I am thinking of offering special hosting packages at VERY reduced prices for people who do not need routine tech support.

Of course, they would receive tech support for things that go wrong on my side but not for things such as "How do I do this.... or How do I do that....".

These packages would be geared toward people who know how to set up and manage their sites and are willing to receive limited support in order to get really good prices.

Do you think this is crazy or would anyone be interested in a deal like this?

You're stull going to have to read the support contacts and decide if it's "covered" or not.

If not, it isn't going to be pleasent to tell customers "Sorry, can't answer you. You didn't paid for that level of service."

How are you going to determine when a customer has used his "paid amount" of tech support? I honestly dont think its the best idea.



Zach
ICUServices

I think it is a great idea...I work for an ISP, and as a colo/web hosting salesman that HAS to offer support to customers (frustrating!)...in addition to trying to meet sales goals. I believe that if you word it correctly, you will be fine....you don't have to be so critical on the phone, "did you pay for support?"

There is a NICHE...go for it!

there might be a small market for people who want a very simple cheap site. no databases, no php, no asp, no cgi. just a plain website, with a lot of space-per-dollar.

Yes, that is our business to a T. A word of advice:

No matter how simple you make it, or how exact you word it....there will be upset customers who can't understand why you won't cover things like debugging their Perl script (they are absolutely sure it's YOUR servers' fault - even though you can see they've made a ton of coding errors). There will be the guy who calls you (or emails you) 50 times a day with the same question...and you keep telling him "I'm sorry, it's not covered under support".

Seriously, even though you say "no support" with certain things....many of them won't understand until it's too late. You'll find yourself issuing refunds in this case. Be prepared for it.

We've managed to work around most of this by creating very thorough FAQ pages and by coming up with some standard answers to requests that aren't covered.

Good luck and let me know if you need any help/advice/anything.

--Tina

Or you can also do a per time charge. Make it part of the deal, no support, but if you find you need it, there is an hourly charge or per issue charge or whatever. Just make sure it is spelled out.
Personally, I see it being a problem, sounds good, but not sure it will work. Everyone needs some sort of support.

Support can make or BREAK you!
If you check forums, reviews, etc this is one of the leading causes people leave their host, and are on the search for another.
I agree with Tina above...and for me that wouldnt work, charging for support?
We treat clients the SAME no matter what package they purchase!
Simple example...Ive been so FED up with NSI that I finally wrote a stepbystep instruction, with screen shots
to help clients get past that awful procedure of modifying their domain name! FWIW...a client that has our smallest pkg. inspired me!
Good Luck!