Menu
đź’¸ Care Plan Pricing
The resources in this section are here to help you set your pricing for care plans, if you’re just starting out, but we also include strategies to help you increase your pricing and walk you through how to handle the transition with your clients.
If you’re stuck on low price points and feel you are under selling your care plans, and you’re thinking of increasing your prices, we’re here to help you through.Â
Lot’s of agencies believe that they’ll lose clients by increasing their pricing, but we’ve found that most of the time this price shift increases the quality of your future clients and helps your current clients see the value you deliver via their care plan day in day out.
Higher price points allow you to scale this side of your business.
đź’°How should I price my care plan packages?
If you’re only just starting out selling care plans, you’re in a good position to start testing the market.
Make the first move!Â
1. The first step to take in deciding where to price your care plans is research. Research local agencies and freelancers, go to their websites and start logging their care plan prices. At the end of this exercise, you’ll have a bunch of information about your local competition’s pricing. Take note of their tier structure and what is offered under each plan.
If you want to go deeper, you can research some mid-size agencies offering care plans and see what their pricing is like, too. That way, you’ll learn the range of pricing already being offered and have some good data to work with.Â
Not everyone will be your ideal client and not everyone will have the budget for what you're offering, so keep that in mind when you're on discovery calls and in new client meetings. It's OK to acknowledge that you may not be a good fit to work together right now. Realising this early on will save you time (and money) in the long run. Move on!
Competition insights.
2. You’ve now got some idea of what your competition charges, so that should have given you some insight into what clients in your area are currently paying.
Although you’ll be working with clients all over the world, this pricing insight gives you a good starting point.
You’ll pay WP Buffs per website (USD), per care plan, so make sure your pricing is marginally higher than what you pay us:
Perform Plan $175.20
Protect Plan $127.20
Maintain Plan $63.20
If you sit at this price point when launching your care plans, you should be in a good place to handover work to WP Buffs under the white label program and remain profitable, bringing in stable monthly recurring revenue, and ready to grow and scale.Â
If you’re really not sure where to price your plans, a good starting point would be to price your plans 20% higher than what we charge you. That gives you a 20% profit per care plan and puts you in a good position to grow from here. Don’t be afraid to experiment and raise your pricing later!Â
Show your clients the value.
3. If you’re thinking your care plan prices are way too high, you’re probably wrong! The value that a client gets out of having a 24/7 team fully manage their business website for them is immense.
When you join us on the white label program, you’re able to offer 24/7 unlimited edits. We don’t cap you or your clients at the amount of tickets sent in or the amount of hours used – it’s truly unlimited!
If that wasn’t enough value, your clients will also get a weekly report (branded as your agency) which outlines all of the work done for them the previous week. This will include updates for plugins, themes and WordPress Core, as well as speed optimisation and security information, uptime and backups information, depending on their plan level.
Adding all of these value points into your marketing strategy (care plan tables, website content, blog posts) will help you to attract the right type of client, who is willing to pay you for this service.
Keep it simple
4. If you choose to work with us at WP Buffs under our white label program, we make it super easy to price up your care plans to be able to make a profit when you’re starting out.
We give our partners 20% off of our full price care plans, which means you can simply begin selling care plans at full price and pay us the reduced price per care plan. That leaves you a 20% profit margin on each care plan you sell. Pretty sweet!
Our Perform Plan costs you $175.20 per month. If you sell 5 for $219 per month to your clients, you’ll earn (at minimum) an extra $2,628Â in profit every year, without lifting a finger! When you scale this side of your business, the (almost) passive income is unlimited!
How can we add more value into our care plans – and further increase our MRR?
5. Once you’ve mastered selling care plans and you have a few clients under your belt, you might want to explore how you can add more value to your clients, thus being able to further increase your care plan pricing (and MRR!).
This is where it gets exciting.
Many of our partners bundle other services into their care plan offering, allowing them to increase their pricing. Do you offer SEO services, marketing or graphic design? Come up with a smaller, recurring task or project which could be included in your care plans which will allow you to up your pricing.
If you’re a WordPress development agency or freelancer, you’ll have a ton of WordPress knowledge you can share! How about adding in one consultation a month with each of your clients? Many clients love that their website is ticking along nicely, but having you there sharing insights on improvements they can make to their website is super valuable. Making improvements will have a positive impact to their bottom line, and yours!
