We know server uptime & support are important factors.

How would you say hosting customers' email accounts on your own servers vs having them use third party solutions like google apps would affect the retention of these customers? (I'm not a reseller per-se but do offer hosting)

Personally I like using Google Apps for domains since I can use Gmail on my domain. I would like to offer the option to set-up these accounts for them but I'm a bit dubious about giving them a little less attachment. Most companies try to the opposite like offering cheap domain registrations for obvious reasons.

What's your take on it?

Greetings,
While I really like the idea (and currently offload my own e-mail to Google Apps), I dont think this will fly from a customer perspective for 2 reasons.


Customers prefer a "One Stop Shop"
It can be complex to set up from a newcommers standpoint.

I remember a few years ago, DreamHost.com did just that, the customers response was a bit mixed.

I remember a few years ago, DreamHost.com did just that, the customers response was a bit mixed.

Overall, the response is great! We have a ton of customers that set this up on their own and many that write in to support asking for more information about it. People are in love with Google Apps/Gmail, and offering them a way to easily point their domain and/or email to Google Apps has proven incredibly popular.

There's no reason for anyone to feel mixed about it, since it's not forced. Users have the option to enable this if they want or host email with DreamHost if they want. The choice is totally that of the user so anyone that doesn't like it is free to not choose to have their email hosted with Google if they don't want.

I think that hosts offering this feature can find this beneficial for two reasons. First, some people are already using this to manage the email for their domain and offering an automated or easy way to point the email to Google through your control panel can be a selling point and a way to make customers happy. Second, users opting to offload their email service to Google can reduce your costs and resources since it frees up space in your mailq and allows you to handle that many more domains on your mail servers.

No reason not to offer it. I don't know if forcing it on users would be the best idea, and can definitely make them feel detached, but having it as an option can't hurt.

Greetings MichaelS,I was a DreamHost Customer at the time, I think I still have a $50 account balance or something like that :blush:. I remembered that the feelings in the old DreamHost forum was a bit mixed but I felt that it was more likely caused by the confusion of people not understanding the change. I know you have a very diverse group of customers, each with a different level of the understanding on how this works.

I personally LOVE Google Hosted Domains and would go on record saying that I liked the idea. I am loving it even more because my cell phone syncs to Google Apps (Palm Pre). There are of course several advantages that this brings to the customer.


E-Mail is still active in the event of a server outage
Reduces Server Load (It is normal to see spikes at the times of day that people check their e-mail)
Reduces Server Space - At least in my case, a typical hosting account is 15% Web Content, 5% Database Content and 70% E-Mail Storage.
Easy to take their e-mail with them if they switch hosting companies. This is really important with DreamHost because your custom control panel does not play too well with cPanel or other control panels.

May I ask how many of your customers actually are using Google Hosted Services?

@MichaelS: So do you offer to set-up Google Apps for your customers for free or just point them to a tutorial? Do you have any tips on how to speed up the process?


Easy to take their e-mail with them if they switch hosting companies. This is really important with DreamHost because your custom control panel does not play too well with cPanel or other control panels.


This is what I would like to gauge. Offering G.Apps/Gmail is definitely a plus as a customer. But in terms of customer retention I would like hear some more experiences from hosting providers.

Easy to take their e-mail with them if they switch hosting companies. This is really important with DreamHost because your custom control panel does not play too well with cPanel or other control panels.


We actually recently launched a cPanel Migrator that can automatically connect to a cPanel host, archive, and move over everything from that host to DreamHost. This includes email addresses.

There is no support for other control panel at this time, but it's being worked on. :)

May I ask how many of your customers actually are using Google Hosted Services?

While I won't give specifics, I can say a lot!

@MichaelS: So do you offer to set-up Google Apps for your customers for free or just point them to a tutorial? Do you have any tips on how to speed up the process?

We worked with Google directly to integrate our control panel into their Apps signup process. All they have to do is select the feature on DreamHost's end and then finish the signup on Google Apps. It's pretty much automated.

[QUOTE=vitalis;667485This is what I would like to gauge. Offering G.Apps/Gmail is definitely a plus as a customer. But in terms of customer retention I would like hear some more experiences from hosting providers.[/QUOTE]

If a user was not experienced with or comfortable with making the required DNS changes to point their email service or parts of their domain to Google Apps and found that you don't offer a way to make this easy for them, they may switch to another host that does. Retention-wise I don't think there's really any other benefits.

Benefits ? I think that sound is lost and buried.