Just as the title says, we’ve been thinking/planning on a $2 price raise for a while now. Last time we raised the price was Aug 2019, or almost 5 years ago.
A monthly subscription would go from $19.95-> $21.99.
A yearly subscription would go from $189 → 209.99. On a per month basis that’s $15.75 → $17.50 (+$1.75/month). So a little less than $2/month.
A lot has happened in the last 5 years. I want to talk about inflation and improvements to TrainerRoad.
Inflation
If we kept up with inflation, TrainerRoad would be priced at $24.47/month. Meaning the $2 price increase we’re asking for is half of what inflation is.
If you put it in spending power terms, the $19.99 we charged in Aug 2019 is now $16.33.
TrainerRoad Improvements
We’ve added a lot of extra value since Aug 2019.
Including:
Adaptive Training
AI FTP Detection
Red Light Green Light
Workout Levels
Plan Builder
TrainNow
Outside workouts Wahoo, Apple Watch, Hammerhead
Run sync and analysis
All new cycling and triathlon training plans
Master’s training plans
Polarized training plans
And over 2,000 additional workouts
We think it’s fair for us to change $2 more a month if you consider that it’s less than half of what inflation is AND we’ve added a ton of extra value to the platform in that time.
We’re going to do the same opt-out with athletes that have legacy pricing that we did last year. We hope that the combination of inflation + new features is enough to persuade those people, but they will be able to opt-out and choose their legacy price or a 15% continual discount. *We’re not going to do this part.
Those with legacy pricing who chose a 15% discount last time would be priced at $18.69 (or the yearly 15% discount equivalent).
I know no one likes a price increase, but this $2/month increase really helps us continue to build great features that make cyclists faster.
I wanted to let the forum give their opinion on whether this is fair or not or if they had any other thoughts before we made our final decision. Thanks everyone!
Edit
To clarify:
If you are currently on $19.95/ month or $189/ year your price would change to $21.99 or $209.99, respectively.
If you opted for 15% off the current price your price will increase, but still be 15% off.
If you elected to stay on legacy last year, your price will not change.
One thing I have learned over the years in business is to never ask for a price increase…you just do it. Few customers will ever willingly agree to pay more and by opening it up for discussion, it creates friction.
It is best done with a clear explanation of why and any additional justification to support the increase.
You will always get objections and complaints, but you just take the lumps once and move on…a discussion only prolongs the pain.
Anybody expecting to always pay the same price for a good or service is not being realistic…prices go up all the time across all goods.
Testing my memory, but I think part of that outcry you mention was that it went against the prior price increase that included the option to “lock in” the lifetime price prior to the increase. Sort of a different case there since you set a precedent that bucked the trend that is more common per Power’s comment (i.e. price increase just happens).
Regardless of announcement or asking if people are OK with it, negative comments are inevitable. Only takes a look at the recent Z price increase (7 years delayed) to see the pitchforks and torches pulled out in that case (despite their rationale & logic also shared). And pretty much the same for other services like Netflix, Max, etc.
I’m in… TR is great. I know expenses have increased for both the company and employees over those 5 years. Hopefully some of this increase will also go into increasing worker salaries and benefits as well?
I love TR and the community. At the same time, the lock was a big part of me staying loyal and never trying anything else. I won’t argue that the price raise isn’t a fair thing to ask for, I will say personally that I work at a tech startup and I make the same amount of money as I did in 2018. (Still struggling)
I appreciate your concern for your customers…most business leaders don’t. But as Chad noted, the outcry was (as I recall it) about longtime users thinking they had “locked in” at a given rate and then being told that those prices may change. No one has ever said that the current monthly / yearly rates are locked in and never subject to change.
Exactly…everyone always screams and yells, but very few ever follow through on cancelling their memberships. My understanding is that there was very little subscription loss following the Zwift price increase.
Yeah, if you make a good product, not that many people (let alone cyclists who tend be on the higher end of things) are really going to quit. We all want to pay less though if we can.
In my work, I focus on producing value for the customer rather than getting into arguments justifying it.
I’d be good with the increase. I’ll say the same thing I said to Zwift: a small discount for riders within a single household would be appreciated. My wife and I each use TR. TR hasn’t been the only app we use. We dropped Zwift because it got to be more than we were willing to pay for software that we thought to be stale. We’re both happy stay subscribed year round too.
You provide a great product, charge what it takes to support it. You’ve brought out a ton in the last year or 2 and it’s justified if it means you can continue to support it. Most people will probably agree. Hard to listen to people complain over $2/month from their $5+k bikes!
I’ll pay the $2 if you promise to keep the lip sweater
So no price increase for 5 years and a host of useful functionality delivered in the same time frame….
The process works, the platform is getting more articulate and the science more refined with the AI ftp becoming so accurate I don’t bother with the ramp test.
The YouTube content seems to have reduced, or is that just me?
The other side of the discussion is the possible impact on the continuing development of the business? Take that aspect further, employee retention gets harder, continuity and intimate knowledge is lost. Pay rises are a pillar of retention.
And if it keeps “investors” away, so much better for the owners . Having no one on your shoulder providing “insights” is something to be treasured . Just sayin. …
As others noted above, forge ahead, message it best you can, and equip your sales and customer support teams to handle the inevitable complaints.
Don’t mention inflation in your message though - focus 100% on the investments you’ve made in delivering tons of additional value, and your track record in doing so over last 5 years and if at least part of the motivation in raising the price is to make the next 5 years look similar, say that the price increase will help make that possible.
I quit Strava when they raised prices as the product seemed stagnant, and about once a year I do a trial with Zwift but never convert to paid as it seems to be the same as I remember it from five years ago. I’d always prefer to pay less but you sure make it easier to accept a price increase vs. some peers.
I am having trouble understanding, didn’t prices go up in 2023?
For those legacy users that did not keep their legacy pricing or any discounts in 2023, will the prices go up again or will there be an option to keep pricing as is?
I’m not currently a user, so I’m not sure it makes a difference. Well, I am paying for my GF’s subscription though.
But I never paid attention to the price changes, I assumed it did. I assumed any time in the past that I canceled that I would potentially be paying a higher rate in the future. A $2 price difference probably wouldn’t have changed my opinion to sign up.
On the other hand, very few if any of the last several years improvements were of interest to me, personally. No value added for me. I guess workout levels maybe, but really the only thing of value is thr workout library since I lack all creativity.
Similar story, no real interest in the last several years of TR improvements.
Mostly out of laziness, 3 weeks ago I paid $52 for a year of Join. Because it a) outputs workouts for Garmin with both power & cadence targets, b) suggests workouts that look like what my coach would give (not his custom plans for me, but the actual workouts).
Have no idea what it does with my strength workouts, but it happily accepts them and asks for RPE rating. And like Garmin, I mostly feed it my own cycling/strength workouts & group rides. Both Join/Garmin auto-detect the primary benefit of the cycling workout (Garmin does a better job). I’m seeing gains in fitness, and Join/Garmin claim to see gains in fitness.
Last 3 months I’m focused on strength first, and I’m fully onboard with paying about $50/year for a library of workouts, and a coaching engine that reviews all my workouts and reminds me to schedule in certain workouts. Garmin is pretty close but workout recommendations insist on using auto-detected ftp and I can’t override it.
Right or wrong, that is the bar I’ve set for TR, both in terms of missing features and pricing.
And pretty much the same for other services like Netflix, Max, etc.