In the new year, there will be an overhaul to how fees and discounts are applied to the services that we offer. If you first read about this on social media and you have come for a more comprehensive look at the ‘why’ behind these decisions then you are in the right place! If you are reading this update for the first time on our website, then I ask that you familiarize yourself with the important changes that will be coming into effect on January 1st.
I know that no one likes price increases… particularly when it comes to services that you are familiar with and have gotten used to for a decent chunk of time. This post is not going to be entirely about price increases, however, as there is a notable discount that will be of interest to anyone reading this as well. But the raising of base treatment fees is primarily what this post will be tackling.
Precision Therapeutics is about to enter its fifth year of business operations (hooray!). Aside from a portion of the client base having travel fees applied to their treatments last year, base prices on service fees have never been altered. I have come to the decision to raise these base prices in 2022 in an effort to keep my business competitive with others in the massage industry, as well as ensure that my business survives in the years to come. The new prices will better reflect the value of services that I offer, as well as bring pricing more in line with industry standards now that we are into the 2020’s!
Base Treatment Pricing:
Back in 2012 when I started the massage program at MacEwen University (College actually back then), the industry pricing for a 60-minute massage treatment was anywhere between $80-100. I can appreciate that this sounds like a big gap, but the majority of businesses were actually between $85-95, so already that gap is cut in half for what the range typically was.
Outside of that middle block of range, you had the low-end and high-end for pricing. Naturally, you would associate the lower rate with:
» less of an experience; minimal effort put forth,
» a new (or even student) therapist without a proven track record,
» or some harsher critics would simply say an inferior service offering.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, you would assume that with a massive 25% increase in pricing comparatively, that those treatments offer something more. This could be:
» more experience from the therapist or business (working with a gambit of different people, all having their own variety of conditions),
» more knowledge (offering comparatively more modalities or techniques),
» or simply just a “better” environment. This could mean a more relaxing spa experience, or perhaps a more physiotherapy-esque approach with a lot of extra special testing before your treatment even began.
My point is that there is always going to be that small range that is really up to the business or individual therapist on what they value their service at (that $85-95 range that I had mentioned). This falls into the accepted industry standard (both from massage businesses as well as insurance companies and benefits providers). But then there are the ones that fall outside of that range and that is where pricing gets tricky…
Because of the assumptions we already touched on, the businesses that always offer lower prices (like $80 or even less) undercut the industry standard and seem cheap. Typically they attract people/clients who prioritize the lower price over what effects they get for their own body’s health. No doubt everyone has their own different financial situations but generally speaking clients who are simply looking for the best deal that they can get and ignore the service that they are getting with it, flop around to many different therapists and businesses. This lack of consistency in treatment, therapist, and general circumstance affects the outcome of treatment both physically and perception-wise. Potentially short-changing the boon of effects you would normally receive with a rock-solid treatment plan. In effect, these much lower prices devalue massage services as a whole.
Counter to the above, the higher range of prices are generally associated with: more, better, higher-quality. They may or may not appropriately reflect the service(s) being offered or the skill at which they are provided, but the overall perception is that these more expensive treatment options are the gold standard option for your body and health. It may even set someone up for the mindset that because the service is pricier, that it will be a magical cure-all after a single treatment. This also devalues the rest of the massage industry because it sends the message that getting massage treatments elsewhere is a disservice to your body. Business-wise I guess you could argue that it is kind of slick, but again: fundamentally it works against the whole massage industry.
Taxes Included or Separate?
Fast forward to when I officially started working at massage clinics in 2015 and the standard pricing was much the same, but the middle range was now simply $90-95 dollars. One thing that we haven’t really hit on yet: in that pricing, some businesses include General Sales Tax (GST) while others do not. Where I first started my career working full-time as a massage therapist pricing was just a shade under $90 for a 60-min massage treatment, but after adding taxes on it was almost $95.
Like any other industry, the pricing of something has a psychological influence as to whether someone feels they are getting good value or not (product or service aside). By not including tax, it seems like a better price. But you also have the pitfall of people being a bit disappointed when they go to pay and find out that the price is actually higher than they were expecting.
