How to Escalate Fees Automatically (Annually)
Fee escalation is only available on Professional and Enterprise plans. It is not available on the Essential plan. More information on our plans can be found here.
In This Article:
Effortlessly increase your client's subscription fee each year by adding an annual automatic fee escalation! A scheduled escalation can be added to new subscriptions as well as ongoing subscriptions, and will increase the client's payment each year as long as the subscription remains active.
Here's how to take advantage of this feature:
Adding an annual fee escalation when creating a subscription
1. Select the Subscriptions tab in your sidebar and click Request Payment in the upper right-hand corner of your screen.
2. Enter in the initial subscription information as normal (e.g. Client, Frequency, etc), then click Continue
3. On the second screen under Payment Amount, click the Add a Fee Escalation button:
4. In the Schedule Fee Escalation modal, select the Escalation Type: Set Amount, Percentage, or Consumer Price Index (CPI)
Note: The CPI is pulled directly from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and uses the CPI-U that is two months back/behind the current date. For example, if an escalation takes place in January 2020 the CPI for November 2019 would be used. ( this is because the prior month's CPI rates were not yet available).
Enter the escalation Amount and Start date for the escalation (in MM/YYYY format):
5. Click Done and finish the subscription creation process!
When your client activates the subscription, they will see a message notifying them of the scheduled increase:
After the subscription is activated, your client will also see the increase information when they click into the subscription details:
An email reminder to your client about an impending fee increase will also be sent out on the 20th of the preceding month that the escalation goes into effect. For instance, a client will receive a reminder on September 20th, 2020 for an October 2020 fee increase.
Example email:
Please note that because the client approved the increase as part of activating the subscription, no additional action is required by your client in order for this increase to be applied. Their payment method on file will be charged the increased fee on their next bill date!
Adding a fee escalation to an actively billing subscription
An escalation (or change to one increase/decrease) added to an Active Subscription will require the client's approval before it can take effect. These do require them to have an AdvicePay account set up in order to approve or deny any changes to an escalation since they will be prompted to log in.
1. Find the subscription you wish to adjust and click Edit Subscription from the drop down menu
2. Click the Add a Fee Escalation button
3. In the Schedule Fee Escalation modal, select the Escalation Type: Set Amount, Percentage, or Consumer Price Index (CPI)
Note: The CPI is pulled directly from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and uses the CPI-U that is two months back/behind the current date. For example, if an escalation takes place in January 2020 the CPI for November 2019 would be used. ( this is because the prior month's CPI rates were not yet available).
Enter the escalation Amount and Start date for the escalation (in MM/YYYY format)
4. Click Done and finish the subscription editing process!
Your client will immediately receive an email notifying them of the escalation and asking them to approve the change:
By following the link and logging into their account, your client will see information about the escalation and have the ability to click Accept or Decline:
Once your client clicks Accept, the escalation will be applied in the month/year you determined!
An email reminder to your client about an impending fee increase will also be sent out on the 20th of the preceding month that the escalation goes into effect. For instance, a client will receive a reminder on September 20th, 2020 for an October 2020 fee increase.
If your client clicks Decline, the escalation will not be applied and the subscription will continue billing at its existing amount.
We also have a couple of email settings that can be customized to ensure your client's accept their fee increase prior to the targeted billing cycle.
- The Fee Change Due Soon Reminder can be toggle on to send an email to your clients either 1 day, 3 days, or 7 days before the next bill due date to remind them to accept the fee increase. Default is 3 days.
- The Fee Change Past Due Reminder is toggled on automatically by default to send a reminder to approve any increase fee changes 7 days after the requested date.
📍 To manage, customize, or turn off these reminders, please see this article: Managing Emails Your Clients Receive
👉 Want to manually resend a reminder about a pending fee increase? Here's how! You can also check to see what reminders your client has already received by visiting the Email Log.
If your client clicks Decline, the escalation will not be applied and the subscription will continue billing at its existing amount.