07 Apr Tariffs Talk: Communicating Price Changes Effectively

Economic uncertainty continues to be a hot topic in Canada. In our first Tariffs Talk blog we shared some tips for keeping your marketing efforts on point to help your business ride the storm, and we promised updates.

Let’s shift our focus to another area many businesses will find challenging in their communications: speaking about price changes. Let’s face it, raising your prices may be one of the few avenues of recourse available (and is often inevitable in a business, eventually). It’s tough times, and you must think about your bottom line. So, let’s explore some tips for talking about pricing changes effectively.

🔊 Use all the communication channels available.

Reaching as many of your customers as possible is crucial for ensuring transparency for your changes. If you’re a smaller business, your site and social media are an excellent start to getting a pricing announcement out. But if possible, take a little extra care and time to maintain your relationship by considering a letter sent to your customer base. This can be done by a sincere email or traditional letter. It’s a personal touch from business to customer and goes a long way to reassure without much cost.

For larger businesses, take advantage of app notifications, newsletters, and any other channels you have. Posters, mailouts, and traditional advertising may also be a good idea. If your business is large enough or your prices may impact a whole community, consider a proactive media relations and internal communications strategy to keep people informed, externally and internally. (We can help with those strategies too!)

Transparency is crucial to maintaining trust. Be clear about the reasons for the change, in practical words. Avoid vaguely saying “economic uncertainty” and similar (though we know this blog uses it contextually above). Instead, be direct and your customers will appreciate your honesty and integrity.

🗓 Provide as much advance notice as you can.

Informing your customer base of changes early allows them to plan and shift in step with you, especially if you’re a business-to-business product supplier. Advance notice allows time for your customers to adjust budgets or payment schedules, and to mitigate other hidden factors. For example, your price change may indirectly trigger personnel changes later for those customers on tighter budgets. Bottom line: advance notice is also courteous and thoughtful, and we’re, after all, Canadians!

If you have no choice but to react quickly to a market shift with a price change, see our note above about clarity. Transparency is the key to retaining strong customer relationships.

👍 Remind them why your business is incredible

Stay positive when you can. Repeat your messages about your product or service’s quality, market advantages and other positive features compared to competitors. If your price change also brings an opportunity to enhance value or service, highlight the benefits to your consumers.

Underlying your product’s staying power helps cushion the impact a price change has on your customer’s ongoing buying decision. And don’t forget to include “Made in Canada” and “Buy local” messaging if it applies.

🛠 Acknowledge the challenge.

Economic uncertainty creates a ripple effect throughout almost any enterprise and the public. If you’re feeling the crunch, your customers will too. They may not be surprised by your price change. When you take a moment in your communications to acknowledge these shared challenges, it emphasizes empathy from business to client. Sometimes, the reassurance that you’re all feeling the pinch may influence a buying decision over a competitor that comes across as indifferent.

📋 Include the details.

It seems obvious, but include the price changes clearly in your outreach, such as a table or infographic. State when the changes will be effective, and how customers can reach you with their questions. Pro tip: make sure your social media has direct message capabilities as a simple way to help conversations flow and ensure someone is monitoring. Be prompt and personal with your responses. This underlines transparency and integrity as well.

Remember: take the steps that make sense.

With the tips above scale is a consideration. If you’re a small business with only a few products or services, scale the amount of transparent marketing and communication you should do as appropriate. You can still post good social media messages about your changes and think about sending out an email with the change and reminders about your quality. You may even want to take an extra personal step by calling your top-performing customers for a conversation. It’s all excellent transparency and customer service with little cost (usually) except time.

Need a hand?

Moore Creative Consulting can help your business share pricing changes and other messages with:

⍻ Crafting optimal messages for your price changes

⍻ Building targeted marketing plans announcing changes

⍻ Custom social media campaigns

⍻ Corporate writing for the web, direct emails, and letters

⍻ Designing announcement ads (digital or print)

⍻ Media relations support

⍻ Internal communications support