SimplePractice is raising prices and will shut off commenting on our posts here as we raise our concerns... :(

Watch them turn off the commenting on this post. Here's my email communication with SimplePractice when they announced their rate increases. They've gone silent and haven't responded any further.... Not a great sign.

Sent to SP on Jan 5th:

Just got the email from you all about the price changes going into effect in March 2022. I have to say it seems completely unreasonable to not have a cheaper option than $69/mo to include appointment reminders. I pay $39/mo right now with appointment reminders. This almost doubles my cost. The basic to essential is too big a jump and I have to say I will no longer be a customer of SimplePractice. This is incredibly disappointing since I’ve used SP for years now (at a group practice) and now at my own. And I’ve taken the time to set up my forms and feel like I’ll be losing that work. A slight increase I’d understand… but a $30 increase just to keep appointment reminders is incredibly disappointing.

Response from SimplePractice (very generic reply that's available in all of their published information about these rate changes lol):

I definitely understand where you are coming from here. I want to assure you that your feedback on this feature will be shared with my team as it is most valuable to us in terms of what will work best for you as our customer.

Changing our subscription plans wasn't a decision that was taken lightly. We made the thoughtful choice to give our customers more flexibility to choose plans and features they need, and to better reflect the value created by all the innovative features we've developed, this includes our robust client reminder feature. Which is ultimately why it was decided to go to the premium plan.

Our team carefully researched the best plan options to provide our customers, and the fair rates to charge for them. Our new plans are specially tailored to better fit the different stages of a practitioner’s journey.

We also made this choice to be able to continue to enhance and develop more features for you, and to ensure you’re supported along your journey as a practitioner. We’re continuing to invest heavily not only in product development, but also in our US-based Customer Success team. We’ve also introduced phone support and extended our chat hours to make support even more readily available to our customers.

These subscription enhancements allow us to continue to deliver a level of quality and service that we can be incredibly proud of, while still offering our customers the flexibility they need. You can learn more about the new SimplePractice plans on the Pricing Page to find the best plan for you.

If I can provide any additional information or assistance here, please do not hesitate to let me know. I am here and happy to help in any way that I can.

My Reponse

It would be ideal if the email and/or text reminders could be added as an “add on” for the Starter plan. I don’t personally use most of the extra features being offered in the new Basic plan and the Plus plan. Integrated appointment reminders is one of the only reasons I use an EHR, but I don’t see any value in paying nearly $70/mo just to keep my current provisions on the Essential plan. It feels like way too much of a jump and I’m afraid I’ll need to look into other EHR options that allow client reminders to be an option for the lowest tier membership. I’m frustrated because I like the SimplePractice platform, but I will also say the customer service has been underwhelming in regard to the various feedback points I’ve provided over the years. I don’t feel SimplePractice actually listens and cares enough to accommodate our requests.

I think the new pricing plans are reasonable and I actually love the Starter plan being the very basics that suit my needs, but appointment reminders are critical for any counseling practice, especially since many of us charge a cancellation fee for late cancellations or missed appointments. I’d urge you to bring to your team the possibility of allowing the client reminders to be an add on.

I understand a lot of thought went into these price increases. I shared it with colleagues in the state of Florida (in our various forums) and there are many who share my same perspective and frustrations related to the client reminders only being offered in the $69 and $99 plans. We don’t need customized reminders, but we need reminders. I’d even go as far to say we don’t need text AND email. I’d keep SimplePractice with one of those reminder options.

I appreciate you hearing me out and sending my feedback to your team.

Response Follow-up since they never got back to me:

I wanted to send a brief follow up to add that ‘calendar sync’ is a standard feature in almost every other EHR system. SimplePractice’s new plan options shows calendar sync as being an option for the highest plan at $99/mo. Am I reading this correctly?

The timing of these rate changes feels tone-deaf. Everything is increasing in price right now and a 2 months heads up to the people using your platform doesn’t feel all that generous. It takes a great deal of time to set up our customized forms, import clients, export files, etc. The price increase feels like strong arming a bunch of mental health professionals who likely won’t have the energy to switch EHRs and will simply select a higher cost to keep their practice running and “just deal with it” until they have time to consider other options.

I don’t know what else to say but I’m disappointed in SimplePractice… the EHR I loved so much more than the others when I tried them all out. I cannot continue to support a company who doesn’t listen to its customers nor seem to value the “little guys”. I know I’m not worth much to you guys at $39/month but by attempting to offer more flexibility for customers with these new plan options, you are making it infeasible for many of your existing ones.

SimplePractice is raising prices and will shut off commenting on our posts here as we raise our concerns... :(

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