How to Make a Salon Price Increase Notice and Keep Your Clients

Raising the prices of your services can sometimes be uncomfortable, a hair salon price increase notice will help inform your clients of what’s happening and explain it to them.

Although it's easy to update your prices in your salon POS software, but how do salons notify clients of price increases? Keep reading to find out.

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1. When to Raise Your Prices?
2. How Much Should You Increase the Price List?
3. How to Inform Salon Clients of Price Increase?
4. Salon Price Increase Notice Template
5. Conclusion

When to Raise Your Prices?

Raising prices can become necessary for a variety of reasons.

Whether you need to increase salon prices because of demand, upgrades or new services, or because inflation is affecting your profit margins, it’s important to understand what’s driving the increase in prices.

Then, you can decide on a strategy and communicate to customers.

Do not miss our post on Salon Pricing Guide.

You’re Constantly Overbooked

If you’re totally booked weeks in advance and it’s been this way for a while, you can most likely announce with confidence that you’re raising prices. When your business and services are in high demand, you most likely won’t lose customers by announcing a reasonable pricing change.

Your Margin Decreased Significantly

This can happen due to products’ prices increase, new equipment, higher salaries for your stylists, or just general inflation. In these cases, raising your prices is not only justifiable, it’s necessary to cover your costs and continue to ensure that your business is profitable.

Do not miss out post on Salon Expenses.

Your Services Improved

Maybe you’ve switched to using more expensive products, your stylists improve their techniques, you’ve hired more professionals to provide additional services, or you’ve made other improvements like renovations or upgrades to equipment that cost money.

Your Services Are Unique

If your salon business provides specialized or unique services, you may be in a position to raise prices or set your initial costs for each service slightly higher than average.

For example, if you specialize in clients with curly or grey/ thinning hair and have no competition nearby, you can use this to your advantage. Having no competition allows you to decide on the price, but within reason.

Check the average service prices in your area and set each price point accordingly.

You’re not Satisfied

It could also be that your staff aren’t happy with the money that they’re making, or maybe they’re dealing with inflation and lose money because of the increased cost of living in the area every year.

These are valid reasons to raise prices, too. Sometimes, you simply underestimated the value or costs of each client service or appointment in the first place.

You’re in Special Circumstances

Sometimes need to be flexible with how we do business. This may include raised pricing if your salon has to do extra work to sanitize equipment and work spaces between customers or needs to pay extra staff to help out.

Sending clients a salon price increase notice due to special (justified) circumstances is reasonable, but make sure to tell them about the extra steps that you’re taking to help keep them safe so that they can book an appointment with confidence.

We also recommend you check out our Guide to Salon Costs.

How Much Should You Increase the Price List?

Before making your price increase announcement, salon owners will need to take a careful look at the current pricing strategy and come up with a plan.

Your pricing should always be connected to your business plan and the quality and value of each service.

Make sure that you:

• Evaluate Your Services Thoroughly: Take a look at the quality of each service and customer demand, its competitiveness, exclusivity (do any of your competitors offer something similar/ what’s their average price), your own expenses, and any added value you offer guests.

• Analyze Competition: Start by checking online to see what other salons in your area offer customers. Their price list may even be on their website. If you raise prices to the point where they’re higher than everyone else’s, you could run the risk of losing clients.

  Instead, you may want to increase your margin by cutting expenses. Try having a conversation with your staff to get some ideas about how to improve your process and eliminate waste. They may already have a number of great ideas.

• Consider your Target Audience: Understanding your customers and their own income and spending habits are key here. If you raise prices to a level that they can’t afford or aren’t likely to want to pay, you risk losing their business.

  Likewise, if your salon caters to upscale guests looking for a luxury experience, you might be free to increase what you charge for high-quality services.

• Stay Reasonable: In any industry, an increase in what you charge needs to come with a good reason, even if it’s simply that you’re raising the cost to keep up with inflation or rent. These small changes are relatively normal and likely won’t shock or surprise clients.

  That said, if you’re going to raise prices by a large margin, such as 50%, make sure that you have a very good reason and communicate it to customers clearly and in advance. See our hair stylist price increase letter template for more details.

How to Inform Salon Clients of Price Increase?

Inform Your Clients in Advance

Not only is it polite to give at least a few weeks’ notice, but it will help clients feel like they know what’s going on and aren’t being manipulated or surprised before their upcoming appointments.

You can make the announcement by either sending out a hair stylist salon price increase notice in your salon newsletter, on your website or by sending out a special email message.

Telling them what’s going on with anywhere from one to three months before it happens is plenty of time.

To learn more please check out our post on How to Talk to Clients in the Salon.

