How to Double Your Prices in 30 Days

In this video, I'm going to show you how to double your prices without losing any customers. Because look, everyone says you should raise your prices, but almost nobody tells you how to actually do it. And specifically, how do you do it without torching your business, without pissing off your customers, or without accidentally making less money? And I'm not talking about a polite little 10 or 20% bump. I'm talking about doubling, tripling, or even 10xing the price of your product or service. I'm talking about the kind of move that's going to make your CFO proud and your inner imposter. Hyperventilate. But look, if you're going to do this, there is one really critical thing that you need to understand. Doubling your price is not about better sales. It's not about more courage. It's about better systems and it's about more value. And believe me, if you get it wrong, you can really screw things up. In fact, in a minute, I'll tell you about the time that we doubled the price of one of our memberships from $49 a month to $95 a month and nearly bankrupted the entire company, even though the front end conversion rates didn't actually change at all. I mean, we thought we had a winner. Nope. Big fat loser. Now, if you don't know who I am, my name is Ryan Deiss. I co founded a company called digitalmarketer.com back in the day. And today, along with my partners, we help scale a portfolio of businesses that collectively do over $200 million a year. And I'm not telling you that to flex. I'm telling you that because I've just simply done a lot of price testing over my two decade career and, and what I'm about to share with you works. All right, let's get into it. Step one, Build a premium upgrade, not just a price hike. The first step to doubling your prices is to build a premium upgrade to your current offering. Because here's the deal. If you want to charge twice as much, you can't just raise your price and hope nobody notices. I mean, if you double overnight, people are going to notice. Conversion rates are going to go down. You need to raise your promise. But at the same time, you don't want to launch something completely brand new because then we're talking about a new product launch rather than just a price increase. So here's what I tried to do. My goal when I'm executing this strategy is to keep roughly 80% of the deliverables exactly the same, while massively upgrading the chance that my customers are going to receive the promised result. It could be better onboarding, clearer milestones, private access, faster response. You get the idea. The point is, people don't pay more for more stuff. They pay more for a greater certainty of a successful outcome. So let me give you an example. There was this boutique gym in Austin, Texas where I live, and they were barely breaking even, charging $79 a month for memberships. Then they introduced a small group and personal training component with custom programs and accountability check ins and diets and all that stuff. It was the same building, it was the same equipment, same team. But now it virtually guaranteed the results. They basically guaranteed that you're going to lose weight, you're going to get in shape. The new price, 300 to $400 a month, about triple the previous price and at higher gross margins. And the best part, retention soared, churn disappeared, and eventually the $79 plan was retired. All right, let me give you another example. There was this marketing agency that we were working with that made a similar leap. They shifted from one off projects averaging between 3,000 and 5,000 per project to a $10,000 a month retainer that bundled strategy, analytics and most importantly, execution. What this meant is that they weren't just selling deliverables anymore, they were selling a specific outcome. And that outcome was measurable growth for their clients. And since they were actually good at what they did, they, clients were more than happy to pay for this certainty of outcome. All right, one last example, and this one's for my own business. At the scalable company again, the business that I currently own and operate. We moved from a group style program where founders worked with us to install their own operating system. After watching a series of videos and attending a group implementation sessions. You know the kind of thing we shift from that to a one on one done with you model where my team worked directly with the client and their team to get the operating system built out. It was the same tools, same training, just a different promise. Instead of we're going to help you get this done, the promise became, look, we're going to drag you and your team kicking and screaming across the finish line. If that's what it takes to get this dang thing done, if that's what it takes to get this operating system built, we will get it built. And the result? Well, we raised our price from $3,000 per client to $15,000 per client with an ongoing $2,500 a month retainer and conversion rates actually went up. So what's the big lesson, before you double your price, ask what would need to be true to at least double our customers confidence in a successful outcome. This is the one big thing that people will always pay more for. I don't care what it is that that you are selling, people will always pay more for certainty of outcome because you're not charging more, you're charging appropriately for the outcome that you're