Oh, and don’t offer free trials. Just don’t. 🤷
Looking at increasing your pricing and not sure how to handle this transition? We’ve got your back! Read on. 👇
đź’°How to increase your care plan pricing
Having successfully scaled a care plan WordPress support company over the years, WP Buffs has made many mistakes and we’ve learned many lessons. Joe is super transparent about this in his yearly reviews over on the blog.
One of the most valuable lessons we’ve learned so far is that charging too low is just no good!
It’s not good for your business and it definitely isn’t good for your clients.
We found that charging too low attracted low quality clients who wanted a lot for their money. We weren’t always able to meet client expectations, because we were charging too little. We upped our care plan prices in Spring 2018 and saw fantastic results. We were able to scale further and provide more resources to our care plan clients.
As 2019 came around, we were in a great position. We knew that we were adding more and more value to our care plan clients. We were upping our software usage and switching to better systems, we were hiring more Engineers, and we were powering through 24 hour resolution times.
What did we do? We raised our prices…
This was a tough band well thought out decision, but we had to increase pricing to continue providing huge value to clients on care plans with us.
How did we handle the pricing transition?
We set a transition date of February 2019 for our direct client pricing increase, and we stuck to it. The team worked together to get new plans added to the website, marketing worked on new materials for the website and we got a solid plan together to execute this smoothly while continuing to look after our care plan customers non-stop.
Anyone mid-sales process was granted the old pricing.
We gave clients around ~2 months notice of our pricing increase and shared all of the amazing changes we’d made to be able to provide them more value, day in day out. We hopped on calls with clients whenever we needed to, and we remained super transparent about our reasoning for increasing pricing.
Plan your pricing increase way ahead of time and give clients plenty of notice.
Did we lose clients along the way?
Yes. Of course, we lost some clients. It was sad to see some long time clients leave us, but we still knew that the value we provided on our care plans was worth the new pricing structure. Our churn was actually very minimal during the transition and most of our existing clients moved over seamlessly. Not only that, but our sales went through the roof with these changes…
Usually, the wait between raising prices and your next sale is a bit nerve-racking. We made a sale on our new pricing structure within the first ~ 2 hours!
A well thought out and planned transition will help you retain your current client base and ensure that the pricing switch goes smoothly.
Client communication
This is the exact email we sent to our direct customers to inform them of our pricing and care plans changes. You can adjust the content of this email depending on the changes you’re making to your care plan structure.Â
Our care plan prices are increasing on [date].
Here’s why this is great news for you…
1. We strongly believe that by raising our prices, we can afford more for you. We’ll have more to reinvest into looking after your website. That means lower reply and resolution times, implementing automated malware removal just in case and continually better services moving forward.
2. We’ve grown our technical support team. As a result, we’ve seen our reply and resolution times get even faster. That’s super fast technical support, 24/7!
Our care plans themselves are changing slightly as well…
1. We’re renaming our plans! [enter details of any care plan changes you’re making]
2. We’re increasing the number of backups under our [plan name] to 2x daily. You’re welcome!
3. Speed optimization and mobile optimization will only be covered under our top-tier plan [enter plan name].
So, here’s how this will work… 🔎
[detail how this transition will happen, specifically for your client base – include details on how you’ll transition them to the new care plan and their new pricing date.]
If you have any questions at all, please email the team so we can make sure you have all the details.
Thank you, as always, for being a loyal [agency name] client. Our team loves making WordPress easier for businesses just like yours and we plan to continue doing it better and better for years to come. 🙏
🙋‍♀️ Partner FAQ
How should my clients send edit requests to WP Buffs?
Set your client up for success by asking them to provide the following in their edit requests. Including these details, using recommended tools, prevents us from having to ask follow-up questions, saves everyone time, and allows us to perform the edits more quickly and efficiently!
Use Loom 🎥
This Chrome extension allows you to take quick videos if a written email or screenshots just won't cut it.
Include screenshots đź“·
This is super helpful for our technical team. When you send images of exactly what's wrong, we can nail down exactly what needs to be done.
UNHELPFUL: "I need the attached image added to my blog post!"
HELPFUL: "Please add the attached image to my blog post (wpbuffs.com/this-specific-blog-post/) and see the directions below to put it in the right place. Thanks!"
Our 5 favorite screenshot tools are:
- Snipping Tool (Windows, Free)
- Jing (Windows/Mac, Free Trial)
- Skitch (Mac, Free)
- Snagit (Windows/Mac, $50)
- FastStone Capture (Windows, $20)
What are your usual response times and resolution times for tickets?
