The price increase letter that keeps the client.
The letter that loses a client is almost never wrong about the number; it is wrong about everything around the number. Three paragraphs of apology read as doubt, a list of reasons reads as an invitation to argue, and a buried price makes the client hunt for the thing you were afraid to say. The letter that keeps the client says it clean, in this order. The worked examples are from the invented Brightside Home Cleaning set on the sample page.
The price, the date, the first sentence after hello
"From January 5, the price of your biweekly clean will be $160." New price, real date, the service named. Not "I’m writing to let you know about some changes" — the client can feel a price increase coming from the first line, and making them wait for it is the part that reads as squirming.
The one fact that carries the whole case
"This is the first change since February 2023." The last-change date does the justifying on its own: it says the price held while everything underneath it moved. One true fact, no insurance story, no fuel costs, no paragraph about the economy — reasons read as openings for a counter-offer.
"You don’t need to do anything"
The sentence that keeps the good clients. It says: same crew, same day, same booking, nothing to re-sign — the only thing changing is the number. Without it, some clients read a price letter as "re-decide whether to stay", which is exactly the question you do not want to raise.
No apology, one thank-you
"Thank you for two years of Tuesdays" is warmth; "I’m so sorry to have to do this" is an argument against your own letter. One thank-you line, placed before the sign-off, and no sorry anywhere — the sample owner’s brief ("I don’t want to apologize for three paragraphs") is the rule itself.
The promise that makes it land
If it is true, say the price will now hold: "the last one held for three years." A client who believes the new number is the number for a while says yes once and stops shopping; a letter that smells like the first of several gets compared.
Who gets held, said nowhere
If you are keeping a client at the old price — the original client, the referrer — that is a private line in their copy, never a policy in the letter. "Some clients" language in a general letter teaches everyone to ask.
The replies, written before they arrive
The three that come: "can you keep me where I am" (no — "the new price is the price, and it’s the same for everyone", plus the promise), "I need to think about it" (of course — the date stands, nothing needed until then), and silence (nothing — silence is a yes; the follow-up that re-opens the question is how a kept client becomes a lost one).
Three questions.
Letter, email or text?
The same words, in the channel each client already uses with you. The set exists in all three lengths because the text version is not the letter shortened — it is the price, the date, the last-change fact and the nothing-to-do line, in four sentences.
How much notice?
One full billing cycle, minimum — the sample gives five weeks. Enough that nobody’s next invoice is a surprise; not so much that the old price gets a farewell season.
What about brand-new clients?
They get quoted the new price from the day the letter goes out. Quoting the old price to a new inquiry after announcing the increase is the one way to make the letter untrue.
Get the sample letter set first
The invented Brightside Home Cleaning set: the owner’s notes and the five finished pieces — letter, email, text, notice, replies — as a PDF.
The letter, the email, the text, the notice and the replies, written from your numbers within two days, $29 / £24 incl. VAT. No apology paragraphs; we contact no client for you.