delivering. Okay, now that we've elevated your offer, it's time to move on to step two. Step two, Soft launch and test. So without a doubt the biggest pricing mistake that you can make is not testing prices, not raising prices. The second biggest pricing mistake you can make though is rolling out a new price point before it's proven. Don't do that. Believe me, don't do that. Instead what you need to do is you need to run a small scale test first. And I'll tell you why in just a second. So let me give you a quick example. So that gym that I was talking about before, what they did is they just started with one trainer and a handful of clients just to make sure that this new offer would number one sell and more importantly to ensure that they could actually deliver on the desired. After that they knew their clients wanted if they couldn't deliver upon that certainty of outcome, then they knew that it wasn't going to be sellable and transferable to other clients. They wanted to know will it sell and can we get the result that our clients are after? The agency that I've talked about before, well, they trialed its new retainer model with two long term clients and they didn't roll it out to new clients until they had documented proof of the results from those clients. And at Scalable Company we piloted our one on one program with 10 qualified founders to make sure that the program was successful both from a conversion rate and from a fulfillment perspective. Before we rolled it out publicly and all this was happening while we were still selling the old program with the old pricing in the old way so that there was functionally no risk. And when you do test, this is the biggie. Be sure to give it ample time. That's exactly what I failed to do at my company, Digital Marketer a few years ago when we raised the price of our flagship membership from $49 a month to $95 a month. So at first we rolled out this new pricing, things looked perfect. Our early tests had the conversion rates holding steady at twice the price and all we really had added was a one on one onboarding session plus thrown in Some advanced trainings that we knew people loved. The customers were happy. And again, conversion rates hadn't dipped. It looked like we had basically managed to double the revenue at virtually no additional cost. Just a pure win, right? So after a few weeks of testing, we declared the new offer and price point the winner and retired the old $49 a month price level. And everything was going well until month three. And in month three, that was when the wheels fell off, because that was when churn spiked. About six weeks later, it was clear that we were going to actually be earning less per customer at double the monthly price, even though initial conversion rates had remained the same because so many people were leaving so quickly after month three. So what's the lesson? The lesson is don't declare victory until the long game proves out. If retention holds, then your price elevation worked. If not, then you don't have a pricing issue. Your pricing isn't wrong, your promise is. And so for us, we clearly weren't delivering on the promised outcome and our members let us know. Now, it took some time and a whole lot of extra handholding, but we were eventually able to stabilize those churn rates by delivering on what we were promising. But the damage was done and it'd be years before we fully recovered all the monthly recurring revenue that was lost from that one failed pricing rollout. So test small and test fast, but don't test so fast that you don't have the data that you need to actually declare the new price point to be the winner. And not just a winner from a conversion rate, but a winner from a success rate. Success for your clients that is. All right, with the new price point testing confirmed, it's time to move on to step three, which is retire the old plan gracefully. Look, you've got your new price point. It's all been proven out. Now it is time to retire the old one. But again, we want to do it gracefully. And by that I mean don't just yank it off the market. It shouldn't be one of these here one day, gone the next. Instead, graduate it by giving your existing leads and your existing clients one last chance to get in to the old product at the old rate. Now, not only is this just, I think, kind of the nice thing to do, it's also going to drive a massive one time surge in sales and a massive number of upsells in your new program if you play your cards right. So, for example, that gym I was talking about earlier, they ran a 30 day last chance legacy offer where they told clients that they could lock in your membership at our legacy rates before the new personal training model launched. In other words, they let them know that, hey, we're moving over to a personal training first gym. We're no longer going to be letting people just kind of saunter in and out of this gym. But if you've been here, if we already know you, we're going to give you one last chance to join. And in the old model got a big new surge in sales. And the beautiful thing is a lot of those people wind up upgrading to personal training. Similarly, the agency offered existing clients one last opportunity to book one off projects before they shifted over to the retainer model. Not only did this drive a surge of business from the clients who knew that this was truly their last chance to work with them, it also drove a surge of new retainer clients because they also