When we started Network Dynamics, our pricing was pretty simple.
You could pay monthly, or you could pay annually and receive a discount for committing to a longer term. Customers knew what they were paying, they knew what renewal looked like, and pricing wasn't something we spent much time talking about.
Over the years, like many businesses, we experimented.
The hosting industry changed. Introductory offers became more common, promotional pricing became the norm and customers began expecting a discount on their first invoice. We tried different approaches ourselves because, at the time, it seemed like the industry was moving in that direction.
The introductory offers achieved what they were designed to achieve. They encouraged people to make the move, and they helped offset the time and effort involved in migrating websites to our platform.
But over time we realised they were also creating conversations we never used to have.
Every renewal brought questions about pricing.
Customers would ask why their invoice had changed, whether they were still receiving the original price or why somebody signing up today appeared to be getting a better deal than someone who had been with us for years.
Even though everything was explained upfront, we couldn't ignore how it made people feel.
Some of our longest-standing customers told us they felt like loyalty wasn't being rewarded. New customers seemed to receive all the attention, while existing customers simply rolled onto the next invoice.
That was never our intention.
But intentions don't matter much if the customer experience tells a different story.
It forced us to ask ourselves a simple question.
Are we building the kind of business we'd want to buy from ourselves?
For us, the answer became obvious.
Back to the pricing philosophy we started with
We decided to go back to the pricing philosophy we started with.
Today, if you choose monthly billing, your monthly price is your monthly price. It doesn't matter whether you've been with us for one month or ten years. Everyone pays the same monthly rate for the same service.
If you choose annual billing, we reward that commitment with two months free every year.
Not because you're a new customer.
Not because you happened to sign up during a promotion.
Because you've committed to another year with us.
We think that's a much fairer way to do business.
What customers really object to
One thing we've learned after nearly two decades in hosting is that customers rarely object to paying a fair price.
What frustrates people is uncertainty.
Not knowing what renewal will look like.
Wondering whether they should cancel and sign up again to receive a better deal.
Feeling like the best pricing is always reserved for someone else.
We don't think hosting should work like that.
We'd rather our customers stay with us because they're happy with the service, the support and the value they receive year after year-not because they're trying to keep track of promotional pricing.
The trade-off we're comfortable with
Will this approach attract as many people looking for the absolute cheapest first invoice?
Probably not.
And we're comfortable with that.
We're not trying to build a business around the first invoice.
We're trying to build one where customers are still happy they chose us five or ten years later.
Final thoughts
If you're already hosting with Network Dynamics and you're still paying monthly, it might be worth reviewing your account. Annual billing includes two months free every year, and for many customers it's an easy way to reduce their ongoing hosting costs without changing anything else.
