Packaging Peace of Mind for Your Clients

Packaging a website support plan is a mix of art and science — from choosing services and pricing to understanding client value and estimating support activities. In this talk, I’ll share insights from over 10 years of working with Craft sites and experimenting with support offerings. Drawing from this journey, I’ll explore the whys and hows of packaging support plans and help you move away from counting support hours to offering true peace of mind for your clients.

Presented at Dot All 2025 (Lisbon): https://craftcms.com/events/dot-all-2025/sessions/packaging-peace-of-mind-for-your-clients

Transcript

1. Packaging Peace of Mind for Your Clients
2. Hi! I’m Souvik. @souvikdg
4. Once upon a time…
6. We started out as a young web studio making cool websites and products
7. Enjoyed making new websites and were not keen to take on maintenance work
11. Offering tech support wasn’t cool
14. If a client needed an odd job we’d just do it and move on
18. But such requests didn’t stop coming
21. Photo by Massimiliano Sarno on Unsplash
22. Photo by Massimiliano Sarno on Unsplash Help! I’m in trouble.
23. Photo by Massimiliano Sarno on Unsplash Our rates would be $$$/hour. Okay?
24. Our support offering was completely broken Photo by Lindsay G
25. The support journey • When a new request comes in, we start thinking… • are we interested is this task? • how much should we price? • when can we slot this work in? • Suggest the fees, payment terms, and other constraints • Negotiations • …
26. Every request was a sales opportunity. Business considerations took precedence over client servicing.
27. Things have evolved since our early years 2012-2014 2014-2016 2016-2018 2018-Covid Small requests were done for free Offered hourly pricing (on-demand support) Pre-sold bundled hours (quarterly, half-yearly or yearly) Bundled a few basic activities such as Craft updates along with the hours. Separately offered to host the website. …
29. Challenges with our support offering • Too many options, tedious to explain and understand • Disproportionate effort, low revenue • Unpredictable fees to apply major Craft updates, bug fixes, etc. • Despite support retainers, no proactive maintenance leading to a degradation of the website over time
30. The Covid Pandemic offered an opportunity for soul searching and reflection Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash
31. We draw fulfilment out of longevity of our projects
32. Longevity of projects requires sustained peace of mind for clients achieved a profitable way
33. Support evolution over the years 2012-2014 2014-2016 2016-2018 2018-Covid 2022 onwards Small requests were done for free Offered hourly pricing (on-demand support) Pre-sold bundled hours (quarterly, half-yearly or yearly) Bundled a few basic activities such as Craft updates alongwith the hours. Separately offered to host the website. … Rethinking the future of our support offering
34. Four Key Lessons from our early support journey
35. Key lessons from our support journey 1. Support is about taking care of people and not just code
36. Just like everyone, clients have their own fears, uncertainties and doubts
37. Common fears, uncertainties and doubts • What if something breaks down? • What if someone hacks our website? • What to do if the website runs very slowly? • What if the current teamplates don’t handle future content or a new feature is required? • How much would the website upkeep cost — the SAAS services, the administrative overheads and the people time? • How to deal with changes in the team?
