Guide to Price Increases for Pet Care Businesses

The Rule of 3

2023 was a doozy for most pet boarding and dog daycare business owners.  We have continued to see the price of everything increase: from labor cost to borrowing money, to water/gas/electricity down and insurance. 

As you look at your Year-to-date numbers for 2023, you should have a strategy to make sure that you are hitting your revenue goals and planning on how 2024 will be your pet care business’s most profitable year yet.

What gets measured gets managed so if you are running a boarding and daycare facility you 100% need to know your KPI (key performance metrics) for both daycare and boarding.  Having the right Dog Boarding Software and/or Dog Daycare software is going to make all the difference in your ability to look at performance.  

If you haven’t evaluated Dog Boarding Software and/or Dog Daycare software in the past 12 months, then the beginning of 2024 is the right time to do that.  Be sure to demo at least 2 Dog Boarding Software programs and find out which is the best dog boarding and/or dog daycare software that is right for you. 

What is the Rule of 3?

This article is for Doggie Daycare and Boarding Facilities, but can also be applied to Pet Groomers.  For prices increase we are going to look at the rule of 3 to improve the profitability of your pet care facility.

What we are going to learn:

  1. Storytelling is critical for your price increases
  2. The best options to provide to customers to “lock-in rates” & improve your cash flow
  3. Having a communication & implementation strategy and why timing is critical to the success of a price increase

Storytelling: Share the “WHY”, the “WHAT”, the “HOW”, and the “WHEN” behind your price increase

The idea of price increases can sometimes be hard for a business owner to swallow.  They love their customers and want what is best for them and many of us provide that value and sacrifice ourselves to keep pet parents happy.  But it doesn’t have to be that way.  When you have an action plan for a successful price increase, you will find that most clients are happy to pay 10%-20% more for the services you provide when they know the “why” behind it. 

The WHY

2023 saw a huge increase in our expenses to run a business.  To keep great staff and keep up with the ever-increasing wages we need to find ways to pay our people more.  

Everything from water to insurance has seen a significant jump in 2023.  The cost of providing the highest quality of care and maintaining a beautiful facility can’t be postponed.  it has to be now. 

Pet care services are not as price-sensitive as other essential things pet parents purchase (like dog food, toys, and treats).  When you provide high-quality pet care, you form strong relationships of trust and love with each of your clients, and believe it or not, MOST of them want you to be successful and to live a great life doing what you love.   

The WHAT

Customers and staff want to be part of a business that is up to great things.  As a business owner, you should always look to the future to find new ways to improve the business, process, policies, and facilities that serve your pet people.  

Sharing your vision and plans for the next 12 to 24 months will get customers & staff engaged and rallying behind your business.  It will generate more ideas for becoming better and can also help you see things from different perspectives vs doing it all on your own.

The HOW

This messaging should focus on how you are going to re-invest the funds from the price increase.  How are you going to continue to improve the business, the staff, and the customer experience?  

How are you investing in your people through continued education and promotion tracks? If you can generate some extra cash, what type of investments would you make into the facility? 

I’m a big fan of sharing goals across the team and customer base.  If we raise “$x” from enrichment add-ons that money will go to a new “Y” (splash pad, paint job, remodel of lobby, retail area, new training staff, better grooming tools, etc..)

The WHEN

The timing of when prices are going to increase is going to be critical for clients to “feel good” about what is coming.  You need to provide enough time for your pet parents to save up for a larger package to lock-in rates and you need to make sure you communicate across several different platforms and let them know what to expect and when. 

This is where it becomes critical for your dog boarding software or dog daycare software to have a simple and easy-to-use communication process.  The deliverability and open rates of text messages are much higher than email marketing.  Your dog daycare software and dog boarding software should have an unlimited two-way text message plan that allows you to send out mass messages to pet parents and makes it easy for them to respond to your call to action.  

Ideally, your pet care software will allow pet parents to provide a link to purchase a package on their own, but if not, you can always allow them to just respond with the package name of what they want and charge their card on file. 