When I started my own business, I decided that I wanted GST to be included in my base treatment fees. If you saw that the 60-minute massage treatment was $90 then that is exactly what it would be. No gimmicks and you knew exactly what to expect.
I should also note that when you work for another business/at a clinic you typically have a percentage split with that place. For example, the therapist could make 60 or 65% of the service fee, whereas in those cases the business receives 40 or 35% of the service fee. When I started my own business I wanted to make it as appealing as possible to prospective clients, so I was comfortable setting my standard 60-minute massage treatment rate at a $90 service fee. Again, taxes included.
I wasn’t really thinking about the fact that as my business grew and as time went on, the industry-standard would continue shifting. I was more thinking: I used to work at a place where I made around $56 per hour-long massage treatment. Starting my own business — even though I would be working on fewer people than at a clinic — I knew that I was comfortable at the low end of the industry standard because it was more than I was used to making already on a treatment-to-treatment basis. And like I said earlier, I wanted to be an enticing option to people (new clients) looking for fair and competent in-home massage treatments.
Why Increase Base Service Fees Now?
As stated right at the beginning of this post, Precision Therapeutics is coming up on five years of operating. In that time the industry standard rates have exploded. Here is a very specific example (without naming any names for legal reasons): there is a national chain massage company out there that offers $80 for an initial 60-minute massage treatment, but then subsequent treatments at 60-mins are $110 (plus GST). That’s insane to me. Especially because most of their therapists are either student therapists or therapists who get paid an hourly rate (which does not make for retaining great quality therapists as a business).
Moving away from a national chain, there is an Edmonton-area originating and focused mobile/in-home massage therapy business that charges $120 for 60-min treatments. The biggest difference here is that their travel fees are rolled right into the service fee pricing, they are not separate. But also their GST is not included. That makes their actual fee $126 for the hour. I say good for them; they chose their price and are using that foundation to build their mobile business.
Most of the other therapists that I went to school with at Grant MacEwan have since started their own great massage businesses around the city or even in other provinces. Some of them are like me and still have $90-95 base treatment fees for a 60-min massage treatment, but most of them are in the $100-110 range (and a handful higher still).
Across the massage industry (and similarly other disciplines such as Acupuncture, Osteopathy, Rolfing, etc.) the standard service fee has gone up… I have gone through as many Edmonton-specific massage businesses as I could find online, and have determined that this range is now $95-120. This is a bigger range than when I even started my schooling. But the low- and high-ends are much the same as I outlined earlier. This includes:
» the perception of those treatments,
» the environment provided,
» the knowledge of the therapist providing the treatment,
» as well as what insurance companies have deemed is “appropriate” to pay for a 60-minute massage therapy treatment.
Complimentary Modalities:
Beyond all of that, there are also additional complementary modalities that are frequently offered with massage treatments. Things like cupping therapy, hot stone massage, rapid release, etc. etc. These are either offered by businesses as individual therapy options (for example 60-minute hot stone massage) for a larger price than a standard 60-minute massage treatment. To use a business that I used to work for as an example: they now charge $95 for a 60-min massage (GST not included), or $120 for the same length but featuring hot-stone or myofascial cupping as well.
I don’t begrudge businesses/therapists for charging more for a different modality… but personally, I think of it simply as I am charging X amount for X amount of time. This is the time that I will dedicate to helping that client’s body improve, and as such the length of time is what I base the service fee on. I will do whichever modalities will help to reach that goal (assuming the client also agrees with receiving them – for example, cupping). I don’t need to charge more for those extra complementary modalities because they also take time away from my primary focus: massage therapy in general.
Current Industry Standard Base Treatment Fees:
As stated a few paragraphs ago, I have identified that the current industry standard for 60-min massage treatments is now $95-120. I want to be clear that I am exclusively talking about massage therapy only. I am not including massages that also have an option for cupping or hot stone like the last example that I used. If you go around looking for 60-min massages that incorporate cupping you can find a range of $115-155! Again, I won’t begrudge another therapist or business charging what they would like… but for me, I want to make it clear that my breakdown for an industry-standard 60-min massage service fee does not include these complementary therapy options as well.