38. What if you vanish?
40. Support offering goes far beyond patching software and applying updates
41. Offering support requires shifting from a maker’s mindset, to that of a caregiver’s mindset
42. For support services to succeed, a client must feel secure about working with you
43. Key lessons from our support journey 1. Support is about taking care of people and not just code 2. Hourly pricing doesn’t communicate any value
44. Mobile plans Are not sold as minutes (or megabytes) Photo by ROBIN WORRALL on Unsplash
46. Hotel rooms Are not sold by the hour Photo by Vojtech Bruzek on Unsplash
48. Selling services in measurable units leads to commoditisation and degrades value perception
49. Challenges of hourly pricing • When every ask is a potential cost, clients think twice before reaching out • Increase in administrative grunt work/bean counting and explainations • Fee unpredictability for clients (and uncertainty of business revenue) • Frequent moral dilemma about what to bill and what to not • Approval of estimates for technical refactors and maintenance is delayed due to lack of immediate business impact
50. Bundling of hours may help but even that has associated challenges
51. Avoid pay-as-you-go models (e.g. hourly pricing) as much as possible, and try packaging the services better
52. Service packages enhances the perceived value of services and positions you as a mature service provider
53. Key lessons from our support journey 1. Support is about taking care of people and not just code 2. Hourly pricing doesn’t communicate any value 3. Offer choice of outcomes, rather than support activities
54. Different clients value different services and outcomes
55. Some people are okay to skip regular maintenance cost and effort
56. Some people are okay to skip regular maintenance cost and effort until they face an incident
57. Very few clients understand the raw value of maintenance activities unless associated with a relatable outcome
58. Packages should combine services such that each client finds their desired outcome (with a few extras)…
59. …while keeping the operations and delivery streamlined
60. Offer enough choices
61. service coverage Choice in
62. payment terms Choice in
63. upgrading or downgrading as per their needs Choice in
64. being able to easily walk away Choice in
65. Choices help benchmark the cost and the value and creates the conviction required to make a decision
66. Compare and choose their desired outcome, rather than comparing and choosing vendors
67. Offer enough choices
68. Offer enough choices but not too many
69. The Power of Three Photo by Blake Weyland on Unsplash
70. Sales Secret: The Power of Three “Offering three price options, and directing buyers to the middle one, is an easy way to upsell.”
71. Make clients feel that they are in control of their own destiny
72. Key lessons from our support journey 1. Support is about taking care of people and not just code 2. Hourly pricing doesn’t communicate any value 3. Offer choice of outcomes, rather than support activities 4. Support is incomplete without hosting
73. When we started offering support, websites would be deployed on client-commissioned web hosts
74. If a website stops working, a client might not be able to differentiate between website code malfunction or a hosting issue
75. If a website stopps working, a client might not be able to differentiate between website code malfunction or a hosting issue or an issue with their internet connectivity
76. The support team becomes the de-facto responders for all website issues, even if they are hosting related
77. Server management and related activities use up a significant share of support effort
78. Unfamiliar or unoptimised hosting is an effort drain • Time lost in seeking access to the server, and finding your way through the setup, etc. • Challenges in installing necessary libraries • Lack of server software updates, security patches, debugging tools, logs, backups, etc. • If servers are not protected, external factors (like bots) often overwhelm the server.
79. We were averse to taking up hosting responsibilities • responsible for uptime, performance, security, etc • needs 24x7 monitoing and response at odd hours • creates a lock-in with vendor as the data / intellectual property resides on the vendor’s server
81. Hosting is extremely commodisied, unapologetically missold and widely misunderstood
82. Selling hosting is hard
83. Website hosting is much more than paying server rents.
84. It’s a complex service that strings together several software and hardware services, each with their own points of failure.
85. Hosting failures are often disastrous
89. Ability to control a hosting environment is crucial for website reliability and to offer support sustainabily
90. Key lessons from our support journey 1. Support is about taking care of people and not just code 2. Hourly pricing doesn’t communicate any value 3. Offer choice of outcomes, rather than support activities 4. Support is incomplete without hosting
91. Our Packages for Hosting and Support
92. Our objectives • Keep our work intellectually challenging • Cost predictability • Effort predictability, and rationalisation (across projects) • Predictable turn around times • Be in touch with clients • Offer fewer choices that are meaningful
93. Outside Influence Within Influence Regular Occurrence Software Updates Content Updates • Adding/removing pages • Changing text/media • Modifying menus • etc. Rare Occurence Bugs or Technical Issues New Features New Functionalities Training New Team etc.
