How to raise SaaS prices without losing customers

Oscar

I visited Dennis yesterday. He says the reminders bring back about five regulars a month. He called GarageDesk “the cheapest employee I've ever had”.

Alex Tutor

Remember his numbers from January: one returned oil change leaves about 700 UAH of margin. Five cars is 3,500 a month, for a 600 subscription.

Nina

And our costs grew. The more reminders shops send, the bigger the SMS bill.

You

Isn't “he'd pay more” just a feeling, though?

Alex Tutor

One owner is a feeling. Here there are three signals together: value several times the price, almost no one objecting to the price when Oscar sells, and none of the eleven shops that left named the price as the reason.

Alex Tutor

Question 1

Which evidence best supports raising GarageDesk's price?

Choose one answerThe founders would like to earn more this yearShops get several times the price in value, rarely object to the price, and nobody leaves because of itA general CRM costs less than GarageDeskOne enthusiastic owner said the product is cheap

Nina

Proposal: from 1 January new shops pay 750 a month, or 7,500 a year.

Alex Tutor

The yearly plan keeps the same logic as before: ten months' price for twelve months. New shops see only the new price, so nobody feels anything was taken from them.

Oscar

And in Khmelnytskyi they've never heard of 600 anyway.

Alex Tutor

Then watch one number for the first months: how many shops Oscar talks to end up paying. If it barely moves at 750, the price was too low. If it drops sharply, you learned something cheaply.

Alex Tutor

Question 2

From 1 January a new shop can pay 750 UAH a month or 7,500 UAH a year. How much does one new yearly shop add to MRR, in UAH?

Your answer

Units: UAH

You

And the 64 shops already on the old price?

Alex Tutor

They took a risk on you early. Five of them prepaid before a line of code existed. Raise their price overnight and you spend that trust.

But keeping 600 forever is a trap too. The old price becomes a legacy plan that never ends: part of the base underpriced for years while the product keeps improving for them.

Nina

So a fixed period. Existing shops keep 600 through all of next year and move to 750 the year after. Yearly shops renew at 6,000 next year too.

Oscar

A whole year of notice. Nobody can say we ambushed them.

Alex Tutor

Question 3

Match each way of handling GarageDesk's price with its main consequence.

Pick an answer for each row. Choosing an answer that is already used moves it to this row.

Raise the price for everyone on 1 January
Choose an answer
New price for new shops; existing ones keep 600 for a year, then 750
Choose an answer
Existing shops keep 600 forever
Choose an answer
Keep 600 for everyone, including new shops
Choose an answer

Oscar

Different topic. A deals website wants to sell GarageDesk as a lifetime deal: a shop pays 9,000 once and uses it forever. They promise a hundred shops.

You

Nine hundred thousand at once. That's tempting.

Alex Tutor

Count it per shop. 9,000 is twelve months at 750. With churn around 5%, an average shop stays about 20 months, so it would bring roughly 750 / 0.05 = 15,000. And every reminder a lifetime shop sends is SMS you pay for, forever.

And who buys on a deals website? Bargain hunters, mostly not your niche. A lifetime deal makes sense only as emergency cash with clear terms. You aren't in an emergency.

Alex Tutor

Question 4

An average GarageDesk shop pays 750 UAH a month and monthly churn is about 5%. Estimate the revenue from one average shop over its lifetime, then subtract the 9,000 UAH one-off lifetime-deal price. How much revenue does GarageDesk give up per lifetime-deal shop, in UAH?

Your answer

Units: UAH

Oscar

Then a free plan for Khmelnytskyi? Shops try it, love it, pay later.

Nina

A free shop still sends reminders. Every SMS costs us money. A free plan here isn't free for us.

Alex Tutor

That's the test for freemium: does a free user cost almost nothing, and do the limits bite exactly when a shop starts getting value? Neither holds for GarageDesk.

If the worry is risk for a new shop, lower the risk instead: money back in the first month if no regular comes back.

Alex Tutor

Question 5

True or false: a free plan would cost GarageDesk almost nothing, because software costs nothing to copy.

TrueFalse

Alex Tutor

Last step: tell existing shops now, in November, before anyone sees 750 on the website.

Oscar

What goes in it?

Alex Tutor

What changes and from when, what stays the same for them and until when, why, and who to call with questions. No apologies, no fine print.

Alex Tutor

Question 6Short answer · AI-checked task

Write GarageDesk's price notice to existing shops (4–6 sentences). It goes out by Viber and email in November.

Write your answer and get a score with feedback from our AI reviewer.

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Alex Tutor

Next time: a franchise with 40 shops wants GarageDesk, on its own terms. What happens when one customer gets too big?

Alex Tutor

That’s the lesson. You answered every task — nicely done.

Next lesson: One customer too big