Should I raise the membership price?

The one "solution" that I can think of is as follows:

1. For current customers (you want to keep them) send them an email stating that you're planning on raising the price BUT explain to them that since they are valued and long term customers, tell them that their subscription price is going to remain the same; they get the same great value for the same great price.

2. Erase all references about your previous price and increase the price for all NEW subscribers -- make sure of course that they're aware of the value that they're still getting (even though most, if not all , will be totally unaware of the "other" price).

MIGHT be the best way out without suffering losses from your base who might jump ship with a higher subscription price.

Observe situation before and after price changes. This should give you a good point of your visitors habits

How large is your current membership base? If it's still a bit small, then it's probably not a good idea to start rising the price until you can draw in more members - this should give you an indication about how valuable people consider your products. Then you can do a little experimenting with what Greg and GMD suggest.

raising the price might alienate customers, volume seems to offset price

Hey there, Eduard.

Let me see if I can provide you with something else to consider beyond what others have said...

I agree with you that your current members deserve to be locked in at their present subscription fee rate. I think you'll improve their loyalty with this strategy, and since loyalty is quite valuable it's no doubt worth it for you in the long run!

As for the price increase for new customers...

Why are you increasing it by $10, specifically?

What additional benefits are your new subscribers going to receive for the added cost that was not previously offered? If the answer is nothing or close to nothing.. perhaps a smaller increase would work better.

Many products and services have their price increased over time due to inflation. Unfortunately it's harder to justify the increase in that light with information products because there are fewer hard costs involved in providing it to the client.

However..

You state that you're concerned that the price gap between your core product and the membership site won't be large enough if you increase the price, yes?

If you were to justify the increase in price for the membership site by a small margin, then presumably you could also increase the price of the core product as well, by a small margin, and maintain a "comfortable" discount on the membership site vs. the core product.


Hopefully I've provided you with an alternative point of view. :p

Cheers,
-Adrian

how about this? create a promotion email template, and tell your members that those that sent out this email to all their contacts, promoting your service, in order to enjoy the same price.

Adrian has a good point...if you are going to raise the price it should be for a good reason...other than just making money. Will you provide extra material for the increase in price...what added value will it be.

Personally, 19.95 per month is easier to handle than 29.95 per month. but if you have researched this then you probably know what you are doing

Grandfather price the existing customers and charge higher for the new ones.

Hi Eduard

Seems to me you are satisfied with the current subscription rate as well as the stick rate. My question is why you are contemplating a raise for new subscribers by 50% of the current price.

A 50% raise is a lot. Unless you offer additional value on a scale that makes those credit-cards come out, 50% is enough to probably tilt your stats the wrong way.

It is more than 50% harder to enlist as many 29.95 subscribers with the same stick rate.

Apart from harder sells and potentially higher attrition rates, you also risk negative branding from grumpy subscribers. Something that can cost you more than money.

Obviously, you would have to test your market and see where the breaking point is but I would not advise a singular increase of this magnitude. Experiment with smaller incremental increases to iron out exactly where the resistance is in new subscriptions and decreasing stick rate.

Twist the experiment to your favor by sticking the scarcity threat on the squeeze page, something that should get you a few more subscribers up until the resistance is met.

Alternative angles:

• Unless you invest in A LOT of value to this package to satisfy the harder-to-please subscriber, it might be more profitable to keep everything as-is and simply invest in more traffic to your squeeze page. Might or might not be more profitable but worth a test with very little risk, and little work.
  
• Another option if your current setup is profitable is to do nothing with the one you have now (why rock a boat that floats?) and simply duplicate the model with a clone or a sibling in another niche.

for new customers you can do that. for current customers you should give them some compensation for a month or so than raise the price. but i personally recommend you that you should keep your current customers as low as they currently are. offer them some extra and than raise membership fee ..