Commercial
·25 April 2026·3 min readCommunicating a rate increase without over-explaining it
The decision to raise a rate is commercial. How that decision is communicated is a separate question, and one that’s easy to over-complicate.
By Casey Bawden , Creator of Neutral Authority Method
Deciding to raise a rate and communicating that decision are two separate tasks. The first is a commercial judgement about costs, market position and the value of the work. The second is a wording question: what does the client need to know, and how much of the reasoning behind the decision needs to be included?
Business owners who have delivered rate increases as long apologies in the past sometimes delay the next one, not because the increase isn’t warranted, but because the earlier conversation felt uncomfortable to have.
What tends to accumulate in these messages
“I’m so sorry to have to raise this. I know the timing isn’t ideal, and I feel terrible about it, but my costs have gone up significantly and I’m not really covering my time anymore, so unfortunately I’m going to have to increase my rates.”
This message leads with an apology, follows with several justifications, and closes with the change itself framed as regrettable. Some of that content may be necessary, a client may reasonably want to understand why a rate has changed, especially in an ongoing relationship. The question is how much justification the message actually needs, not whether any reasoning is allowed.
Separating notice from justification
7 Emails, free
Seven ordinary professional emails, with the original, one possible revision and the reasoning behind it.
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A rate increase can be communicated as a factual notice: the new rate, when it takes effect, and what it applies to. A brief, necessary reason can be included where it adds real information, a cost change, a scope change, a market adjustment, without stacking several justifications on top of each other as though the point needed to be proven.
Common version
I’m so sorry to have to raise this. I know the timing isn’t ideal, and I feel terrible about it, but my costs have gone up significantly and I’m not really covering my time anymore, so unfortunately I’m going to have to increase my rates.
One possible revision
From [date], my rate will be $X, reflecting the increase in operating costs this year. This will apply to new work booked after that date. Let me know if you have any questions.
This version states the fact, gives one reason, and specifies when the change applies. It does not claim that this framing prevents a client from questioning or declining the new terms. That will depend on the client, the relationship and the market, not on the wording alone.
Where justification is worth keeping
In some relationships, particularly long-standing ones, a fuller explanation may be appropriate and expected. The point isn’t to strip all context from every increase notice. It’s to check whether each additional justification is doing real work, or whether it’s there mainly to soften a message that doesn’t need softening.
Related: writing prices, estimates and quotes with the right level of certainty · 7 Emails I Would Write Differently Now.
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