Within the next year or two as most other businesses realize that they are lagging behind the industry (as I am here), expect the floor for this number to go from $95 up to $100. There is no question that this will happen, it is a certainty. I would currently identify that $100-110 is the new normal/sweet spot range for service fees.
You will definitely still be able to find businesses that have my current 2017-2021 $90 rate for a 60-min treatment. You will also definitely find businesses that have the $80 rate for a 60-min treatment (from over a decade ago). The primary reason for this is people do not want to increase their prices and risk upsetting their current client base, OR they have become complacent and have no desire to continue expanding their business into the future. That isn’t meant to be a knock, by the way. They are just on the downward swing of their careers and their businesses’ life span, and no longer care about keeping up with the rest of the industry (specifically on pricing). This sounds maybe a bit harsh, but it can only be one reason or the other.
Much like we talked about early on in this post, either reason to keep a very low rate just undercuts the industry and devalues massage therapy as a whole. I imagine that at least one person reading this will think: it doesn’t matter quite as much because those businesses (as just highlighted, that are either afraid of losing clients or are on the downswing) have had the same client base for many, many years and it is a fairly stable closed-loop, right? Well, I would argue that this is not actually the case because when that business does eventually close, or those therapists stop working and now their clients need to look elsewhere… their client base is in for a rude awakening. This may be nice during that time (more affordable services) but in the long run, this is a disservice from the business that they were patrons of.
All of this doesn’t even touch on the fact that the prices for linens, oils, lotions, extra bolsters, gasoline, commercial rent, etc. have also increased in pricing as inflation tends to do; but I feel like this post is kind of getting away from me a bit, so let’s dive into what the new service fees will be!
What Base Treatment Fees are Increasing to:
**Starting January 01, 2022 — GST included, as always**
» 60-minute (1 hour) massage treatment’s will be $105
» 75-minute massage treatment’s will be $125
» 90-minute massage treatment’s will be $145
» 120-minute (2 hour) massage treatment’s will be $185
There are also two shorter treatment options, but they are more meant for children/infants. You won’t see them as a bookable option on the online schedule, but I have decided that I will offer these to any person coming to my south-central clinic space (on Wednesdays). You just have to contact me to discuss if this is the appropriate length of time for you.
» 30-minute massage treatment’s will be $65
» 45-minute massage treatment’s will be $85
I have intentionally not tried to max out my pricing, although to be honest I do feel my treatments are more than worth it. I also have not gone for the floor of the industry-standard pricing because I don’t want to be changing prices every year or two. I just feel there is a better or even balanced approach to be taken here. One that allows me to be competitive within the industry, better reflects what services I offer, and helps to grow this business as the years tick on by.
Permanent Birthday Discount:
As mentioned at the start of this post, I would like to announce another discount coming into effect at the start of next year. I will now be offering $10 off of any length of treatment for a client who gets a massage on or around their birthday. Specifically within 7-days before or afterwards. That is a two-week window for the discount to be applied.
When I started Precision Therapeutics, quite a few of the clients that I had been working on for a couple of years decided to come along for the journey. I can remember giving people 30 extra minutes of treatment time at no charge when their birthday rolled around because I felt like I wanted to thank them for supporting my business, as well as celebrate another successful trip around the sun. I stopped doing that at some point within the first year but find now that I miss that little celebration with them.
So again: $10 will be discounted off of treatments anytime within that two-week period. If you really wanted to, that could also mean getting a treatment a week before and a week after your birthday, receiving the discount twice.
Just like that, now there are three types of discounts offered year-round:
» $10 off of your treatment for brand new clients
» $5 off per-person for back-to-back/same household mobile treatments
» and now, $10 off of any treatment a week before or after your birthday
This post ended up longer than I wanted it to be, but I hope that it was insightful to the workings of the business end of the massage industry. Thank you for taking the time to read through it. As always don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions about what you read. Enjoy the rest of 2021 folks!
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