How Pricing Changes Work: When You Update Your Membership Price

The Core Rule

Simple Principle

When you change pricing:

✅ Existing members: Keep their original price (grandfathered in)
✅ New members: Pay the new price
✅ Change takes effect: Immediately for new signups
✅ Nobody gets surprised: Their renewal price stays the same

This means:

You can raise prices without angering current members
You can lower prices to attract new members
You can test different price points
Existing members are protected

Important business note:

We RECOMMEND YOU KEEP grandfathering (existing members stay at old price)
This is better for business: builds loyalty, shows you value early adopters, creates marketing advantage
"Join now and lock in this price forever" is powerful marketing
Revenue still grows as new members pay higher price
You CAN technically increase existing member prices, but we strongly advise against it—contact [email protected] if you absolutely must

How It Works in Practice

Scenario 1: You Raise Your Price

Original pricing: $29/month New pricing: $49/month

What happens:

Member Type	Price They Pay	When	Notes
Existing (old)	$29/month	Every renewal	Forever (until they cancel)
Existing (new)	$49/month	Next renewal	Only if they sign up AFTER change
Brand new	$49/month	First charge	Everyone joining now

Timeline example:

Day 1: You change price to $49 
Day 1: Sarah signs up (new member) → pays $49/month forever 
Day 15: John's renewal comes (existing, had $29) → charged $29/month 
Day 30: Mike signs up (new member) → pays $49/month forever 
Day 31: Sarah's renewal → still $49/month (her locked price)

Result: No existing members upset. New members pay higher price.

Scenario 2: You Lower Your Price

Original pricing: $49/month New pricing: $29/month

What happens:

Member Type	Price They Pay	When	Notes
Existing (old)	$49/month	Every renewal	Unchanged
New members	$29/month	First charge	New lower price

Timeline example:

Day 1: You lower price to $29 
Day 1: Alex signs up (new member) → pays $29/month forever 
Day 10: Existing member renewal (had $49) → still charged $49/month 
Day 20: New member signs up → pays $29/month

Result: You attract new members with lower price. Existing members keep old price (they don't get the discount).

Note: You could manually refund existing members if you wanted (at your discretion), but you're not required to.

Scenario 3: You Temporarily Lower Price (Promotion)

Original pricing: $49/month Temporary price: $19/month (for 2 weeks only) Back to: $49/month

What happens:

Day 1-14: Price is $19/month 
Day 1: Sale members sign up → locked at $19/month forever 
Day 3: Renewal (existing member) → still $49/month 
Day 5: New member signs up → locked at $19/month forever 
Day 15: You change back to $49/month 
Day 15: New member signs up → now $49/month 
Day 20: Sale member renewal → still $19/month (their locked price)

Result: People who signed up during sale keep the sale price forever. Good for conversions. Plan for long-term impact on revenue.

Where to Change Pricing

Updating Your Pricing

In LaunchPass dashboard:

Go to your community
Click on your signup page (or "Pages")
Click "Edit" on the page
Find the price field
Enter new price
Save/Update
Publish if required
Change is live immediately

New signups from that moment: Get new price

Timing: Changes take effect instantly for new signups.

Multiple Signup Pages

If you have multiple signup pages:

Example: Monthly ($29) and Annual ($290)

When you change one:

Only that page updates
Other pages keep their old pricing
New members on each page: their specific price
Existing members: their original price from their signup page

You can manage:

✅ Different tier prices separately
✅ Different billing cycle prices separately
✅ Test price changes on one page while keeping another stable
✅ Create new pricing tiers without affecting existing

Key Details About Price Changes

Existing Members Are Locked In

Your original members:

Keep their signup price
Forever (until they cancel)
Even if you raise price 10 times
They never see price increases

Example:

Sarah joined at $9/month in year 1
You raise to $29/month in year 2
You raise to $49/month in year 3
Sarah STILL pays $9/month each renewal

This is good:

Members feel secure
Won't cancel due to price increase
Build long-term loyalty
Fairness perception

New Members Follow Current Price

Anyone who signs up after price change:

Sees only the current price
Doesn't know about old price
Locked into current price (not future price increases)
Example: If you later raise from $29 to $49, new members from today stay at $29

Changes Are Immediate

When you hit "Save":

Change goes live instantly
Old price no longer shows
New signups: see new price
Takes effect in real-time

No delay: Changes don't wait for day/hour to change.

Existing Subscriptions Unaffected

Member renewals:

Charge the price they signed up with
Automatic (happens on billing date)
No notification needed (same as before)
Works smoothly

You don't need to:

❌ Manually adjust anyone's billing
❌ Send explanations
❌ Create special offers
❌ Do anything besides change the price

Common Pricing Change Scenarios

Scenario A: Growing Community, Raising Price

Situation: Your community is successful. You want to increase revenue.

