If you are a host that supplies an array of packages from cheap, basic hosting to more expensive business or ecommerce hosting do you find that customers that chose the smallest package seem to piss and moan about everything and get down right nasty and customers choosing more expensive packages are very curtious and work through any problems if there are any??

Just wondering if anyone else gets a feel for this??

All of our packages are approximately of equal popularity, but, say, a client on the standard plan wishes for a few more POP Accounts, or another MySQL database for his latest PHP script, then we just add these features to their account at no cost... and makes the clients happy too.

Matt

I am just saying with every host no matter how good they are, there is going to be a little down time whether it is a reboot (most of the time) or maintenace, the people paying more seem to understand the required maintenance a server requires where as a customer with smaller plans or costs is a lot less understanding.

Some of the less expensive packages get the "something for nothing" crowd... the people that sometimes arent happy with what you provide at your price, and like to notify you that X company has it for .50 cents cheaper.

We had a reseller one time that moved to another hosting company because they provided the service a dollar cheaper , but they didnt provide a control panel! Then a few weeks later he went out of business!


-- Brad

THat's why I don't have cheap accounts and don't target the el cheapo market. They jump from host to host so quick and couldn't give a damn about anything / anyone.

I find the mid range people are best because they are a lot better to have as customers. I don't charge the earth nor am I the cheapest in the world, just in between the two and all my customers are great :)

Cheers,
Nigel

The main difference between our plans is the amount of disk space, bandwidth and POP3's. All the other features are about the same across all plans.

I think many customers who go for the starter level plans are just getting into web development and simply don't understand what is really involved. Setting up E-commerce (shopping cart, merchant account etc) is usually the stickiest point. Some people seem to think that you just "throw" your products up to the server and by magic web pages with quantity and "Add to Cart" buttons suddenly appear. When they are told they need to code HTML forms they get into a fluster.

As for added features, IMO there's nothing wrong in charging a modest fee for seting up or adding a non-standard feature or function to a server. Depends what the request is of course but if the customer is asking for a custom service there's nothing wrong in charging for it.

The main visible difference with my two accounts is the space and traffic but you don't get a mysql, asp, ssl etc with the lower package. Sure it costs the same to host each type of site but it's a perceived value thing. I get customers upgrading their accounts from standard to premium often because of the way the accounts are structured.

Cheers,
Nigel

No doubt about it. Not just in this business, but in others across the board. Generally I've found that your worst customers are also more likely to go for low end products. Then they complain, groan and moan. So in order to please your customer, you give away the store and they wind up paying less and getting more than your mid and high end customers.

Let'm go. They aren't worth the headache. I do not hesitate to tell a customer "No".

Everyone is out to save a dollar. Me personally if i paid for the cheapest plan, i would definately not run a business off of it. It amazes me that customer run businesses off the cheaps plans out there and they get really pissed if one little thing happens that really isnt too serious.

Me personally, if i were to have a business for my hosting account i would at least pick a mid range package. I also think that people expect computers never to break and nothing to ever go wrong, they are like children...if you stop watching them, they will misbehave.

Yeah, hit the nail on the head with your customer analysis. I appreciate all my customers of course :angel: but I too have not been afraid to let a couple go when it just got out of hand. If I'm sending 10 emails a day to teach a person how to make a table in frontpage, and they threaten to find a new host, go for it. I started hosting to help people, not feel guilty.

But yes, I've probably never had a complaint from my higher-paying customers, yet the low end crowd always needs something. (I'm stereotyping of course. There's always great people to work with at any price bracket.) In fact, while I'm stereotyping, I have far more trouble with the 14-17 year old group than those 25+. ;) Perhaps by then people learn you get more by asking nice than pushing the limits all the time.

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Somebody mentioned they'll add features sometimes at no charge. I used to do that for a few clients but sadly I've been burned every single time. One immediately started reselling the script space to his buddies, another kept asking for more features and support and then never even paid his base package fees.

It ruins it for the honest hobbyists who want to play with CGI on their personal homepage. I have a soft spot for those people and I'll probably continue to get burned ;)
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I like this board. I feel better already. Maybe I'll go do billing - find out if I can afford McDonalds for lunch tomorrow, or just canned soup again! hehe If only I could post enough to not be a "newbie"!