Increase Prices Popup
Put prices up for selected jobs from a date you choose, check every job's old and new price, and let customers know by email, text or a printed letter.
When it is time to put your prices up, tick the jobs on the Jobs list, open More Actions and choose Increase Prices. The popup works out each job's new price, lets you choose the day it starts, and then helps you tell your customers. You need permission to bulk edit jobs to see it.
Setting Up The Rise
- By a percentage or By an amount: Choose whether every selected job goes up by the same percentage, such as 5%, or by the same amount, such as £2.00. A percentage can be up to 100%.
- Increase: How much to put prices up by. An amount is added before VAT, the same way the Price field on a job works, so on a job with 20% VAT a £2.00 rise adds £2.40 to what the customer pays.
- Round the new price: Only shown for a percentage. 5% on £18.00 is £18.90. Leave it as calculated, or round up to the nearest 10p, 50p or £1 so it becomes £19.00. Rounding applies to the price before VAT, so a VAT-registered job's total may still have pennies.
- Date: The day the new prices start. It starts at the first of next month, and can be any day from today up to two years ahead. On that day the prices change by themselves.
Which Prices Go Up
- Regular price: Goes up on every selected job. On an hourly job this is the price per person per hour, and the summary shows what a usual visit costs before and after.
- Alternate price: Jobs that alternate between two prices have both raised by the same amount or percentage.
- First-visit price: Left alone. If a job has not had its first visit yet, the summary notes that the next visit is still charged the first-visit price.
- VAT: Worked out again from the job's VAT rate, just as it is when you change the price by hand.
The Summary
As soon as you enter an increase, the popup lists every selected job with its price now under From and its price from the date under To. Jobs with an alternate price show both. If the jobs belong to more than one business, they are grouped by business.
- Jobs with VAT: When the jobs have VAT, the summary has Price, VAT and Total columns instead, each showing the amount now and the amount from the date, such as £40.00 → £41.00, £8.00 → £8.20 and £48.00 → £49.20 for a £1.00 rise. That way you can see the rise go on the price before VAT, and the total your customer will be told about.
- Alternate visits: In the VAT columns, an alternate price has its own line under the job.
- Jobs left out: Some jobs cannot have their price raised. They are listed under jobs left out with the reason: the job has no price, it has been transferred to another business, the new price would be the same, or you cannot change prices for that business.
- Replacing an earlier rise: A job can only have one price rise waiting. If a selected job already has one, the summary says so, and the new rise replaces it when you save.
- Large selections: The first 100 jobs are listed. Choose Show all to see the rest.
Saving The Rise
Click Increase Prices to save. If the rise replaces one that was already waiting, or starts today, you are asked to confirm first. A rise that starts today is applied straight away. Otherwise each job keeps its current price until the date, so nothing on the Jobs list changes yet.
What Happens On The Date
- Prices change by themselves: Early on the date, each job's price, alternate price and VAT are updated. You do not need to do anything.
- Visits already marked done: Keep the price they were charged. Visits marked done from the date onwards are charged the new price.
- Prices changed by hand: If someone changes a job's price after the rise was set up, the rise is skipped for that job, because the customer was told a figure that no longer follows from it. The job popup and the Bulk Edit Popup warn you before you change the price, and the skip shows in the job's Price History.
- Transferred jobs: A job transferred to another business before the date is skipped too.
- Things that do not change: Direct Debit subscription amounts, invoices already raised and scheduled transactions stay as they are.
Letting Customers Know
Once the rise is saved, the popup moves on to Let customers know. Nothing is sent until you choose to send it, and each email, text or letter is for one job, so a customer with two jobs hears about both.
- Message customers: Opens the Message Customers Popup for the jobs, starting on the Price rise email and Price rise text. Each customer gets an email, or a text if they prefer texts or have no email address, and you can preview each message filled in for its customer before you send. The number on the button is how many of the jobs have an email address or mobile number. Texts use your SMS credits.
- Jobs in more than one business: Each business has its own Message customers button, and its messages are sent as that business, with that business's own wording.
- Print letters: Prints the Price rise letter, four to an A4 sheet, ready to cut and post. Choose All letters, or Only the customers with no email or mobile to print letters just for the customers you cannot email or text.
- Changing the wording: Emails use the Price rise email template, texts the Price rise text template and letters the Price rise letter template. You can change them in Settings, Document Templates, and the price rise details (the price before and after the rise, and the date) fill in each job's own figures. You can also change the wording in the popup for one send.
Cancelling A Rise
Open the job and look for Price History in its details. Choose Cancel price rise to stop a rise that has not happened yet, and the price stays as it is. Customers you have already told are not told it was cancelled, so let them know yourself.
Price History
Every rise stays on the job afterwards, whether it was applied, skipped, cancelled or replaced, with its date, the prices before and after, and who set it up. The Job Detail View shows it under Price History.
Related articles
- Jobs List: Select the jobs whose prices are going up.
- Bulk Edit Popup: Set the same price on several jobs straight away, rather than raising them from a date.
- Job Detail View: See a job's price history and cancel a rise that is waiting.
- Advanced Pricing and Opening Balance: How regular, alternate, first-visit and hourly prices work.
- Message Customers Popup: Check and send the emails and texts about the rise.