94. Outside Influence Within Influence Regular Occurrence Software Updates Content Updates • Adding/removing pages • Changing text/media • Modifying menus • etc. Rare Occurence Bugs or Technical Issues New Features New Functionalities Training New Team etc. Enabled by Craft CMS Control Panel ✅ ✅ ✅
95. Identified key services 1. Website Hosting and Infrastructure Management 2. Handling Critical Incidents 3. Software Subscriptions and Licence Renewals 4. Craft CMS & Plugin Updates 5. Bug Fixes 6. Quality Audits (and Fixes) 1. Performance, Technical SEO & Tech Hygiene 2. Content & CMS Usage Issues 7. Discretionary Requests (e.g. new features) 8. Coaching, Guidance & Communication
96. Three client personas Persona 1 • just want the website to be up and running • low budget • low bandwidth Persona 3 • expect continues new ideas/ improvements • typically well resourced and have communication goals and budgets • open to experimenting with new features, business use-cases, etc. Persona 2 • want “SEO” / industry best practices • medium budget, would spend for discoverability • prioritise business results
97. Glide Remain afloat ✓ Website Hosting and Infrastructure Management ✓ Handling Critical Incidents ✓ Software Subscriptions and Licence Renewals ✓ Craft CMS & Plugin Updates (Minor Versions) Photo by Chris Marquardt
98. Cruise Maintain altitude Maintain altitude ✓ Everything in Glide ✓ Craft CMS & Plugin Updates (Major Versions) ✓ Website Bug Fixes ✓ Performance, Technical SEO & Tech Hygiene Audits ✓ Content Audits & Reporting CMS Usage Issues Photo by RussellHarryLee
99. Boost Aim higher ✓ Everything in Cruise ✓ Discretionary Requests (e.g. new features) ✓ Quarterly Strategy Call ✓ Coaching, Guidance & Communication Photo by Stuart Rankin
100. Three plan choices " 1. Glide Remain Afloat (stay up and running) # 2. Cruise Maintain Altitude (keep up with ever-changing best practices & tech hygiene) $ 3. Boost Aim Higher (explore new features, UX, business use-cases, etc.)
101. Services " Glide # Cruise $ Boost-X Hosting, Backups & Continuous Monitoring ✓ ✓ ✓ Priority Response to Critical Incidents ✓ ✓ ✓ Software Subscription/Licence Renewals (Licences/APIs Extra) ✓ ✓ ✓ Craft CMS & Plugin Updates (Quarterly) Minor versions ✓ ✓ ✓ Website Bug Fixes (On Request) Billed hourly ✓ ✓ ✓ Performance, Technical SEO & Tech Hygiene (Quarterly) - ✓ ✓ Report Content & CMS Usage Issues (Quarterly) - ✓ ✓ Design Changes or Technical Features (On Client Request) - Billed hourly ✓ (availability basis) Up to X hrs/qtr ✓ (resolved in 1-3 wks) Quarterly Strategy Calls (Quarterly) - - ✓ Coaching, Guidance & Support Interactions (Need Basis) - - ✓
102. Services " Glide # Cruise $ Boost-10 $ Boost-20 Hosting, Backups & Continuous Monitoring ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Priority Response to Critical Incidents ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Software Subscription/Licence Renewals (Licences/APIs Extra) ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Craft CMS & Plugin Updates (Quarterly) Minor versions ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Website Bug Fixes (On Request) Billed hourly ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ Performance, Technical SEO & Tech Hygiene (Quarterly) - ✓ ✓ ✓ Report Content & CMS Usage Issues (Quarterly) - ✓ ✓ ✓ Design Changes or Technical Features (On Client Request) - Billed hourly ✓ (availability basis) Up to 10 hrs/qtr ✓ (resolved in 1-3 wks) Up to 20 hrs/qtr ✓ (resolved in 1-3 wks) Quarterly Strategy Calls (Quarterly) - - ✓ ✓ Coaching, Guidance & Support Interactions (Need Basis) - - ✓ ✓
103. Same hosting feature for all ✓ Individual VPS servers ✓ High performance setup (caching, image compressesions, etc.) ✓ CDN setup and Email Delivery Service for system emails ✓ Frequent onsite and offsite backups ✓ SSL Certificate (HTTPS) renewals ✓ Server software and security updates ✓ Continuous monitoring and priority response to incidents
104. Each plan is offered at a fixed annual fee, covering the base services
105. Packages anchor conversations, and sometimes require concessions and adjustments to meet specific client needs
106. Clear Boundaries • we don’t maintain/support someone else’s code • we don’t share multiple websites on a single server • we don’t share server root access (other than read-only access for audits) • we don’t do support communciation over WhatsApp • etc.
