theO's hosting bills have been killing us.
The problem is there's not much to trim. We push a lot of traffic and images and could be paying a lot more.
So I took a shot and contacted our web host with a simple, ridiculous request. It went (roughly) like this:
"Hey guys, we've been a happy customer for years but was wondering if we could get a discount on our server? Our goal is to save $60 a month with you. If not, and we'd hate to do this, we might have to shop around for a better deal. Just wanted to give you a heads-up."
They responded within 10 minutes giving us the full discount we requested. Woohoo!
Lessons:
- It never hurts to ask, no matter how ridiculous your request is
- When you ask for something ALWAYS give a specific number. Don't leave it to them. I'm sure if I was vague, I would have gotten a discount but maybe $30/month instead of $60/month
- People are lazy, they'll often just give you what you want rather than haggle
- Keeping an existing customer is MUCH cheaper than attracting and winning over a new one
We still need to cut costs but this was a good first step.