Strategy:

Research competitors - What do similar communities charge?
Analyze your value - Has quality increased?
Set new price - What's fair?
Make announcement - Tell existing members why (optional, transparency)
Change pricing
Existing members: Keep old price (safe from increase)
New members: See new price

Impact:

Existing members: No increase, stay happy
New members: Higher entry price, may reduce sign-ups slightly
Revenue: Gradually increases as old members churn and new members join at higher price
Long-term: Revenue increases over time

Example:

100 members at $29/month = $2,900/month
You raise to $49/month
Year 1: Existing stay at $29, new pay $49 = mixed revenue
Year 2: More members at $49 = higher revenue
Year 3: Mostly $49 members = significantly higher revenue

Scenario B: Attracting More Members, Lowering Price

Situation: You want to grow faster. Willing to accept lower price.

Strategy:

Test with new price - Lower to $19/month
Observe signup rate - Does it increase?
Measure conversion - Are more people joining?
Calculate ROI - Is lower price × higher volume > old price × old volume?
Keep new price if successful, or raise back up if not working

Impact:

New members attracted at lower price
Existing members keep old price (no loss)
If signup volume increases, total revenue might stay same or increase
If signup volume doesn't increase, revenue goes down

Example (increases volume enough):

Old: $49/month × 10 new/month = $490/month new revenue
New: $19/month × 30 new/month = $570/month new revenue
Result: Lower price, more volume, better revenue

Example (doesn't increase volume enough):

Old: $49/month × 10 new/month = $490/month new revenue
New: $19/month × 12 new/month = $228/month new revenue
Result: Lower price, slightly more volume, worse revenue → raise back up

Scenario C: Pricing Tiers

Situation: You want different prices for different membership levels.

How it works:

Create signup page for "Basic" ($29/month)
Create signup page for "Premium" ($79/month)
New members choose which tier
Each tier has its own price history
Existing Basic members: $29 forever
Existing Premium members: $79 forever
New members: Current price for tier they choose

You can:

✅ Change Basic price without affecting Premium
✅ Add new tiers at any time
✅ Retire tiers (keep existing on old price)
✅ Test different prices on different tiers

Scenario D: Temporary Promotion

Situation: You want a time-limited sale.

Process:

Decide on sale price - Example: normally $39, sale $19
Duration - How long? (1 week, 2 weeks, 30 days)
Change price - Set to $19
Announce sale - "Limited time"
Let run for duration
Change back - Set back to $39
Members who joined during sale - Stay at $19 forever

Impact:

High conversion during sale (low barrier)
Sale members locked in at low price (long-term revenue impact)
Regular price returns to normal
New regular members back at regular price

Revenue impact:

Short term: Lower revenue during sale (lower price × potentially higher volume)
Long term: Lower revenue for those members (they're locked in at sale price)
Works if: Extra members from sale more than make up for their lower price

Example:

Normal: $39/month × 5 new/month = $195/month
Sale month: $19/month × 20 new/month = $380/month (up!)
Regular month after: $39/month × 7 new/month = $273/month (up from baseline)
But sale members now ongoing: $19/month (lower recurring revenue)
Long-term impact: More members at lower average price = potentially lower total revenue

Planning Your Pricing Strategy

Before You Change Pricing

Ask yourself:

Why am I changing?
- More value? Raise
- Want growth? Lower
- Test different point? Change
- Competitor undercut? Match
What's my goal?
- Increase revenue per member?
- Increase member volume?
- Test market?
- Strategic positioning?
What will happen?
- New members see new price
- Existing members unaffected
- No member surprises
- Calculate new revenue expectations
Is this permanent or temporary?
- Permanent raise/lower? Plan for long-term members at each price
- Temporary sale? Plan short-term volume + long-term lower revenue from sale members
Should I communicate?
- Existing members: Optional, but transparency builds trust
- Potential members: Yes, make new price clear
- Sales/promotions: Yes, emphasize "limited time"

Communicating Price Changes to Members

Optional: Announce to existing members (transparency + fairness)

Price Update

I wanted to let you know that we're adjusting our pricing.

Here's what this means for you:

Your membership price stays the same: $[YOUR LOCKED PRICE]/month
You're grandfathered in at your original rate
This doesn't affect your billing at all

Why the change?

We've added [new features/value]
Operating costs have increased
We want to ensure quality long-term

For new members:

They'll see the new price: $[NEW PRICE]/month
You locked in the better deal!

Thanks for being part of the community!

Announce new price to potential members: (Obviously)

Join Our Community

Membership: $[NEW PRICE]/month

[Benefits, description, etc]

Important Considerations

Revenue Impact Over Time

When you raise prices:

Short term: Revenue stays same (existing members at old price) Medium term: Revenue increases gradually (existing churn → new members at higher price) Long term: Revenue stabilizes at new level (most members at higher price)

Example over 12 months:

Month 1: 100 members @ $29 = $2,900 (raise to $49) 
Month 2: 100 @ $29 + 5 new @ $49 = $2,945 
Month 3: 98 @ $29 + 10 @ $49 = $2,852 + 490 = $3,342 
Month 6: 80 @ $29 + 40 @ $49 = $2,320 + 1,960 = $4,280 
Month 12: 40 @ $29 + 80 @ $49 = $1,160 + 3,920 = $5,080

Takeaway: Revenue increases gradually as old members churn.