Lock In 2023 Prices: Package Offerings

If you are raising rates and want to generate some end-of-the-year cash flow and make it “fair” for customers who are on a tighter budget, then offering packages for Boarding, Daycare & Enrichment can be a WIN/WIN.  Your dog boarding and dog daycare software should have an automated way to track these details. 

Boarding and daycare packages that are larger than your typical packages give the customer the ability to pledge their loyalty to your business and save a little cash in doing so.  For the business owner, it provides great cash flow for projects and ensures you will have higher retention in 2024. 

Dog Daycare Packages

In addition to your normal package quantities, I recommend that you create special packages within your dog daycare and boarding software that give pet parents the ability to lock in their rates for longer periods of time. Do not give another large discount on these packages, but instead, honor the daily rate of your 20 or 30-day package for the 50 or 100 days. 

50 Daycare Days with a 180-day expiration 

100 Daycare Days with a 360-day expiration 

Boarding Packages

Here Boarding packages combined with a price increase can generate a significant amount of revenue.  In January a client that was using Kennel Connection Cloud was able to generate over $18,000 in boarding package sales (non-discounted rates) in 24 hours. 

Dog Boarding packages are a bit different than Daycare because they are not consumed as quickly and you can’t really generate demand for someone to board their dog like you can for dog daycare.  Because of this, you will want to make sure your boarding packages have a 1-year expiration date.  To serve the pet parents who only book 1x per year, but also the parents who travel frequently I recommend having dog boarding packages that range from 10-night packs to 100-night packs.  Again, I do not recommend providing any type of discount as they are already getting a discounted rate from your new rates. 

Enrichment Packages

If you haven’t discovered how Enrichment services that focus on near zero labor can improve profitability, staff job satisfaction, and dog behavior; then read THIS article on Enrichment and how to build an Enrichment program that delivers the results you want. I like to see the pricing for enrichment anywhere from $4 to $8 per service.

Here are the most common Enrichment services, which can be used for Dog Daycare, Dog Boarding, and even Pet Grooming businesses.  I think creating packages that have 10 counts, 25 counts, 50 counts, and 100 counts should cover the majority of clients who value the service. 

Customer Communication Plan – Get Creative & Utilize Your Dog Daycare Software / Dog Boarding Software

Customers Want to Support Your Business and Staff and Love You For All You Do

One of the key factors in having a successful price increase is timing.  If possible, I like to give clients 90 day’s notice that a price increase is coming.  This allows them to plan for savings or even make a payment plan on one of your larger packages. 

Front Desk Flyer & White Board

Have a flyer or whiteboard at your front desk so all the pet parents who drop off and pick up know what is coming and how they can lock in their rates.  You can pick up a cool easel chalkboard at Michaels or Hobby Lobby. If you are going to create your own flyers that are hand-outs, I would highly recommend customizing a design that is branded using Canva.

Mass Text Message

Giving customers as much advanced notice is key in helping them plan to purchase a larger package.  Send a mass text message to all clients announcing the price increase (with the story) and make it easy for them to purchase packages through your website.  This should be functionality that is enabled in your dog daycare software and/or dog boarding software. 

Mass Email Message

For businesses that haven’t done a great job at getting cell numbers, be sure to also send your story and announcement of the price increase via an email blast.  If your current dog daycare software and/or dog boarding software doesn’t offer this functionality you can always use a tool like Mailchimp which makes it easy to create beautiful emails. 

Recap of Price Increases for Pet Care Businesses

  1. Follow the Rule of 3
  2. Do NOT increase prices by just $1 or $2.  Make it significant so consider a $5/service increase
  3. Create Special Packages so clients can “lock in” lower rates for 2024
  4. Communication is key
  5. Remember that you are worth every penny of service you provide

Every pet care business owner should be doing an annual price increase.  It is best to have the increase at the same time every year so clients are trained to expect the announcement in October of each year.  Finding the best dog daycare software and/or dog boarding software is key to a successful implementation.  Kennel Connection has a new cloud pet care software that makes communication, package tracking, and delivering enrichment easy.  It also provides amazing reporting tools so you can measure the success and easily see the profit increase in 2024. If you want to learn more you can talk with an expert by clicking below:

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