We get a lot of questions about response and resolution times here at WP Buffs! Here's the most honest answer we can give you -Â it depends on the ticket. Here's how it works:
Â
- When you email a support ticket in you will receive an automated response right away, if it is submitted correctly into our system.
- Within 2-6 hours you will receive a first response email from a WordPress Engineer that we have opened the ticket, we are looking at the complexity of it and will let you know when it has been resolved.
- Within 24-48 hours you will receive a resolution email with the changes made on that ticket.
Â
If the ticket is complex and the Buffs need more time, they will let you know if it is outside of that 48 hour window. Communication is key here with response and resolution times, we've got your back!
What's included in unlimited edits? What's not included?
Unlimited edits do include edits to content, changing plugin settings and CSS adjustments.
INCLUDED:
- Included:Â You want us to change out the logo with one that you provide.
- Included:Â You want us to add a new product to your WooCommerce store (for which you've provided all needed content).
- Included:Â You want us to install and set up a plugin to use its built in functionality.
- Included:Â You want us to take the text that you emailed to us and use it to replace the current content on your About page.
NOT INCLUDED:
- Not included: You want us to edit your logo image.
- Not included:Â You want us to create a custom checkout process for your WooCommerce store.
- Not included:Â You want us to create new functionality that doesn't exist in a plugin. (This would require custom development which may be available at an hourly development rate.)
- Not included:Â You want us to write content for or design your About page.
Can I outsource custom development work to you? How does that work?
Yes! We handle all custom development tasks on a case by case basis, our hourly rate is $75 per hour. This is a good way to increase your revenue as you can outsource that work to us and arrange an hourly rate that makes sense between you and your client.Â
When we receive a request that is out of scope of the care plan and will require custom development, our custom development team assess the project and put together a quote for you based on the hours they estimate the project will take.
We'll provide this estimate via email before any work goes ahead.Â
If you'd like to speak to us about a Custom Development Retainer Plan for your client, please contact us anytime through your white-label email address.
How do I add a new plan/website to my account?
To add a new plan, scroll back up to the top of the Partner Hub to find the form named 'Add a new care plan to your white-label account'.Â
Once you complete that form, we'll add the care plan to your subscription for you.
How can I upgrade or downgrade a plan?
We can upgrade a plan for you anytime. A Maintain Plan can be upgraded to Protect Plan or Perform Plan. Just complete the form above this FAQ named "Make changes to an existing subscription" and we'll do the rest!
Â
If we manage one of your client websites that use WooCommerce, any membership area functionality, payment functionality or multiple languages they will need to remain on Perform Plan and cannot be downgraded.
Â
Sites like this take more resources for us to manage, so making sure your clients are on the right plan means we'll be able to dedicate what's needed to keep your client's website secure, fast and running smoothly.
Â
If you'd like to upgrade or downgrade a plan, just use the form above this FAQ section named "Make changes to an existing subscription".
How do I update my payment information?
We've made it super easy to update your payment information!Â
Â
Go to My Account on the left hand side menu. In your account you'll find your unique link to update your card details anytime.
Â
Once updated, you're all set!
What is my white-label partner plan pricing?
When you sign up starting with 2 + care plans, you pay:
$219.00Â $175.20/mo for our Perform Plan$159.00Â $127.20/mo for our Protect Plan$79.00Â $63.10/mo for our Maintain Plan
We know that signing up clients on yearly plans is better for your LTV (Lifetime Value). That's why we give you 3 months free when you sign up yearly plans!
$790.00$711.00 Maintain Plan Annual.$1590.00$1,431.00 Protect Plan Annual.$2190.00$1971.00 Perform Plan Annual.
Do you manage sites hosted with AWS?
Yes, we do! Our team has a lot of experience and knowledge when it comes to handling sites hosted with AWS. You're in safe hands! We fully manage WordPress websites hosted under AWS on our Custom Pro.
🤷‍♂️ Still have questions?
We partnered with you because we think you’re awesome and we love working with you! You’re a serious WordPress development agency or freelancer with big goals and plans and we want to be a part of helping you achieve them.
We want to make sure you’re as successful as you can possibly be while working with us, so if there’s something you’d like to see in the Partner Hub, we want to know about it!
Contact the Customer Success Team via your usual white-label support email or partners@wpbuffs.com and we’ll make it happen!Â
Onward and upward!Â