The last time I raised prices at my studio, I spent three weeks drafting the email and about four minutes regretting it. I had braced for a wave of cancellations. What I got was eleven replies, and nine of them were some version of “honestly, about time.”

That wasn’t luck. Most studios are underpriced because the owner set rates in year one, when the schedule was thin and confidence was thinner, and never touched them again. Since then rent went up, instructor pay went up and processing fees went up, and the $149 unlimited membership quietly became a $130 membership in real dollars.

A well-run price increase usually costs you 1–3% of your members. A badly run one can cost 10% or more, and the new number is rarely the reason. People leave because of how they found out. Here’s how to do it the first way.

Check Whether You Actually Need a Raise

Before you touch your rates, run three numbers:

A Pilates owner I know ran these numbers in one afternoon. She charged $165 for unlimited, while the three reformer studios near her charged $199–$229. Her instructor costs had risen 18% in two years. The question was never whether to raise prices. It was how much.

Pick the Number, and Keep It Modest

For a single increase, 5–12% is the range where most members grumble and stay. Above about 15% in one step, cancellations climb quickly unless you’re adding something members can see, like new class times, a second room or a better booking experience.

A few rules that have held up for me:

Small, regular increases are easier on members than one big jump every five years.
Small, regular increases are easier on members than one big jump every five years.

Decide Who Gets Grandfathered

This is the decision that most affects how the increase lands. You have three realistic options:

Here’s how the last option played out for a cycle studio with 240 members moving unlimited from $139 to $155. Everyone got 90 days’ notice, and members of two or more years got six months. Over the following four months the studio lost five members, about 2%, which was barely above its normal churn. Monthly recurring revenue went from $33,360 to $36,425. That’s roughly $36,800 a year, and the studio spent it on raising instructor pay.

Whichever option you pick, apply it to everyone the same way. The fastest way to wreck an increase is for two members to compare notes at the front desk and discover they were offered different deals.

Write an Announcement Members Will Actually Read

Give at least 30 days’ notice, and 60 is better. Never give less than one full billing cycle, because a surprise charge produces disputes, angry reviews and cancellations you didn’t need to have.

The structure is simple. State the change in the first sentence, explain it in two or three lines, say what stays the same, give the date and offer a real person to talk to. Here’s a version that works:

Subject: A change to membership rates on March 1

Hi Dana,

Starting March 1, our unlimited membership will move from $149 to $165 per month. Because you’ve been with us since 2023, your current rate stays the same until September 1.

This is our first increase in three years. In that time we’ve added 14 weekly classes and raised instructor pay twice, because the people teaching your classes deserve to make a real living doing it.

Nothing else about your membership changes. If you’d like to talk it through, or the new rate doesn’t work for you, just reply. I read every one.

Maria

Notice what it doesn’t do. It doesn’t apologize for three paragraphs, it doesn’t blame inflation and nothing else, it doesn’t hide the number in the fourth paragraph and it never calls the change “exciting news.” Members can tell when they’re being managed.

Members don’t leave over a $16 increase. They leave because they feel handled.

Brief Your Staff Before the Email Goes Out

Your instructors and front desk will hear more about this than your inbox will, so tell them first, ideally a few days before members find out. Give them two short answers they can say in their own words.

When a member asks why prices are going up:

“Costs have gone up across the board, and Maria wanted to make sure our instructors are paid well. It’s our first change in three years.”

When a member says they can’t afford it:

“Totally understand. Can I show you the 8-class pack? For how often you come in, it might end up close to what you pay now.”

The second answer matters most. A member who moves down to a $120 class pack is still in your building, still bringing friends and still a candidate to move back up when their budget allows. Always offer a cheaper option before anyone has to say the word “cancel.”

Your front desk and instructors will field more questions than your inbox.
Your front desk and instructors will field more questions than your inbox.

Handle Pushback Without Caving

Expect 5–10% of members to reply or mention the change in person. Most of them are just processing it out loud and will stay. Answer every email personally within 24 hours, even if the answer is two sentences.

For members who say they want to cancel, work through these in order:

What you can’t do is roll the increase back for whoever complains loudest. Do that once and you’ve taught your whole community that complaining works.

The execution is where most increases go wrong. Changing hundreds of billing amounts by hand, with different dates for different groups, leads to the wrong rate on the wrong person on the wrong day. If your billing lets you schedule rate changes by plan with their own effective dates, as Kinetic does for grandfathered and new members separately, you set it up once and each member moves at the right time without a spreadsheet.

Measure What Actually Happened

Track these for 90 days after the new price takes effect:

If extra churn stayed under 3% and revenue per member went up, put your next pricing review on the calendar for 18 months from now and move on.

The Short Version