107. Impact of these new Support Packages
108. These plans have brought us closer to the clients and their business challenges.
109. Peace of mind for clients ✓ Reduced circle of concern (not responsible for servers/application stability) ✓ Assurance that the best practices are being followed ✓ Proactive support if something fails/stops working ✓ Reduced administrative overheads ✓ Predicable pricing ✓ Help and guidance, whenever they require ✓ Knowledge that someone’s got their back
110. Clients can focus on content management and other business activities
112. More efficient and profitable across the board • For sales • Clarity of offering • Room for flexibility, customisation and negotiations • Easier to sell, and graduate clients up the value chain • For project management • Clarity on what is billable vs non-billable • Cyclic rhythm of services, ease of planning and scheduling
113. More efficient and profitable across the board • For development • Not having to worry about billing while delivering service • Reduced client dependency for approvals, licenses, pre-requisites, etc. • Effort of learning new versions / software updates etc. is rationalised across several projects • For business • Predictability of revenue • Increased profitability due to the operational efficiency
114. Growth in Support Revenue (compared to bundled hours) 3x
115. Active Projects Across the Three Plans (mostly handled by a 2-person team of 1 developer and 1 project manager) 14
116. How to Package Your Support Offering?
117. How to package your support offering? 1. Understand your client needs and wants 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
118. Understand your client needs and wants • Things that clients want all the time • SEO, fast turn around time, etc. • Things that clients want when they’ve burned their finger • Security, backups, etc. • Things that a client is ambivalent about (but maybe you care about it) • Software updates, audits, etc.
119. How to package your support offering? 1. Understand your client needs and wants 2. Recognise your motivations 3. 4. 5. 6.
120. Recognise your motivations • Have the website reliably running (avoid bugs and hiccups) • Keep effort low (enable as much via CMS) • Want the website to be in a good shape (incl. content) • Keep the codebase relatively modern as handling legacy codes is hard/more work • To keep the work intellectually stimulating • etc.
121. How to package your support offering? 1. Understand your client needs and wants 2. Recognise your motivations 3. Identify the services/activities 4. 5. 6.
122. Listing all support work/activities • Software updates • Bug fixes • Feature changes • Trainings • Code refactors • Content updates, etc.
123. How to package your support offering? 1. Understand your client needs and wants 2. Recognise your motivations 3. Identify the services/activities 4. Recognise your costs and risks 5. 6.
124. Identify your costs and risks Costs • True effort for recurring activities • Cost of license renewals • Communications Risks • Bugs • Hosting incidents (higher, if hosting is outside your influence) • Frequency of software updates • Major Craft updates • Familiarity with codebases
125. How to package your support offering? 1. Understand your client needs and wants 2. Recognise your motivations 3. Identify the services/activities 4. Recognise your costs (and risks) 5. Understand what a client would be willing to pay for? 6.
126. “People want everything but they don't want to pay for it”
127. What would a client pay for? • To build something they want • To get them out of catastrophic situations • For insurance: updates, maintenance • To make their cost predictable • Some organisations, would pay to outsource content management
128. How to package your support offering? 1. Understand your client needs and wants 2. Recognise your motivations 3. Identify the services/activities 4. Recognise your costs (and risks) 5. Understand what a client would be willing to pay for? 6. Create 3 packages
129. Qualities of good packaging • Simplicity of offering • Clarity in service coverage • Relatable for clients • Solves common pain points • Lowers administrative overheads • Offers a path to climb up the value ladder
130. Closing Thoughts
131. Peter Drucker “The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer”
132. Client success is a journey, not a one-time project deliverable
133. Support is also a great sales tool when pitching niche technologies or for high stakes projects
134. Packaging services is a continuous process of listening to clients and your team and responding with slow changes
135. Tight project management is key to a reliable support execution and delivery
136. From avoiding support assignments to to embracing that aspect in our work
137. Thank Yous • Conversations at conferences we’ve attended like Peers and Dot All • Craft community and the #shoptalk channel • Barrel Strength Design: shared their pricing models • To the Miranj team for delivering the support services every day and evolving along the way
138. David Graeber “We think of work primarily as making things when even a moment's reflection shows most work isn't making anything. It's cleaning, polishing, nurturing, fixing and taking care of things. You make a cup once. You wash it a 1000 times…
139. David Graeber “…This is what most working-class work has always been as there were always more nannies, bootblacks, gardeners, chimneysweeps and sex workers than factory workers…
140. David Graeber “…And yes, even transit workers, who might seem to have nothing to do now that the ticket booths have been automated, are really there in case children get lost, or someone's sick, or to talk down some drunk guy who's bothering people.”
141. %