When (And How) to Adjust your Freelance Pricing

During uncertain times or simply throughout the regular business cycle, you’ll have to make pricing adjustments to keep up with demand and keep your freelance business running smoothly.

But when exactly should you raise your rates? And how can you adjust your pricing in a way that makes sense for your business and your clients? 

Here are a few scenarios when it may be time to refresh your pricing. Plus, a few simple pricing adjustments you can make to increase your revenue.

When demand is high

Every freelancer’s dream scenario: You’ve got a full client roster yet you’re consistently getting new client inquiries. When you’re at capacity, this is the perfect opportunity to raise your prices and consider expanding your team to support the workload. 

If you want to bring on a teammate to help with the additional work, then increase the price so that it reflects the value of a team rather than a solo freelancer. Or, you can increase your pricing with clients on your waitlist to emphasize the demand and let them know that if they want to work with you sooner, then this is your price. Either way, when you’re in demand, your pricing should increase to meet that demand.

When you don’t receive pricing pushback

A good sign that it’s time to raise your rates is when the last few clients you’ve sent proposals to don’t question anything about your price. While it seems counterintuitive and you may be thinking, “But they accepted my rate! Isn’t that a good thing?” …it could also mean that you aren’t charging enough. 

When clients don’t blink an eye at your pricing, that could mean what you proposed is exactly what they have the budget for — or it could mean that they were expecting to pay more but were pleasantly surprised when you came in lower. A little pushback is a good thing, and it offers an opportunity for you to communicate the value you’re providing and how it’s reflected in your price. 

To make sure your pricing is in line with the industry, compare your pricing with what others are charging by checking out our peer-sourced scope of work templates.

When it’s been a while since you’ve raised your rates

To grow your business, you need to steadily increase your pricing over time. If you haven’t adjusted your pricing in a year or more, it’s definitely time to revisit your rates. With each client or project you take on, you become even more of an expert than you were before. Over time, your pricing needs to reflect that expertise.

When you’ve changed your packages

Have you adjusted your packages lately? Did you recently learn a new skill and want to offer that as a new service? Then it’s time to revisit your rates. 

If you’ve added services to your current packages or if you’ve streamlined your services, refresh your pricing. You know that you offer value, so price accordingly.

Here are a few simple pricing adjustments to help increase your revenue:

Review recent scopes and deliverables to find overlooked services

Meetings, kick-off calls, and audits are commonly overlooked services that you should be charging for. Review your last 3-5 proposals to see if you can break down the onboarding phase into separate deliverables and adjust the pricing for each one, e.g., “kick-off call for $100” or “audit existing materials for $600.” You may realize you were doing some of these things for free — which means you were leaving money on the table.

Expand offerings

Another way to adjust your prices is to expand (or better communicate) the value you provide to clients. For instance, if you want to increase the prices of your design packages, include an extra service or two — like an additional 1:1 call — in the higher-level packages to generate more value. The key is to expand with an offering that is valuable for the client but also a light lift for you.

Communicate value

If you aren’t already structuring your pricing based on the value you provide, then now is the time to have that conversation with your clients. With value-based pricing, you can confidently raise your rates and ultimately increase your revenue knowing that the work you’re creating is valuable to your client’s bottom line.