Web Hosting Survey

[user-7256]

Greetings; I'm working out details for my business plans, launching this spring some time.

** Note that this isn't an advertising stunt; I'm not THAT low... **

So, I'm conducting a survey; it's not anonymous but there's no personal/private info I'm asking for. However; I pose questions in the survey in a way that does not exploit my strategies or ideas... just tell me what you think and I'll try to alter mine accordingly.

If any questions seem too broad, then there's a reason I made them that way. Any answer way you can that comes to your mind.

Please copy the format below and put it into a reply with your answers. You don't have to answer any question you don't want to, but I'd really appreciate it.

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What is the #1 most important attribute for a hosting company?



Which should a hosting company value more: support and reliability or low price?



Set prices (also known as "packages") or custom account features?



How would you like your hosting company's representatives to address you? Elaborate if you can.



Does it annoy you when Live Support is "Offline" or "Online" but not really responding? If so, what method of support do you prefer? (Possible answers are but not limited to: phone, email, IM, etc...)



Would you pay for a company that has higher prices but offers professional, business-grade hosting without the artificial "pretty" cover, or a lower price just to get your job done, but not necessarily as well?


How valuable is support and the accessibility/spontaneity of it?



Do you prefer a professional atmosphere or do you want to conduct business on a more personal level (without all the Mr/Mrs. and "Sir" stuff - as if you were talking to a good friend.)


Any other rants or praises about hosting you've experienced?


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Thanks for taking the time to fill this out! It will have been most valuable to us.

.chulium.

 

[Joey]

You've got some really interesting and overall great questions that will help you when starting your business.

What is the #1 most important attribute for a hosting company?

I don't really think that there is an overall important attribute for a hosting company -- all aspects are important. For a company to be successful, everything just has to work =)

Which should a hosting company value more: support and reliability or low price?

Definitely support and reliability. I'd much rather have customers mentioning that my service is a bit pricey than spreading the word that my service is always down.

Do you prefer a professional atmosphere or do you want to conduct business on a more personal level (without all the Mr/Mrs. and "Sir" stuff - as if you were talking to a good friend.)

I would rather speak on a more personal level. I really don't like being addressed as "Mr. Malinowski". I'd feel much more comfortable with someone addressing me as Joey. It just gives you a more "homey" and personal sense.

Good luck!
Joey

 

[champ_rock]

What is the #1 most important attribute for a hosting company?
1. cheap service
2. reliability


Which should a hosting company value more: support and reliability or low price?
1. support for ONLY server side issues. Not for day to day problems like forum installation etc.
2. lowprice


Set prices (also known as "packages") or custom account features?
1. set prices with incentives .. may be referral points



How would you like your hosting company's representatives to address you? Elaborate if you can.
1. not formal.. frank and informal conversation


Does it annoy you when Live Support is "Offline" or "Online" but not really responding? If so, what method of support do you prefer? (Possible answers are but not limited to: phone, email, IM, etc...)
i live in india so i rule outphone.. otherwise support system, IM email any of them



Would you pay for a company that has higher prices but offers professional, business-grade hosting without the artificial "pretty" cover, or a lower price just to get your job done, but not necessarily as well?
1. lower prices.. i dont mind if they address me with sir and thank you.. it should be polite.. and friendly thats it


How valuable is support and the accessibility/spontaneity of it?
a good and reliable server i dont think should get too much problems .. so our requirement for support should be minimum



Do you prefer a professional atmosphere or do you want to conduct business on a more personal level (without all the Mr/Mrs. and "Sir" stuff - as if you were talking to a good friend.)
personal level


Any other rants or praises about hosting you've experienced?
dont rem any right now

 

[scribby]

Reliability, Speed, Client Understanding.

I've been with many hosts,
Some hosts were great! But normally better the reliability the less they will listen to you. professional service seems to lack that kindness and understanding you will get from a small host. I remember I was with MD-Webhosting and they were great, servers were super fast and uptime was above average, but they treat you like a money bag, not a person... If something went wrong with your account say for example.. I providing free hosting, a phishing site was started on the free hosting and they charged me $30 even though I removed it ASAP myself when notified...

There was no valid reason to charge me for that, they actually charged me for way more things than that, it was quite ridiculous... for $10 month hosting I ended up paying more than double that in other fees.

Now most people say they want cheap hosting and reliability, most of the time you wont see them together. Don't sacrifice reliability for prices, I personally would rather pay $2 - $4 more on a plan if I knew the server was going to be speedy and reliable all month.

 

[user-7256]

Thank you for your responses thus far! More would be appreciated, and I've been taking into account all your answers. Scribby, you bring up some good points as well; it is rare to see a larger/pro company treating you with the down-to-earth respect and quality of a human

Some more replies would be great, if you can. Thanks for the time!

I've sent rep to all those that participated; reply with answers to get a little green...

 

[champ_rock]

lol thanks for the reps..
if u need any help or volunterring service then i can help u out in return for some small cpanel account

 

[blatant]

What is the #1 most important attribute for a hosting company?
The most important attribute to me is uptime and 30 day money back guarantee.


Which should a hosting company value more: support and reliability or low price?

I feel support and reliability are what a hosting company should value more. Low price sometimes comes with downtime and very poor support.

Set prices (also known as "packages") or custom account features?

I like custom account features, it allows the user to personalize their plans

How would you like your hosting company's representatives to address you? Elaborate if you can.

I like it when a hosting company calls you by your first name, it seems more friendly and your on the same level, not a Seller and a Buyer, two people talking.


Does it annoy you when Live Support is "Offline" or "Online" but not really responding? If so, what method of support do you prefer? (Possible answers are but not limited to: phone, email, IM, etc...)