Start with Expressing Gratitude

Increasing your prices doesn’t have to be stressful for you or your clients. If you make the announcement the right way, you can get everyone on board with what’s going on and change your prices without losing clients due to ill-feeling.

Start by thanking your clients and staff and showing your appreciation for them. This helps to create a feeling that “we’re all in this together” and keeps everyone united and invested in the salon’s continued success.

Be Transparent and Stay Firm

Explain the changes and stand your ground.

Again, communication is key when announcing any changes. If you have good reasons for what you’re doing, and you’ve had a conversation with your staff and told your clients what to expect, then you can feel confident in your decision.

Focus On the Positive

This is one of the most important tips that I can offer. Like most situations where something changes, focusing on the positive aspects will make all the difference and ensure they people don’t lose faith in your brand.

Let everyone know how your services and clients’ experience are improving. Send out emails, include information in your newsletter and post online and on your social media page about your new products, staff education and updated training, and any new stylists.

Build excitement about these new changes and show each client that your increased prices are justified though added value and a great experience.

Welcome Any Questions

Some people may want to learn more about what your business is doing or what they should expect. Be prepared and make yourself available for questions and additional explanations, either online, on the phone or in person when a customer visits.

Feel free to have a meeting with your team about this and come up with a number of responses that they can give if clients ask them about the raised prices so that everyone is on the same page. Be prepared to defend/support your decision if a customer asks you about it.

Make Sure Price Increase Notice Reaches Your Clients

Along with information about the changes and any new or updated services your business now offers, make sure to also provide a date about when everything will change.

Make use of all the tools at your disposal, such as e-mails, your salon website, special articles in your newsletter and a post on your social media. Have a sign inside the salon, too.

Do not miss our post on Salon Pricing Guide.

Salon Price Increase Notice Template

Before sending out a price increase notice, hair salon owners or managers have to consider what they’re going to say and the best way to say it without losing the confidence or loyalty of existing clients.

Every salon business is in a unique situation, and you may want to include some personal touches, information or details relevant to your own brand or services.

Here are some templates to help you get started:

Salon Price Increase Notice

This is a general multipurpose one that you can use for websites, social media, newsletters or client emails.

“Dear Valued Client,

Please note that there will be a small increase in the price of our treatments to reflect increased costs from our suppliers/due to inflation/because of upgrades to our services and equipment/etc. We here at Salon Name appreciate your support and we hope to see you soon.

Thanks again,

The Salon Name team.”

Hair Salon Price Increase Letter

This feels more personal and allows for a more elaborate message and a thank-you note for each customer for their continued business and support. You can even send out this price increase letter for hair salon clients on your business’s letterhead or in a special envelope.

“Dear Client’s Name,

We here at Salon Name appreciate your continued loyalty and support, and we hope to see you again soon.

Please note that as of date, there will be a small increase to the cost of the following services:

Service Name- New Price

Your business is valuable to us and we want you to know that in spite of increased costs from our suppliers/due to inflation/because of upgrades to our services and equipment, we’ve done our best to keep prices as low as possible for our clients.

We’re always here for you. If you have any questions about an upcoming appointment or any of our services, please don’t hesitate to contact us at Salon phone number/email address.

Thank you and have a wonderful day

Name, Salon Manager”

Salon Price Increase Sign

Feel free to put this up on the door or in the reception area. It should be somewhere visible where people are likely to see and read it before they end up in the stylists’ chair. People can read it and ask for more details in person from their stylist or the receptionist.

“A Small Update:

Thank you to all of our amazing clients for your continued loyalty and support these past few months. You really make our salon a better place.

As always, we want to provide you with the best possible service. On that note, please understand that as of Date, there will be some small increases to the cost of certain services/our services due to increased costs from our suppliers/due to inflation/because of upgrades to our services and equipment.

We really appreciate your support and your understanding. If you have any questions at all, please ask a member of our team.

Thanks again- we wouldn’t be here without you,

Everyone at Salon Name”

Conclusion

Salon owners know that sometimes it’s inevitable that you need to raise your prices, whether it’s because of changing staffing needs, product costs, improvements in quality and upgrades to services and facilities, or simply to keep up with market inflation and rent.

In all of these situations, setting a clear date for the changes, talking with your staff about your decision and all of the reasons behind it and communicating it to your clients in a sensitive and easy to understand manner are keys to success.

Sending out a salon price increase notice in advance that explains these changes and any benefits such as better quality products, staff training or updated equipment will help to keep everyone on board and excited about the changes.

Citations

Customers' reactions to price increases: do customer satisfaction and perceived motive fairness matter?
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0092070304269953

The Effect of Service Quality and Price Accuracy on Consumer Confidence and Implications for Sales Increase
http://103.76.50.195/UDR/article/view/13255

The price effect of option introduction
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1540-6261.1989.tb05068.x