compliments from clients, projects you’re proud of, courses you’ve completed, awards you’ve won… it’s anything that makes you feel good about your work.
Pricing is about putting a number on your hard work. The mindset shouldn’t be “this isn’t fair on the client”. It should be “my creative skills, professionalism and problem-solving make me worth this”.
If a client does push back on the pricing and you want to keep working with them, you could always decrease what you offer them. Just not your rates. With this flexibility it means you don’t always need to lose the client!
My own experience raising prices
I was a freelance photographer for almost a decade. I only raised my rates a handful of times, but in hindsight it should have been more often—like every wedding season.
I was getting better at my craft all the time, mastering the editing software, and continually investing in my learning with courses and projects outside of work. I even turned my hand to teaching others through email courses and in-person workshops.
It was always scary at the time to hit publish on my updated pricing page or communicate price changes to clients, but nothing bad ever happened.
I remember almost losing out on one client. They enquired months in advance of my price increase but no contracts were signed and I figured they’d booked someone else after communication went quiet for 3 months. When they returned several months later they queried the price difference and said I was now out of their budget. I had so much conviction behind my rates that I felt confident thanking them for their interest in working with me but standing by my packages. They booked me.
Any work I did lose was replaced with clients who liked my portfolio and wanted to pay me for my time and skills. I kept growing as a photographer and so did my business.
No matter where you start with pricing, at some point it will have to change. Inflation, improved skillset, increased overheads, hopes of attracting a different clientele… whatever the reason you’re considering the change it’s just another milestone in your freelance career.
- Give clients a minimum of one billing cycle as notice so there are no surprises
- Keep comms concise. It’s OK to say why you’re increasing rates, but over-explaining can look like you’re trying to convince yourself. That’s not a good look
- To build confidence send your email to a couple of your favourite clients. Based on their questions, iterate on the next email before sending it to another batch clients
- You can decrease what you offer existing clients if the new pricing doesn’t work for them, but don’t budge on rates
- Create a “wins” document to remind yourself how good you are at your work
- Remember that no matter where you start with pricing, it will change at some point. Why not now?
- Don’t forget to update your contract template or pricing page with your new rates
And sometimes it boils down to something as simple as this:
You did great work. Prices are going up.
