Price Increase Announcement
A price increase announcement tells the reader, before the decision is made, that the number in front of them is about to become a bigger number.
Definition
What it does
The copy names the price the reader is looking at, then signals the higher price that replaces it, sometimes with the exact figure and sometimes just as a coming rise, often tied to a trigger that flips the switch: a date, a batch of seats, a set number of sales, a public launch. Nothing is withdrawn. The offer stays open and the product stays available. What changes is the number. The reader stops deciding whether to buy and starts deciding which of two prices to pay. The announcement usually arrives late, after the case for the product has been made.
Why it works
Waiting no longer costs the reader nothing. It costs a specific amount of money, and a loss you can count is easier to feel than a benefit you have to imagine. The move also puts an edge on an open decision, which is where most purchases stall: there is now a before and an after. A named future number is checkable, which makes it read as information rather than pressure. And the seller gets to push without taking anything away, since the product is still there at the new price.
Where it appears
* Most frequent first, based on materials selected for the Persuasion Taxonomy corpus.
Examples of Price Increase Announcement
“I am sure it must be advanced, and those who delay must expect it.”
A motor car maker tells readers the current price cannot be held and that anyone who waits should count on paying more.
Why it’s this techniqueThe line announces a coming price rise without naming a date or a number. 'I am sure it must be advanced' states the increase as settled fact rather than a threat the seller controls, and 'those who delay must expect it' assigns the cost of waiting to the reader instead of the company. The structural tell is that the deadline sits on the price itself, not on stock running out or an offer closing, so the penalty for hesitating is a permanently higher figure. A quality claim rides alongside, but the sentence that moves the reader is the one that puts today's price on notice.
Classification
- Primary technique
- PT-CPL-9214
- Classification confidence
- 0.72
- Source
- Reo, 1920s print ad (attributed)
“an introductory offer price of only $9.95 (THE REGULAR PRICE WILL SOON BE $ 19.95)”
A mailed diet offer sets an introductory figure against the standard figure that will replace it shortly.
Why it’s this techniqueThe copy prices the offer as temporary and names the number that replaces it: 'an introductory offer price of only $9.95' stands against 'THE REGULAR PRICE WILL SOON BE $ 19.95'. Stating the higher figure as already scheduled turns waiting into a cash penalty about the size of the purchase itself. The tell is that both numbers appear together, with the future one capitalized and 'SOON' fixing its arrival, while nothing claims stock is running out, so the pressure sits on the price rather than on supply. The drawer line answers the reader who feels no need yet, but the reason to act is the number that changes.
Classification
- Primary technique
- PT-CPL-9214
- Classification confidence
- 0.86
- Source
- Bernard Gittelson, 1970s direct mail (attributed)
“The complete Belize Country Kit can be purchased right now, as part of this special offer, for just $119 plus shipping and handling. In the future, this kit will sell for $139.”
An overseas property information kit is offered at a current figure alongside the standing figure it will carry later.
Why it’s this techniqueThe copy fixes today's number, 'for just $119 plus shipping and handling', then names the seller's own future number, 'this kit will sell for $139', so the reader prices the delay rather than the product. The tell is tense and ownership: the higher figure sits ahead of the purchase, introduced by 'In the future', and belongs to this seller's own schedule, not a competitor's price or a crossed out list figure, which turns the gap into a decision about when to buy. Though 'limited-time' reads as a deadline, the pressure comes from the announced rise; the clock only carries it.
Classification
- Primary technique
- PT-CPL-9214
- Classification confidence
- 0.88
- Source
- International Living, 2000s email
“Starting price=$1.00 Price increases by $0.10 every sale”
A forum offer states an opening figure and the fixed amount the price climbs with each order placed.
Why it’s this technique'Starting price=$1.00' fixes a number the reader can still pay, and 'Price increases by $0.10 every sale' turns every purchase made by someone else into money out of the reader's pocket, so delay carries a stated dollar cost rather than a vague one. The tell is the published rule: a fixed step, a named trigger, and a direction that only goes up, which is a schedule rather than a countdown clock or a limited stock count. The closing push to buy now borrows its force from that schedule, since the copy gives no reason to hurry except the climbing number itself.
Classification
- Primary technique
- PT-CPL-9214
- Classification confidence
- 0.93
- Source
- Jackson Soo, 2010s web page
“With membership pricing increasing later this year”
A luxury travel club page frames the moment to join around a pricing change coming later in the year.
Why it’s this techniqueThe clause puts a cost change on the calendar: 'membership pricing increasing' names the direction, and 'later this year' fixes a horizon, so the current rate is recast as a rate with an expiry the reader can still beat. The structural tell is that the thing scheduled to change is the price itself, not stock, not a bonus, and not an offer window, so the cost of waiting is stated in money rather than in missed access. Urgency rides along in 'now is the best time to join', but that line only carries weight because the announced increase supplies the number behind it.
Classification
- Primary technique
- PT-CPL-9214
- Classification confidence
- 0.90
- Source
- Inspirato, 2020s web page
“Early bird pricing for Monetize Your Magic ends tonight. $997 becomes $1,497 at midnight.”
A coaching program email gives the exact hour at which the early figure is replaced by the higher one.
Why it’s this techniqueThe copy names both numbers and the hour they change: '$997 becomes $1,497 at midnight.' Stating the future price in full converts an abstract deadline into a measurable cost of waiting, and the reader prices delay at five hundred dollars. The structural tell is the verb 'becomes,' which asserts the increase as a scheduled fact rather than a limited quantity or a closing door, so nothing is running out and nothing is being withdrawn. Only the number moves. A closing window urgency beat shares the 'ends tonight' clock, but the sentence the copy is built on is the one carrying the new price.
Classification
- Primary technique
- PT-CPL-9214
- Classification confidence
- 0.87
- Source
- Being Amy, 2020s email
See whether your own copy uses Price Increase Announcement, and what else it is doing: analyze your copy.
Boundary Conditions
When it lands
- Both numbers are stated, the one now and the one coming, so the reader can check the claim instead of taking it on faith.
- The reason for the rise is plain and outside the sale: a launch window closing, a run of seats gone, a cost the seller has absorbed until now.
- The seller has raised prices before and buyers remember it, so the notice reads as a schedule rather than a threat.
- The gap between the two prices is large enough to matter and small enough to be believable.
When it dilutes
- The rise is left vague, with no number, no date, and no trigger, so it reads as a stock phrase rather than a fact.
- The stated moment passes and the old price is still sitting there, which teaches the audience that waiting is free.
- It is stacked on top of stock warnings, closing warnings, and expiring bonuses until no single claim carries weight.
- It arrives before the reader wants the thing, so a rising price on an unwanted offer is simply news about somebody else's business.
Taxonomic Relationships
Provenance
- Robert B. Cialdini, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (1984), the scarcity chapter on how a shrinking opportunity is weighed as a loss.
- Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk, Econometrica (1979), on losses looming larger than equivalent gains.
- Dan S. Kennedy, The Ultimate Sales Letter (1990), on price deadlines and the mechanics of a stated, enforced offer expiry.