A few years ago I signed up with IndexTools, a web analytics service similar to Google Analytics, and paid for a plan for up to 1,000,000 page views each month.

I wasn’t sure which plan to go with, though, as I didn’t know how much traffic was generating.

In the end traffic level averaged around 300,000 page views per month with the occasional spike. I never went over my quota.

I remember asking one of their sales reps why their pricing couldn’t be based on usage. The answer was that it was technically harder to do so. Hard to believe given measuring traffic is their business.

I’ve got the same issue now with a web agency I work with. We have an agreement for 6 hours of maintenance and support each month. The price is discounted and it guarantees specific turnaround times. Extra hours are more expensive and there is no agreement on turnaround times. Of course this could have been negotiated before signing on the dotted line, but certain agencies are not particularly flexible.

Selling ‘blocks’ of things is convenient if you are a supplier as you may well end up not providing 100% of what is offered. But not such a good deal for the client.

Pricing that scales based on the amount of service provided is much more fair. Think about this next time you’re negotiating with a service provider.