Price increase letter to virtual assistant clients
Copy it, replace the bracketed bits, send it. Below the letter: the text-message version, how much notice to give, and what to say when they push back.
Hi [NAME], When we started in [YEAR], I was handling [ORIGINAL TASKS, e.g. "your inbox and diary"] at [OLD RATE] an hour. These days it is [CURRENT TASKS, e.g. "the inbox and diary, client onboarding, invoicing in [SOFTWARE] and the weekly newsletter"] — which I love, and which is a different job. So from [MONTH], I would like to move us from hourly billing to a monthly package: [PACKAGE NAME]: [NEW MONTHLY PRICE] a month Covers: [LIST OF RECURRING TASKS] Up to [N] hours; anything beyond that at [NEW HOURLY RATE] Response time: within [N] working hours Based on the last three months, you have averaged [N] hours, which at the current rate is about [CURRENT MONTHLY EQUIVALENT]. The package is [DIFFERENCE] more a month than that. In exchange, you get a fixed cost you can budget for, and I stop watching the clock on tasks I have got faster at. If you would rather stay hourly, my rate from [MONTH] will be [NEW HOURLY RATE]. Happy to talk it through on a call. [YOUR NAME] [BUSINESS NAME]
How many customers can this price rise lose?
10% ÷ (40% + 10%) = 20%
Open the full calculator, with your prices and customer count →30 days, or whatever your agreement says — at the start of a month, not mid-invoice
10–20%, often moving from hourly to a monthly package
The text-message version
For the customers whose entire relationship with you lives in a phone. Send it before the visit, never on the invoice.
Hi [NAME] — I've emailed you a proposal for how we work together from [MONTH] (moving to a monthly package). Happy to talk it through whenever suits.
Why it is going up, in words you can use
“Rising costs” persuades nobody because everyone says it. Name the actual driver in virtual assistant instead:
- the skills went up: tasks that started as inbox and diary now include bookkeeping software, funnels and project management
- software subscriptions the client benefits from but the VA pays for
- hourly billing penalises getting faster at the work
- the rate was set on the first contract and never reviewed
When they push back
You will hear these within a week. Having the answer ready is the difference between holding the price and folding on the phone.
- "I could hire someone offshore for a third of that."
- "You could, and for well-defined tasks it can work." Name what they would lose: "You would be re-explaining [SPECIFIC SYSTEM / CLIENT / PROCESS] and checking the work for a few months." The switching cost is your case; make it concrete.
- "Can we reduce the hours to keep the cost the same?"
- Yes — agree which tasks come off the list, in writing. Fewer hours with the same list is a price cut. Fewer hours with a shorter list is a real change in scope.
- "I thought we agreed a rate."
- You did — for the job as it was. "We agreed [OLD RATE] for [ORIGINAL TASKS]. The work has grown a lot, and I would rather price what I do now than keep doing it quietly." Put the old and new task lists side by side; it is hard to argue with.
Is a price rise even the right move for you?
Sometimes it is not. Sometimes the money is in a service plan for customers you already have, or in the job you are quoting below cost without realising. Describe your business in one sentence and you will get three specific moves back — priced per month, with the arithmetic written out so you can put your own numbers in.
Free, no signup, about thirty seconds. If one of them is a price rise, you will get the number to put in the brackets above.
Give me three movesMore letters: business services
Other trades
A template, not legal advice. If you have a written contract with these VA clients, check what it says about notice periods and price changes before you send anything — the contract wins over any template, including this one.