Update onour large cheap hosting plans...

[GordonH]

I can;t find the original thread where we were talking about pricing etc but I was experimenting with a large hosting plan that had 3GB disk space and 100GB of bandwidth.
The average disk usage was 250MB per customer inthe beginning but things have moved on.
Now that we have a large number of customers on those accounts and their sites have matured I thought people might like to know that the average usage is:

:drummer:

Disk space: 148MB
Bandwidth: 1.56GB


There are no customers anywhere near the limits.
Why they feel they need accounts of that size is beyond me, but as long as they are willing to pay for it and not use it, who am I to complain?

<<ADMIN NOTE: The original thread was part of the discussion in So what happens when you cut prices.... (http://hosthideout.com/showthread.php?t=19947)>>

[Chicken]

Just to stir up the soup a bit...

This is the exact argument people who offer "unlimited/unmetered" plans use to justify the deception.

[GordonH]

Just to stir up the soup a bit...

This is the exact argument people who offer "unlimited/unmetered" plans use to justify the deception.

Thats perfectly true, but if you advertised unlimited you would attract the wrong sort of customers.

The market has swung towards these very big account sizes, but peoples web sites will be the size they always were.
My own personal web site is on a dedicated server with effectively unlimited dsik space for the past few years but its bnever got bigger than 100MB.

[blue27]

All large plans do is make people lazy is what I find.

It gives people the ability to not clean out unused files or delete oversized log files.

Overselling in this industry has gotten to the point where it creates a false economy.
The people who actually do need that kind of space an transfer expect that they can get it for bargain basement prices when the fact of the matter is it still cost the host more than what they are offering it for.

[GordonH]

All large plans do is make people lazy is what I find.

It gives people the ability to not clean out unused files or delete oversized log files.



That is correct.
Its mainly email (viruses) in the catch all email account that are the problem.

In the UK the target price for web hosting is now £15 per year or £1.99 per month.
Customers consider anything more than that for less than 500MB of space to be a rip off that should be reported to the authorities.
I know this because I ask our customers why they are leaving (they get a survey) and they are all pretty nasty about our pricing (which currently starts at £29 per year).

It is getting very very silly.
I am already planning a sub £10 per year product for the UK market.
Its a matter of survival really.


The US market is a bit different and people don't see price as being the sole determining factor in choosing a host.
Its just as well really or we would be sunk.

[blue27]

To be honest I would have thought it would be just the opposite Gordon.
I thought that North American clients were more brainwashed into thinking that you should get everything for nothing.

It's too bad really.
I will quit the industry before I will start offering plans at below my cost. Companies like 1and1 and godaddy are not helping matters much.

They offer the world and give lousy service but they don't give a crap because they know their clients are disposible and there will always be ten more to fill the space of the ones who quit.

[GordonH]

Because we have a big domain registration business I can track where some of our hosting companies go.
Generally they are going to very cheap suppliers, stay less than two months there and move to another cheap supplier.
Occasionally they come back to us but not often.

US and Canadian users seem to value service more than UK customers, who are entirely driven by price considerations.
In fact its headline price they focus on so you can easily add charges for frontpage extensions or even a charge to change host later on and they will go for that as long as the headline price is nice and low.
The problem is that that clashes with my policy on pricing: that everything has to be included upfront with no hidden charges.
A lot of Uk companies advertise prices without VAT, which makes them look 17.5% less than what people will actually end up paying.

I just finished our year end accounts (31st August) and our turnove ris up 15% but the amount of profit was the same as the previous year so we are being quite seriously squeezed. I have managed to get one of our suppliers to change the way they bill us which will save a bit of money but its getting more and more difficult as time goes on.

That said, I could stop advertising, let things dwindle and start making very large profits because I would not be paying to advertise. If things ever got really difficult I would just do that and maybe use time savings on doing something else.

[Chicken]

Thats perfectly true, but if you advertised unlimited you would attract the wrong sort of customers.
I just reread what I wrote and it may have seemed negative to you or to your post. It came out wrong. What I meant was...
The market has swung towards these very big account sizes, but peoples web sites will be the size they always were.
-and that this is used by some unscrupulous providers to sell services (not providers like yourself). Just to clarify.
To be honest I would have thought it would be just the opposite Gordon. I thought that North American clients were more brainwashed into thinking that you should get everything for nothing.
I would have thought so with American vs. UK clients, but if you want to have some fun, take a look at what the norm is in Japan and those types of markets. (Or at least what was offered not too long ago, I haven't really kept up but looked into it a few years ago).