The signals it's time to raise your rates
You're due when the yeses come too fast, the calendar is too full, or the work produces results you're not being paid for. One signal is enough. Two means you're overdue.
The signals worth acting on:
- Every quote gets an instant yes. Brands push back on numbers that feel high — if nobody ever does, you're under market.
- You're booked two to three weeks out and turning down briefs. Demand you can't serve is unpriced demand.
- Your videos keep getting extended. Renewed usage, whitelisting requests — brands don't keep paying to run ads that aren't working.
- New clients pay more than old ones. If new deals close at $200 while your first client pays $120 for the same deliverable, the gap is the raise.
The fast yes is the one most creators ignore, because it feels like winning. It isn't — it's the sound of money left on the table. Not sure where your baseline should sit? Start with how much to charge for UGC and work up.
New leads vs. existing clients: who gets told
Simple rule: existing clients get an email. New leads just get the new number.
A new lead has no anchor. When the next brand DMs you, quote the new rate as if it has always been the rate — no "just so you know, I recently raised my prices." That sentence teaches them a cheaper version of you existed, and invites them to ask for it.
Existing clients have budgeted around your number, so they get notice. But don't raise everyone at once. Start with your busiest client. That feels backwards — instinct says protect the big relationship and test the raise on someone small. Run the math: $75 under market with a client booking eight videos a month is $600 a month gone, more than every small client combined. Underpricing hurts most exactly where the volume is. Your busiest client also holds the most proof you're worth it — the email nearly writes itself.
The exact rate-increase email to send a current client
Send it at a natural reset point — a new campaign, a new quarter, a scope change — and never mid-project. A raise that lands between briefing and delivery reads like a hostage note. One that lands while they're planning the next batch reads like planning.
The wording:
Hi [name] — quick heads-up before we plan the next round.
From [date, ~30 days out], my rate for [deliverable] moves
from $[X] to $[Y]. Everything already booked stays at the
current rate, and so does anything we lock in before [date].
Since we started, [one concrete result — "the hook-test
batch became your top-spending ad," or "you've extended
usage on both spring creatives"]. The new rate reflects
what the work does now.
Happy to map out [next month] whenever you're ready —
turnaround and revisions stay exactly the same.Four things make this work. The date makes it a notice, not a question — a raise phrased as a question gets negotiated; phrased as a date, it gets planned around. Honored bookings remove the panic. The result ties the number to their outcome, not your costs. And the last line answers the quiet fear under every rate email: is this creator about to get harder to work with?
Leave out the apology, the inflation paragraph, and "hope that's okay!" You're not asking.
What to do if they push back or go quiet
Hold the number, flex the scope. If the budget is genuinely capped, cut deliverables — fewer videos, tighter usage terms, no raw files — but don't cut the rate. A discount becomes your permanent price. A smaller package is just a smaller package.
In practice:
- "That's above our budget" — "Understood. At $[their budget], that covers two videos instead of three, or 30-day organic usage instead of 90. Want me to hold your usual slot either way?"
- Silence — follow up once after five to seven days, short and light. It's almost always a buried inbox, not a burned bridge.
- "We'll need to think about it" — fine. The date stands. Keep delivering the booked work flawlessly; nothing argues for the new rate like the work itself.
And if a client walks? Expect some to. Losing the bottom 10–20% is the system working, not failing. If every client instantly accepts every raise, you waited too long and asked too little. The accounts that leave over $25 were consuming your calendar at the worst margin, and their slots refill at the new rate.
How much to raise at once
Up to 10–15% needs no story at all — that's normal market movement, covered by one line of notice. 20–30% is the standard correction for a creator who priced low early; that's the raise you anchor to results with the email above. Past 30% you're not raising, you're repricing — quote the new number to new leads only, and walk existing clients up in two steps instead of one cliff.
Concretely, if your videos are $150:
- $150 to $170 — a one-line heads-up. Nobody blinks.
- $150 to $195 — the full email, tied to a reset point and a result.
- $150 to $250 — new leads hear $250 today; current clients go to $195 now, $250 at the next reset.
One more raise never touches the base rate: scope. Separate creation from usage — base price covers 30 days organic; paid usage and whitelisting are priced on top. That often lifts project totals more than a rate bump, because it charges for the value brands actually extract. Usage rights pricing is the lever most underpriced creators haven't pulled.
Whatever the size, pick a date and send the email. Waiting costs you the gap every single week — and the right moment is just the next reset point on your calendar.
FAQ
How often can I raise rates on the same client?
Once a year without any special reason. Sooner only when scope genuinely changes — more deliverables, broader usage, faster turnarounds. Two market raises inside a year burn trust even when the number is fair.
Do I have to give a reason for the increase?
One line anchoring to results or scope, no more. Skip personal reasons — rent, inflation, "my costs went up." Brand budgets respond to what the work returns, not what your life costs. A justification paragraph is an invitation to debate.
What if I'm mid-retainer when I want to raise?
Honor the term. Retainers reprice at renewal — send the same email 30 days before the renewal date and say the current term is unchanged. Changing a number inside an agreed period is how relationships actually end.
Should my first-ever client keep their old rate forever?
No. Grandfathering feels loyal, but a permanent legacy rate quietly becomes your largest standing discount — usually to one of your biggest buyers. Honor everything booked, give them the longest notice you give anyone, then move them like everyone else.