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Canva recently announced a massive price increase for Teams accounts - if you have 5 people on your team, it’s a 233% price increase.
Ouch.
Needless to say, many Canva Teams users are pissed. You can find countless threads online of users flabbergasted at the change.
Canva is a SaaS product, but there’s a lot you can learn to do and not do from them next time you raise your prices.
WHY IT MATTERS:
Raising prices is a necessary part of business. Your customers will never be excited about it, but how you handle it can be the difference between customers staying, leaving but still willing to recommend you, or leaving and cursing your business every chance they get.
WHAT’S NEXT:
Canva’s Price Increase Story
What You Can Learn From Canva’s Email
Canva’s Missed Opportunities
Raising Prices As Personal Service Providers
Protecting Your Mindset When You Raise Prices
Canva’s Price Increase Story
In case you’re unfamiliar with Canva, it’s a graphic design software that’s been around since 2013 and is loved by many - especially for beginners. It’s known for being simple to use while letting non-techy creatives flourish.
In 2022, they introduced a new subscription plan called Canva Teams, which allows teams to design together and streamline workflows. At its release, it was $150/year for up to 5 users per team.
About a year later, they essentially doubled their price. The Canva Teams plan switched from allowing 5 users in a team to 3 users. If you had 5 users in a team, the new price was $300.
Recently, Canva announced another price increase starting January 23rd, 2025.
What originally started as $150/year for 5 users has become $500/year. If you have 5 users on a team, that’s an eye-watering 233.33% increase from the original price just 2 years ago.
Canva emailed approximately 800,000 Teams users to inform them of the price increase.
If you search online, there’s no shortage of angry articles or social media conversations around this change.
I haven’t seen a public response from Canva, but I can imagine their customer service team’s inbox is not a fun place to be in right now.
What You Can Learn From Canva’s Email
An email announcement like this is tricky to write. Not only do you need to make sure that you share vital information, but you also need to be cognizant of your tone, knowing that people are not going to be happy.
Several things that Canva did really well in its announcement can serve as a preliminary checklist the next time you need to share that you’re raising your prices.
Share why the price increase is happening
Let customers know when the price increase takes effect
Give plenty of notice of the price increase to allow time for customers to make other arrangements if needed
When possible, ease the transition to a new pricing structure, such as a temporary discount
If the price may be different per customer, be clear about what the price is specifically for their situation to avoid confusion
Answer questions ahead of time that you think customers may have
Explain their options and what happens if they decide to switch services within your business or switch to another service provider
Share what, if anything, customers need to do
Make the email brief and easy to read, using bullet points and bolding the most important information
Canva did a great job of communicating the changes, but they fell short in one area: honoring their users.
Canva’s Missed Opportunities
Our businesses don’t exist without our customers. It’s a relationship that should be appreciated and respected.
The outrage that Canva’s users are experiencing is about more than just the price. They’re feeling disillusioned.
Users have spent years investing in Canva. Not just financially but learning, creating, and advocating for them.
“Thank you for your continued support and loyalty throughout the years” does not appropriately acknowledge the investment their users have made in them, nor does it feel genuine.
On top of that, these users are feeling scared and confused about what to do.
Will they raise the price again next year?
This is going to dramatically change my business - how do I pivot?
How do I move all of my designs from Canva to a new software?
When we make dramatic changes to how our businesses, including the price, we have an obligation to help customers adjust, even if it means they can’t stay with us.
Canva has millions of users, so asking them to provide guidance that covers every user isn’t reasonable. However, creating resources for the top two or three scenarios would go far.
The last thing they missed is addressing users not on the Teams plan. Users on other plans have undoubtedly watched the situation unfold for Teams users. It’s created confusion and anxiousness for them, wondering if their prices are going to go up soon, too.
It’s reasonable to expect that the price of other plans will go up, but the unknown is unsettling for a lot of people.
If they’re going to raise the prices across the board, it’s better to rip the band-aid and do it all at once instead of drip-feeding unwelcome news.
Raise Prices As Personal Service Providers
There’s a big difference between a giant company increasing their prices versus a personal service provider that runs the whole thing on their own.
You have a more personal relationship with your customers, so the impact on them is more apparent and felt by you.
Your business is more greatly impacted by customers leaving, especially if they’re angry.
You’re the one directly dealing with the blowback.
So, while there are methods you can adopt from Canva's communication of its price increase, I suggest doing a few things differently.
Acknowledge The Elephant In The Room.
When we raise our prices, we know it can negatively impact our customers. Instead of trying to skirt or avoid it, we should face it head-on.
People often just want to be acknowledged and understood. Approach with compassion and I think you’ll find it takes some of the heat out of the fire.
Be prepared to spend some extra time and attention with customers who need it.
You don’t need to become their therapist, but spending an extra 10 minutes listening makes a big difference.
Create resources to help customers adjust or transition ahead of time.
This could be giving them resources, such as a list of recommendations for other providers, or giving them a copy of helpful information that you’ve collected related to the service you provide.
4. Make offboarding a positive experience.
Customers who leave may not be gone permanently. Or, even if they are, it doesn’t mean that they won’t recommend you. Put as much effort into offboarding your customers as you do onboarding them.
Protecting Your Mindset When You Raise Praises
Even when you feel confident in your offerings, increasing your prices can be a bit nerve-wracking. Not only do you have to manage upset customers, but now you also have to live up to this new price point.
It can really wear on you if you’re not careful.
I wanted to touch on a few things to help you protect your mindset while you’re in this transition period.
Give yourself a lighter week or two.
Create space in your schedule, if possible, to give yourself extra time to respond to customers and to rest your brain as needed.
No one is going to thank you for raising your prices. Brace for impact.
Know that you’ll get upset messages or calls. Consider what you think customers may say and have a plan for handling it.
If you confront the scary thing in your mind before it happens, it won’t be so hard to handle if it does.
Have resources ready for both you and your customers.
Just because some people are upset doesn’t mean you’re wrong to raise your prices.
You’ll have a few customers who complain the loudest, and your brain will be convinced that your services aren’t worth the new price and that everyone will go somewhere else.
Yes, some customers will leave. That will hurt your ego a bit.
Focus on those who stay and show them what a great decision that is.
Things will settle into a new normal
Know that the anxiousness you’re feeling and the frustration some customers may be feeling will pass. Everyone will settle in, and soon, this tough period will just be a blip on everyone’s radar.
THE BIG TAKEAWAY
Raising your prices will upset a few customers, and some will choose to go to another business, but it doesn’t have to result in a catastrophic backlash like you may be envisioning. With thoughtful planning, clear communication, and genuinely showing appreciation and care for your customers, you can minimize customer frustration and the impact on customer retention.