I like live support you do not have to give out your im s/n and its easier to click. I also like a support ticket system, I use to use siteground.com and they used a ticket system and would respond in less than 10 minutes.


Would you pay for a company that has higher prices but offers professional, business-grade hosting without the artificial "pretty" cover, or a lower price just to get your job done, but not necessarily as well?

To me it really depends on what type of site I am building. If it is just going to be a domain that Im going to "slop together" I would prefer and cheaper plan and later if I get a lot of traffic move to a more reliable, professional host.
It really depends on the host, what type of people are you going after?

How valuable is support and the accessibility/spontaneity of it?

Support is valuable to me, if I have a problem I want it to be answered quickly and I dont want to have to "find" the place to ask, I want it to be able to access.

Do you prefer a professional atmosphere or do you want to conduct business on a more personal level (without all the Mr/Mrs. and "Sir" stuff - as if you were talking to a good friend.)

I prefer a personal atmosphere.

Any other rants or praises about hosting you've experienced?

It annoys when hosts do not tell you about downtime.

Good luck on the business and I hope this helps!

 

[user-7256]

Thanks - rep added. Any more?

 

[Aesthetic]

Does it annoy you when Live Support is "Offline" or "Online" but not really responding? If so, what method of support do you prefer? (Possible answers are but not limited to: phone, email, IM, etc...)
Extremely, this when I feel really being made a fool of. I prefer a reliable help desk with a fast response time.
Would you pay for a company that has higher prices but offers professional, business-grade hosting without the artificial "pretty" cover, or a lower price just to get your job done, but not necessarily as well?
I try to choose the best possible ratio between price and quality, but of course, my budget is what really influences my choice of hosting.

 

[user-7256]

Cool. Rep plus as well. One or two more should do it. Thanks much for all participating!

 

[Ultimatum]

Does it annoy you when Live Support is "Offline" or "Online" but not really responding? If so, what method of support do you prefer? (Possible answers are but not limited to: phone, email, IM, etc...)
I prefer ticket system but better both live chat and ticket system.
I think that easy questions better to ask via live chat. Difficult one via ticket submition.

 

[PolurNET]

Although I own a hosting company, I thought it would be interesting to see our perspective on the way things should be. Here's my responses:

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What is the #1 most important attribute for a hosting company?

There are several factors to take into consideration, and there should never be just a single attribute that makes or breaks a choice of a host. Nevertheless, those who choose to go on the sole basis of low price, high space/bandwidth packages, or phone support, will all be disappointed in some way. To have a viable operation, one should not be cutting costs in an attempt to gain customers; offering high resource requirements puts an unnecessary burden on any network and can dramatically affect reliability; phone support is often overrated and many customers find themselves more frustration speaking to an outsourced representative than an in-house team that has direct access to various departments, such as what is offered in most helpdesk/livehelp based systems.

Which should a hosting company value more: support and reliability or low price?

As mentioned above, all of these are important considerations. If you absolutely need to narrow it to one factor, support would get my vote.

Set prices (also known as "packages") or custom account features?

Packages are always helpful to orient a new customer, and simply making everything custom can have several disadvantages. Firstly, the prices are often more expensive, and there is usually an arbitrary decision on charges based on space/bandwidth usage. This in turn is likely to lead to overselling if these custom packages are not kept in mind at all times as a host. On the other hand, offering custom upgrades allows for more breathing room, and the process should ideally be seamless in this respect to give a customer an opportunity to meet growing demands without a complex process.

How would you like your hosting company's representatives to address you? Elaborate if you can.

Companies often leave out the personal touch, and in my opinion it's important to develop a one-to-one relationship with the customer by introducing yourself, appreciating them for being a customer and treating them as if they're your only one. This in turn makes the customer feel more at ease and appreciative of your efforts as a company, thereby leading to more referrals and satisfaction rates.

Does it annoy you when Live Support is "Offline" or "Online" but not really responding? If so, what method of support do you prefer? (Possible answers are but not limited to: phone, email, IM, etc...)

Customers of ours have often complained live support was not available when they needed them, but live support is not often designed to be the primary contact method.
Sure, it's nice to have a quick response, but often those who use live support have complicated issues or problems that can only be efficiently and effectively addressed by email/helpdesk methods to keep track of issues and allow other, more knowledgeable technicians to perform the required tasks.

Would you pay for a company that has higher prices but offers professional, business-grade hosting without the artificial "pretty" cover, or a lower price just to get your job done, but not necessarily as well?

Sure, but again, it depends on user's perspectives; if I'm running a free file uploading site and want to maximize my space/bandwidth usage, I'd probably go for such a company instead of others who may not be as cost-effective.

How valuable is support and the accessibility/spontaneity of it?

It's important, and as a hosting company it's our main priority. Keeping existing customers happy is a critical way to have a successful company.

Do you prefer a professional atmosphere or do you want to conduct business on a more personal level (without all the Mr/Mrs. and "Sir" stuff - as if you were talking to a good friend.)

IMO, a professional yet one-to-one atmosphere is best. Well-developed, concise and articulate language skills are mandatory, yet by addressing the customer by name brings about a personal feel that allows for mutual understanding and communication more easier than other methods.

Any other rants or praises about hosting you've experienced?

As a host, I find it particularly annoying when customers fail to contact their host when problems arise and instead decide to use it against them in another situation; this is counterproductive as it doesn't allow a host to respond to their concerns effectively. Furthermore, the customer ends up developing their own flawed perspectives, despite failing to act appropriately. I also find it odd when customers do not keep up-to-date with a host's news & announcements, since it is in their interests to maintain an active relationship to ensure good communication with their host.

Hope this helps!

 

[user-7256]

Thanks! +Green. I now have enough to go on. More is welcome, but I'm not going to ask for anymore responses.

Danke!