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What're your views on charging for the support on the product you're selling?

by Super Warrior
7 replies
Hey guys, just want to know about your views on charging money
to offer support on the products you sell.

I am not talking about the support like offering installation of the script
or installation of a plugin etc. (ofcourse not a big deal) but I've seen
that few sites are charging $$ for offering just ticket support or email support?

I know that the cost of support can be added to the price of the product
and then it can be offered free of cost.
(but it's again like charging for the support)

So what're your views?

Thanks
#charging #product #selling #support #views #whatre
  • Profile picture of the author handymoney2
    If you can charge for support without them knowing is the best way like as you said adding the cost into the product but another way could deter a lot of people.
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  • Profile picture of the author jenmidas
    It's not a healthy approach to build a rapport and your reputation in the long run
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  • Profile picture of the author Ismael Zarruqui
    Charging for the support is a good idea if it's by phone for example like telecommunication companies ..but when we talk about infoproducts it's not the best way to attract buyers..the only thing comes to my head is offering skype coaching as OTO ..

    I never stumbled upon any buy button for helpdesk !
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  • Profile picture of the author usc4seven
    My 2 cents - Charge more for the product and give the support away for free.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheContentAuthority
    Super Warrior,

    This is a really great question.

    Right out of the gate there are 2 things you need to consider when deciding if this is the right business approach to take.

    1. Is it common in your industry or product to charge for such services? Maybe you have a product that is high end and people are used to paying for support, tickets and phone calls, so then it makes sense to charge.

    2. How will this be perceived by your customers? Again, high-end products and service customer may not balk, but if what you are doing is going to have a negative impact on your customers perception of you, then you might not want to do that.

    With this said, the easiest way to charge for support is to build the cost into your product. It might take some calculating, but if you take the time you can exactly figure out the support cost per customer.

    Shawn
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  • Profile picture of the author WF90te
    I think charging for ticket or email support is not a good thing to do and will result in rapid loss of customers or potential customers. This support should be provided free as a form
    of after-sale service.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheContentAuthority
    Here are some calculations you can use when making the above determination. In the end it shows, every customer will cost you $.225 in support costs and that is what you would then increase your product by. Obviously insert your values accordingly.

    Abbr -- Name ------------------------- Calculation ------------------Value
    ART -- Average Response Time --------------------------------------30
    AHR -- Agent Hourly Rate -------------------------------------------$15.00
    PTC -- Per Ticket Cost ---------------- Calc = RT X AHR / 60 ------$7.50
    CIR Customer Issue Rate ---------------------------------------------3%
    TC Total Customers -------------------------------------------------- 1000
    TCSC Total Customer Support Cost --- Calc = TC X CIR X PTC ---$225.00
    SCPC Support Cost Per Customer ----- Calc = TC / TCSC --------- $0.225

    Shawn
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