How to Choose a Hosting Provider with Great Support

Evaluate Hosting Support

There are a lot of factors to consider when shopping for a hosting provider. Reliability, speed, and security are important, but a good hosting provider should also include responsive, in-depth customer service. When your website isn’t working correctly, it can result in poor customer experience and revenue loss, so the last thing you want when facing an issue with your website is having to take extra time to solve the problem on your own.

When you’re shopping around, it’s worth taking time to evaluate a provider’s hosting support. Luckily, there are a couple of easy steps you can take to test a provider’s customer support before committing to their service.

Learn more: Complete Guide to Web Hosting

Test the Provider’s Responsiveness

A good hosting provider offers 24/7 support through multiple channels. You should be able to reach them through live chat, on the phone, by email, or with a ticket system at any time. If they only offer one or two ways to submit an issue, it’s probably going to take them a while to respond.

Before you buy, reach out to the provider through several of these channels with specific questions about your website. The more technical, the better. You want a knowledgeable provider who responds quickly with the exact information you’re looking for.

If the provider uses a ticket system, pay attention to whether or not they state response times on the tickets. This can give you a good idea of about how long it typically takes them to solve problems.

Find Real People

It seems obvious, but working with a real person, especially when trying to solve a complex problem with your website, is much better than reaching out to a bot who is just going to regurgitate the same information you can find online. When you contact the provider with specific questions, keep track of whether or not they use real humans to help their clients instead of AI.

Working with a hosting provider that provides human support in your time of need is invaluable, especially if you’re dealing with a complex issue that doesn’t have an easy fix. Nothing is more frustrating than getting the same, unhelpful answers from a bot when facing a problem that requires an immediate solution.

Read the Reviews

Reviews are a great way to determine a hosting provider’s level of customer support. Checking out a company’s reviews on Google or Trustpilot is a good way to gauge actual customer experience, but it can also be helpful to check out other forums or blogs written by folks who know what they’re talking about.

All company reviews, good and bad, are going to give you a pretty good picture of what your customer experience will be like. If you keep seeing the same complaint crop up in review after review, you can be pretty confident that the issue in question is not a one-off.

You’ll also want to look at the company’s response to reviews as well, especially the negative ones. Mistakes happen, but a good provider will take that criticism on board and work to find a solution not only for the customer leaving a bad review, but for current and future customers who may face the same problem. If the responses are defensive or dismissive, you can probably expect that attitude when you come to them with a future issue.

Check out the Help Center

If you’re more of a DIY type, take a look at the provider’s help center. It should be easy to find the answers you need independently. The help center should include a comprehensive knowledge base that easily searchable, well-organized, and up-to-date.

If the help center has a variety of documentation, like articles, tutorial videos, and FAQ, you’ll be able to find the answers you’re looking for more quickly. This documentation should cover everything related to hosting your site as well as provider-specific content.

Curious about website how hosting affect website performance? Check out our guide here.

Hosting Provider Red Flags

When evaluating a hosting provider’s support, it’s important to focus on how they can help you. But you also want to keep an eye out for red flags. Not all hosting providers are created equally, and there are some things to keep an eye out for if you want to avoid committing to a sub-par service.

Bad Reviews. As a business owner, you understand that it’s impossible to make everyone happy, but if a hosting provider has consistent bad reviews and a low customer rating, you can expect that level of service, too.

Lack of Backup and Security Documentation. A good hosting provider has no problem providing documentation. If a provider makes it difficult to access information about their security protocols or website backups, you may want to avoid them altogether.

“Unlimited” Claims. There are a lot of hosting services out there that are advertised as “unlimited,” but end up charging you for add-ons or improved service. Sometimes these services even go so far as to restrict your access to support if you’re paying for a lower tier package.

Long Wait Times. Be wary of any hosting provider who claims to offer 24/7 customer support, but takes a long time to respond to your request. They may mean that they accept calls, emails, and tickets 24/7, but they only address those problems during working hours.

Confusing Help Center. A help center is there to do just that: help. If the hosting provider’s help center is difficult to navigate, has no searchable documentation, or only provides general, vague content, it may hint that the provider is not as knowledgeable as they claim.

Choosing a hosting provider for your website is a commitment. That’s why it’s important to take a little bit of extra time before you committing to a provider to make sure they can offer the support you need.

Web Hosting with Northwest Registered Agent

At Northwest, we offer open-source web hosting with flexible plans, privacy protection, and human help. That’s right: real human help. You will always be in contact with a real human when you reach out. Our experts are here to help you out with customize care tailored to your website’s specific needs.

Take advantage of our super-fast load times, reliable hosting, and access to up-to-date WordPress features. And best part? You can bring your own site or build it here, with us.

All of our plans include 1 free domain, SSL certificate, and Domain Privacy.

Northwest offer more than just a place to host your website. We specialize in complete Business Identity services. If you form your business with Northwest, you get web hosting, but you also get a domain, a matching email, phone number, and help from real people. All for free.