PeoplesHost Takes a Tailored Approach to Ecommerce Hosting with Consistent Service and Competitive Prices

TL; DR: PeoplesHost was founded to offer fast, reliable, and competitively priced solutions for SMBs. While many hosting companies compete to drive prices lower, PeoplesHost actively looks for business customers that value service and reliability over the cheapest price point. PeoplesHost also offers free site migrations, which is a part of why it has seen steady year-over-year growth since its launch.

Many hosting companies launch with the goal of growing as fast as they can. That may include leasing servers and stretching themselves thin to reach every corner of the global market.

Those companies may also compete directly with other value hosting providers that aim to increase access and decrease price — all while service and support fall by the wayside.

PeoplesHost takes a different approach to hosting by working with the right business customers and providing robust service at a competitive price. The host owns all of its infrastructure, which allows it to maintain higher levels of service and fulfill its promises.

It also doesn’t compete with hosting providers that offer unlimited plans at the lowest price points. Over time, customers with those plans realize that, without restrictions, servers may be jammed up at certain times of the day. As is often the case with hosting, things that sound too good to be true usually are.

In addition to receiving free site migrations, businesses that work with PeoplesHost know and they can always reach a real person when they call for help. Because hosting customers find it hard to get someone on the line, PeoplesHost provides real associates to help solve problems.

“We started in October of 2015, so we’ve been at it for a number of years. There are a million web hosting companies out there, and we’re focused on providing our ecommerce and business customers the fastest and most reliable services,” said Adam Bryner, Founder of PeoplesHost.

Because it doesn’t try to cater to every possible customer, PeoplesHost has built a reputation for working with discerning customers who recommend its services to other businesses. PeoplesHost lets its products and services speak for themselves instead of developing big-budget marketing campaigns and aggressive sales strategies.

“All of our options are scalable for every kind of business solution, and our customers are used to no downtime,” Adam said.

Businesses understand that high-quality solutions often come at a price. But PeoplesHost keeps its prices competitive because it owns its servers and infrastructure. That ownership also allows PeoplesHost to employ easy-to-reach, informed customer support representatives.

Hosting options that compete solely on the lowest price typically start their race to a value price by sacrificing speed and customer support. PeoplesHost provides both — along with reasonably priced plans — by staying out of the fray and focusing on steadily growing its offerings and infrastructure.

It’s not often that online service companies market their services through word of mouth, although that is often the best way to find the right company. Marketing departments can make anything sound good, but real users can shed light on their experiences and what others can expect.

“We get our customers from word of mouth. There are a lot of big hosting companies out there, but it’s hard to get on the phone with an actual person there when a question does come up,” Adam said.

Hosting providers that focus on selling at the lowest possible price have become notorious for being impossible to reach. It shouldn’t surprise people that, if a company directs most of its resources to automation and acquiring server space, there isn’t much left in the budget to implement an effective customer success program.

PeoplesHost was founded to create a great product alongside a stellar customer experience, which is why its clients have remained so happy with its service.

“We make sure to take care of our customers. When you call us, you’re not going to be on hold,” Adam said.

Some larger hosting companies have tried to do away with the human aspect by streamlining a product and building out content flows to answer user questions through chatbots and AI technology. However, when a unique problem or question comes up, the customer may wait a long time for a real answer. Though technology can solve many problems, dedicated support staff helps make users comfortable navigating new systems.

Many companies find that running a successful operation isn’t just about the products and services they offer. It is also about the customers and vendors they work with. Business is about relationships, and both ends should have the same level of commitment.

That’s why PeoplesHost has been selective with its customer base from the start. The company doesn’t shy away from the fact that it primarily serves SMBs and ecommerce companies and not every internet user with a website.

“Our customers hardly ever write to support because they’re not running into lag, and the product is easy to navigate,” Adam said. “We don’t work with blacklisted IPs, and so a lot of our strategy is to just work with the right customers, which are mostly businesses that know exactly what they’re looking for from a hosting service.”

By partnering with select customers, PeoplesHost keeps its network clean and dissociated from blacklisted IPs. That approach also allows customers to get what they paid for because no single customer uses up a significant portion of the bandwidth.

PeoplesHost has built a customer base of businesses that know what they want, and they aren’t overloading the support staff because they often receive even better service than they expected. For many companies, a hosting service is only as good as its uptime, and PeoplesHost also stands out with 99.9% uptime.

Slow and steady growth has led to more reliable service and support, but a large part of PeoplesHost’s success is prioritizing building the right team.

PeoplesHost’s founders had decades of combined hosting experience under their belt when they started the company. And it has continued to invest in talent to build the best product.

“We have a small team, and everybody is well taken care of. And this leads to amazing customer service. But it also means that things run smoothly throughout the whole process because the team is invested in and maintaining our servers,” said Adam.

Service remains high quality because the people who answer calls and emails are invested in the product and treated well, and that extends to each member of the team. There’s a different level of responsibility and care when employees feel like they belong, and that is reflected in all of the host’s offerings.

From support to a near-perfect uptime rate, PeoplesHost still focuses on the end goal of making a great product at a competitive price. Instead of being distracted competing for customers who will only pay the lowest price, PeoplesHost has built a premium hosting service, offering fast speeds, stable servers, and friendly customer support. It’s a different business model than that of the majority of hosting providers, but many ecommerce companies find it a breath of fresh air.