Churn Impact

Members sometimes cancel due to:

Lost interest (unrelated to price)
Can't afford (price increase affecting new signups, not existing)
Technical issues
Life changes
Competition

Price increases don't directly cause cancellations for existing members since they don't see the increase. But:

New members at higher price may have lower conversion
Existing members might eventually see your higher price and cancel anyway

Testing Prices

You can test pricing by:

Change price
Monitor new signup rate
Track for 2-4 weeks
Analyze data
Keep or revert

Example:

Current price: $29 → signup rate: 5/week
Lower to $19 → signup rate: 12/week (good!)
Keep at $19

vs.

Current price: $29 → signup rate: 5/week
Raise to $49 → signup rate: 2/week (bad!)
Lower back to $29

Troubleshooting

"Member Claims They're Being Charged Wrong Price"

How to check:

Ask which price they think they should pay
Check when they signed up (find their join date)
What was the price when they joined? (check your pricing history)
Verify in Stripe: Go to their subscription in Stripe
Look at their recurring price - That's what they're charged

If it matches their signup price:

They're correct and being charged right
Explain: "You're locked in at your signup price"

If it doesn't match:

Contact [email protected]
Provide member email
May need manual adjustment

"I Changed Price But Old Price Still Shows"

Causes:

Browser cache (not updated)
Page not refreshed
Different page/link (different signup page)
Change didn't publish/save

What to do:

Clear browser cache - Ctrl+Shift+Delete (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+Delete (Mac)
Refresh page - F5 or Cmd+R
Check different browser - Try Chrome, Firefox, Safari
Try incognito/private window - Fresh session
Verify in dashboard - Is price actually changed there?
If still showing old: Contact [email protected]

"I Want to Grandfathered-in Price to Expire" or "Can I Increase Existing Member Prices?"

The situation: You locked people in at old price but want them to eventually pay new price, or you want to increase what existing members pay.

Technical capability: LaunchPass CAN technically change prices for existing subscribers. However, we STRONGLY RECOMMEND AGAINST THIS.

Why we recommend against it:

It's better business strategy:

✅ Grandfathering early adopters builds loyalty
✅ Shows you value your original members
✅ Creates perception of "best deal" for new joiners
✅ Encourages people to buy now ("lock in this price forever")
✅ Better for member satisfaction and retention
✅ Reduces churn and complaints
✅ Makes you look more generous and fair

It's better marketing:

Message to potential members: "Join now and lock in this price forever"
Creates urgency: "Once we raise price, new members pay more"
Positions early adopters as VIPs: "You got the better deal"
Builds community narrative: "We reward loyal members"

Revenue grows anyway:

Existing members: stay at old price
New members: see higher price
Over time: higher proportion at higher price = increased revenue
It works without upsetting anyone

When increasing existing member prices would be considered:

Only if absolutely necessary (platform crisis, major cost changes, etc.)
Only with transparency and notice (not a surprise)
Only with significant lead time (30-60 day notice minimum)
Only after consulting with LaunchPass

If you decide to proceed with price increases:

This is complex and requires coordination:

Email [email protected] with:
- We will work with you over the course of several calls to get this handled.
Multiple coordination calls needed:
- Initial consultation (discuss strategy)
- Planning call (when/how to implement)
- Testing call (verify on test members first)
- Launch call (monitor during implementation)
- Follow-up call (monitor for issues)
Process:
- LaunchPass works with Stripe
- Uses our dedicated importer for adjustments to subscriptions
- Testing with small group first
- Full rollout once confirmed working
- Ongoing monitoring
Member communication required:
- Announce increase in advance
- Explain reason clearly
- Show grandfathering value (most locked in, they're exception)
- Offer flexibility if possible

Bottom line: You CAN increase existing member prices, but we recommend you DON'T. Grandfathering is better business. If you absolutely must, contact [email protected] to discuss—it requires significant coordination.

Best Practices

When Raising Prices

✅ Make sure value justifies it - Add features, improve content, or explain need

✅ Existing members are safe - They don't see price increase

✅ New members at higher price - Expect slightly lower conversion

✅ Gradual increases work better - Than big sudden jumps

✅ Communicate the reason - Transparency helps

✅ Give notice - Announce before changing (optional but good practice)

✅ GRANDFATHERED PRICING IS BETTER - Lock early adopters in, it builds loyalty and business

✅ DON'T increase existing member prices - Even though we can technically do it, it's not recommended

When Lowering Prices

✅ Test it first - Does lower price increase volume enough?

✅ Existing members keep old price - They don't benefit from discount

✅ Clear on new signup page - Make new price prominent

✅ Track conversion rate - Is more volume worth lower price?

✅ Set time limit if temporary - "Sale ends [DATE]"

✅ Be prepared for volume - More signups = more support

When Testing Prices

✅ Test for 2-4 weeks - Give time for patterns to emerge ✅ Track metrics:

Daily signups
Conversion rate
Customer acquisition cost (if paid ads)
Revenue impact
- ✅ Document changes - When did you change, why, results
- ✅ Make decisions based on data - Not just gut feeling
- ✅ Revert if not working - Don't force bad pricing decision