Im considering offering 'account activation within 2 hours, or your account is free for x number of months'

Im just wondering if you think this would appeal to customers?

Probably would not be that appealing as there are a lot of hosts out there that does virtually instant setup ie within minutes. Maybe something like a max 2 hours respond to tickets or % off your monthly hosting would be more appealing.

I thought it might be appealing because the customer has a chance to get x # of months free...possibly even a year whereas with any other host they dont have a chance of getting it free..

Yeah but they are not wanting the free months. They are hoping you just do what you say you will. If you give them free months all that is doing is compensating for a mess up.

Seems to me that if I were looking for a specific service provider, I would choose the one which could offer me the service I needed, not free months.

I wouldn't choose you if I saw that, I'd much rather select a web host which knew they could deliver as advertised. I don't need bribes or compensation because they can't do their job correctly.

YEa, a good analogy would be pizza delivery. Do you order from pizza place A because they offer a discount if the pizza is not delivered in a timely manner, or do you order from pizza place B because IT TASTES GOOD? :)

Why don't take rois' suggestion? It's great if you could guarantee your support-respond time under x minutes and the customer will get a free month if you fail to achieve that.

It also works as a lash for your help-desk team. The more you're giving out a free month of hosting due to failure to keep up with your guarantee indicates that your help-desk team isn't good enough and that's quite a 'motivation' :)

I thought it might be appealing because the customer has a chance to get x # of months free...possibly even a year whereas with any other host they dont have a chance of getting it free..

I'm not trying to sound dis-tasteful when I say this but, why would they stay with a company that can't live up to it's promises, would they be sketchy developing their site there if they can't depend on you?

I don't see a problem with this... but my question is more basic.

Why would someone NEED instant/fast account creation like that?

I mean really... if they have found you to be the PERFECt provider, and they are ready to sign up because you're the absolute cats meow... then is a 24 hour wait going to kill them?

I mean really..

1) In our experience, it is 99% of the time that people who are RUSH RUSH RUSH for a new account are spammers or fraud.

2) Having a 24 delay can be a good thing, and actually make your company look BETTER. If you explain that it is during this time you will be performing fraud checks and things like that.. and then actually CALL THEM on the phone to validate/verify the order.. you'll get a very impressed customer who now has personal contact with you, and is much less likely to leave later and follow the next "good deal" passes under their nose.

Imho, instant setup and things like that just aren't needed.

But then again... we don't market after the $1/month crowd, so I suppose that makes a big difference. :)

Im considering offering 'account activation within 2 hours, or your account is free for x number of months'

Im just wondering if you think this would appeal to customers?
As others have said, might not be too appealing to consumers, as most hosts offer instant activation. If you want to be appealing to your segment market, first you have to identify two elements, what will be needed, and how you will implement it into your strategy (sales). You need something that has excellent value, even if its something small...this is where you have to be creative. Think about things that internet consumers (webmasters, small business owners) need. Always bundle it never add-on (would you like fries with that method just don't work anymore) Individuals are looking for true innovation, and value with their hosting solution. This is a MUST.

I do not think account activation within two hours is extremely important, especially considering that it typically takes 24-48 hours to point a domain to your servers.

I agree with what everyone has posted above.

I think that for the most part, the only clients who need instant activation are customers you typically dont want (i.e. spammers, or host hoppers).

Above that, I dont think any customer would select a host for this reason alone.

In the least you are setting yourself up to loose revenue with no real gain.

2) Having a 24 delay can be a good thing, and actually make your company look BETTER. If you explain that it is during this time you will be performing fraud checks and things like that.. and then actually CALL THEM on the phone to validate/verify the order.. you'll get a very impressed customer who now has personal contact with you, and is much less likely to leave later and follow the next "good deal" passes under their nose.


We certainly do have customers that prefer quick activation. They either want to start working ASAP or are looking to move their sites quickly over to a new host because their old host is failing on them..

Ideally, automated, instant activation is what I would have prefered giving new clients.. But given the prevalence of internet fraud, at least for the time-being we are opting for verification before activation..

But I have made it a priority to process, verify and activate signups within 30 to 60 minutes.. That means verifying customer details and calling them up, 24x7x365.. And we certainly have plenty of customers that have appreciated this.. Also, keep in mind that customers can be from many different time zones and may not prefer being called up during your business hours

So my point is that while quick activation may not be necessary, it is a bonus and there are plenty of customers that like to get things rolling as soon as they signup..