Service businesses and coaching programs often raise their prices when demand reaches a certain point.
That’s not so common in eCom. Instead of raising prices, the brand will just up its volume and look for efficiencies to maintain its margins.
But sometimes, things like inflation force you to raise your prices.
You don’t want to hide this from customers. In fact, you can turn such an announcement into an urgency-driven promo to knock customers off the fence…
And boost customer trust.
Today, we’re looking at an email from Bon Charge that manages to get things right. Let’s dive in…
| Table of Contents |
| About Bon Charge The Email: A Reverse-Discount (aka Price Increase Warning) The Subject Line and Send Name: The Body Copy Takeaways What to Do Next |
About Bon Charge
Bon Charge is a brand that sells science-backed wellness products that help navigate the downsides of the modern world.
It was founded by Andy and Katie Mant in 2017 as more of a sleep-focused brand. The brand’s first product was Blue Light Blocking Glasses to reduce blue light exposure and thus help people fall and stay asleep.
A year later, Bon Charge added other sleep products, like low EMF Red Light Therapy Devices, 100% Black Out Sleep Masks, and Blue Free Lighting.
Soon, growth allowed the brand to branch out into other wellness products. In 2022, they rebranded, striving to be THE leading wellness brand. Sleep and recovery are the focuses, but not only things Bon Charge strives to help with.
At the time of writing, Bon Charge has over 170,000 customers in over 135 countries. Not bad!
Now, let’s see the email…
The Email: A Reverse-Discount (aka a Price Increase Warning)
Bon Charge had a 2-part campaign announcing they’re raising prices.
This is the 2nd email in the series:
Structure is nice and neat. Looks like an email that comes from someone else, albeit in a more formal tone.
Note that some of the copy will be small. I apologize ahead of time if you have to squint.
The Subject Line and Send Name:
This is the second of two emails warning of price increases.
So we have a straightforward subject line to start us off:
This subject line appeals to 2 kinds of people:
- Loyal customers: They’re already gonna buy again, so they may as well do it now. This is less of a “get the next sale” and more of a “force the next sale earlier.”
- “On-the-fence-but-never-bought” readers: Someone who’s on the fence about a purchase might buy to avoid a price increase… even if they have a lingering objection. Assuming the money is worth more than the uncertainty.
Most Bon Charge emails come from the brand, so the send name really grabs attention:
It’s the founder’s name.
Now, sometimes, seeing a random in your inbox may weird you out.
So Bon Charge added that second portion in parenthesis to acquaint the reader immediately.
The Body Copy
Bon Charge doesn’t pay off the subject line right away. Instead, they get the reader thinking about the future:
Now, the customer has something to look forward to. Particularly, the loyal, repeat customer. They’re keeping their eye on the store.
But more importantly, Bon Charge is setting the frame before paying off the subject line with the “bad news”:
You can’t just say “we’re upping our prices.” You have to give a reason. And it can’t be made up.
Bon Charge avoids these mistakes, providing legit and relatable reasons to raise prices.
First, inflation. But they don’t say “inflation” as that’s not tangible. They point out rising materials and freight costs.
Loyal customers can sympathize with Bon Charge, who has worked hard to avoid price increases. So this is quite a good way to drop this news. Good enough to keep customers content.
But Bon Charge also gives a “positive” reason — investments in tech and R&D, maintaining product quality, etc.
So this reiterates that customers have something to look forward to. They’re loyalty stays solid.
However, we have some more good news:
Now, the reader knows how long they have to take advantage of old prices…
And they have a limited-time offer to make purchases even more attractive.
What a way to knock skeptical first-timers off the fence!
It also secures repeat business from customers who were eyeing products they don’t yet own.
We arrive at our CTA:
One last reminder that prices are rising soon.
Love how they say “your favourite products” rather than “Bon Charge” products. Those little touches make it feel more personal.
I also appreciate the CTA copy. “Shop the old pricing” rather than “Shop now” reinforces the urgency a bit more.
I also like that it’s a plain old hyperlink.
We close this email with one last line and a signoff:
Katie offers a sincere thank-you, which makes it feel like you’re buying from her… not a big brand.
I also like the second sentence — encouraging replies helps you collect feedback and improve deliverability.
Finally, Katie signs off with her name and title.
Nice and neat.
Takeaways
Here are some big takeaways:
1. The Copy Mechanics
This one’s all plain text and comes directly from the founder. She’s writing one-to-one, rather than brand-to-crowd.
Even though you know it’s a mass blast, you feel like she’s just telling you “hey, we’re raising our prices, last chance to grab some stuff at the old prices.”
I like how the email justifies the price increase and makes such a justification relatable without just saying “inflation.” They state the business-relevant effects of inflation to make it more tangible to the customer.
And since it’s a price hike email, you can see the urgency throughout. Phrases like “last chance”, “shop the old pricing”, and “until 2nd January 2023” all subtly reinforce the limited-time offer.
I also noticed she’s targeting both never-bought subs and repeat customers.
One line has “if you’ve been considered investing in…” which speaks to people who haven’t bought.
Another says “This will be the last chance to get your favourite…” which speaks to repeat customers (these couldn’t be “favourites” if the customer has never bought yet).
Lastly, an implied CTA and an explicit CTA are used to capture different types of readers. Smart — looks natural and offers more clicking opportunities.
2. The Email Structure
Know the “compliment sandwich” approach to giving criticism?
Here’s how it works:
- Compliment
- Criticism
- Compliment
The idea is that you acknowledge the individual did something well, but that there are areas of improvement… and then making them feel good about their talents again.
It’s so you’re not just saying “wow you’re bad.” Minimizes the chance you come across as “judgy”.
Bon Charge applies this framework to announcing a price increase:
- Good news: New products coming soon
- Bad news: Price increase
- Good news: You still have time… AND a discount available
The good news preframes the rest of the email. The customer is more willing to accept price increases if changes are coming.
Then, they can break the bad news more easily and soothe the pain with more good news (the offer).
As for my classic Email Structure layout, this email is structured as follows:
- New product announcement
- Subject line payoff + justification
- Pitch/offer
- Urgency
- Reply request
3. The Overall Strategy
This was email two in a short campaign warning about price increases.
So the strategy for this specific email was to double down on urgency and catch any customers who may have missed the first one.
In the short term, a price increase warning is an easy opportunity to get urgency-driven sales.
But the larger strategy was to maintain/boost customer trust. Bon Charge is making an effort to help its customers. Customers appreciate warnings like this.
They’ll stick around for the long haul — even through future price increases — because they know the brand has their best interest in mind.
If Bon Charge did nothing, they’d keep pace with inflation but lose revenue by losing customers.
By being transparent, they keep more of those customers as they raise their prices in order to keep growing.
What to Do Next
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- Reach out to me if you want help writing emails like this one.
- Check out Bon Charge all sorts of great wellness products!