offered a charter rate discount to existing clients who upgraded to retainer. And what do you know, they just happen to have a lot more new existing clients. Finally, at the scalable company, we ran one last cohort, which incidentally was our largest ever since everyone knew that this was going to be the last. And we told all of those clients that you can stay in this current cohort based program for life. You can keep having access to everything, or you can, you can upgrade to our brand new one on one implementation and receive a full credit for the investment that you've already made. Now, probably no surprise here, almost all of our clients the first few months were previous group clients who upgraded to the one on one program. Now what you need to understand is that these offer pivots weren't just price hikes. They were community events. They rewarded loyalty, they created urgency, and they drove one last surge in revenue before the old offer. The old pricing closed for good, but the old offer doesn't actually need to be closed for good. And that's where step four comes in. Step four, maintain a backdoor downsell. Now, this step is optional, but once you retire your original offer at the original price, you can still allow it to live on as a backdoor downsell. In other words, don't advertise it. But if a great prospect is hesitating during the purchase process, you can kind of quietly say, hey, look, we might have a lighter version that could be a fit. You want me to check and see if it's available? So for example, the gym stopped selling new customers into the old $79 a month program, but they would let personal training clients downgrade to gym only access when they were done with the program for just $79 a month. And that was a lot better than losing them completely. And while the agency advertised themselves as retainer only, they still did the occasional test project that was basically just like the ones that they were doing before for projects who weren't quite ready for retainer. And for us at the scalable company, we do still provide a stripped down, self paced version of our operating system build out program, but only a couple times a year and only when it's the right fit for the right prospect. Backdoor downsell offers work because they save sales, they reduce churn all while protecting your positioning and letting you look down generous instead of desperate. But again, if you don't want to do it, you really don't have to. This is completely optional. That being said, the last step, step five is not optional. So let's get to that one. Step five, systemize price reviews. All right, look, price increases shouldn't be emotional, they should be scheduled. So once a quarter, I want you to run what we call a price to value check in. And when you do this, you're really looking for three signals. So signal number one is really wait list. And what we're going to do is we're going to ask, are you currently booked out or having to turn customers away? If so, if you got a wait list, that's an indicator. Signal number two is win rate. Are you closing nearly everyone who is seeing your offer? And specifically in our experience, if we're closing more than 50% of the opportunities that are coming through, that's an indication that we're probably not charging enough. We sort of like to live in that 20 to 30% range. And when we get above 50%, that's almost a little bit too good. And then the third signal is just roi. Are clients reporting that they're earning back their investment even faster than they expected? If even one of these is true, the market is telling you loud and clear you're probably too cheap. And look, if you're still charging what you charged a year ago, whether you realize it or not, you're quietly taking a pay cut. And that pay cut could be the difference between growing and flowing flatlining over the next 12 months. Because the reality is costs creep, scope creeps, client expectations creep. And that's why your price must evolve, because margins erode over time. It's just a basic fact of business. And at the end of the day, most founders don't undercharge because they're generous, right? They undercharge because they're scared. We tell ourselves that we're being affordable. But in reality, we. We're just kind of afraid of hearing no. We're afraid of losing the sales that we're already getting, of watching sales take a dip. But underpricing isn't kindness. It's self doubt, and it's business sabotage in disguise. So, yes, some customers will churn, and yes, your conversion rates may very well, they almost certainly will take a dip at first. But that's not failure. It's filtration. And the ones who leave are likely only there because they were being subsidized by your underpricing. But the ones who stay, they're gonna spend more, they're gonna implement faster, and they're gonna need less convincing in the future. The result? Fewer clients, better margins, and much, much saner weeks for you. And that's not risky. That's just really good business. All right, look, if this helped you think differently about pricing or business in general, do me a favor and subscribe to this channel. Or even better, share it with a friend or a colleague. This is where founders unlearn the bad advice that keeps them trapped and get the good advice so that they can build a business that runs without them. If you like that idea, then definitely keep watching. And if you do, I'll see you in the next one.