How to Pick the Right Pricing Plan for Your Client
Choosing the right Squarespace plan for your client is arguably one of the most important steps of the whole web design process. When you hand over the keys to their brand new website, this plan is what will keep the site running smoothly moving forward.
As a web designer, it’s your responsibility to advise your clients on best practices. This includes finding the perfect mix of price and functionality. You don’t want clients to overspend on a plan that they don’t need, but they’ll require something robust enough to handle their short- and long-term goals.
Understanding client needs
First, you must understand exactly what your client needs from their website plan. This isn’t about what you want to offer (or sell) them, but about what they realistically need to create and run a website that will help them reach their business goals.
To fully understand client needs, there are two key areas to consider:
Assess the scope of the project
Each Squarespace plan offers a different level of complexity and features. During the consultation, determine the scope of the project. How complex does the website need to be? How many pages should it include? Should the website support ecommerce functionality?
The responses to these questions will help you determine the best Squarespace plan for your client.
Budget considerations
Budget discussions are a key part of client communication during every build, but they’re not just about how much you’ll charge to create the website. You also need to discuss how much the client is willing to set aside for their Squarespace plan.
Be clear with clients from the beginning and set expectations that they will need to pay for an ongoing Squarespace plan. Explain what they will get for their money. Squarespace has an array of different plans at different price points, meaning it’s likely you’ll find an option that suits your client’s budget.
Pro tip: Address budget upfront with your client. This is a great opportunity for you to share how you can immediately provide value to your client as a Circle member. As a member, you save 20% on new annual subscription plans. This, in turn, saves your clients 20%. Not yet a Circle member? Join today!
Exploring Squarespace plans
Let’s take a look at the different Squarespace plans and their key features.
Squarespace subscription tiers
Personal
With this plan, clients get a free custom domain and the chance to create mobile-optimized websites, but the wider features are limited.
Standout features available on this plan include:
Free custom domain (only with annual plans)
SSL security
Unlimited bandwidth
Video hosting
SEO features for site visibility
Templates to fit every need from blogs to portfolios
Mobile-optimized websites
24/7 customer support
Basic website metrics
Squarespace extensions
Business
A Squarespace business plan is a great value. With this option, you get everything from the personal plan plus advanced web analytics and ecommerce features.
Standout features available on this plan include:
Unlimited website contributors
Professional email from Google
Premium integrations and blocks
Complete customization with CSS and JavaScript
Fully integrated ecommerce
Sell unlimited products
Accept donations
Gift cards
Customer accounts
Pro tip: This is the plan that I recommend to 95% of my clients, even if they don’t need ecommerce functionality. In my experience, it gives most people everything they need and nothing they don’t.
Basic Commerce
The Basic Commerce plan provides a more robust ecommerce offering. Additionally, there’s no transaction fee for selling physical and service products.
Standout features available on this plan include:
Secure checkout on your domain
Powerful ecommerce analytics
Powerful merchandising tools
Synced product catalog on social media
Limited availability labels
Advanced Commerce
Squarespace’s most advanced plan comes with a far greater array of features, including advanced shipping, discounting, and subscription selling options.
Standout features available on this plan include:
Abandoned cart recovery
Ability to sell recurring subscription products
Advanced shipping
Advanced discounts
Commerce APIs
Bandwidth and storage needs
With some other web builders, bandwidth and storage are a big factor in pricing, and often more storage comes at incrementally higher price points.
This isn’t so with Squarespace!
Every single plan comes with unlimited bandwidth. For instance, no matter how many photos they wish to store or how many visitors they expect on their site, your clients will be covered. This is a fantastic selling point to potential and current clients.
Ecommerce considerations
If your client wants a website with ecommerce features, they will need to have a Business plan at the very least.
It’s not, however, a one-size-fits-all approach, and, instead, you’ll need to work with your clients to understand how advanced they want their online store to be, as well as how many products they wish to stock.
For example, a restaurant owner who wants to add a small store to their website to sell merchandise will benefit from a less advanced plan than an online clothing store whose website’s main purpose is to sell.
Additional features and customizations
When choosing the right Squarespace plan for your client, you also need to consider just how much they’ll want to customize the site.
For some, spruced-up Squarespace templates will be enough. However, more advanced websites may require code injection, something that can only be added to websites on a Business plan and above.
If the client only requires CSS, then you can suggest a Personal plan. But it’s important to get this information early on. If you go all in with HTML and JavaScript coding while the site is in trial, all of this will be disabled if your client ultimately opts for a Personal plan. This not only renders your work obsolete, but it will completely change the site’s overall functionality (and potentially its aesthetic).
Third-party integrations
Some clients may also want to add third-party integrations and extensions to extend the power of their website. Examples of additions that your client may want to make to their website include Google Analytics, Weglot, TaxJar, Printful, and more.
There are also other embeddable integrations should you find that your clients are interested in these integrations. If so, you can confidently rule out the Personal plan and explore Business plan options with your client.
Scalability and future growth
Selecting a Squarespace plan for your client isn’t just about where they are right now. You’ll want to take into account where they hope to be in the future, too.
Discuss plans for growth with your client so that you can verify their Squarespace plan will support scalability. For example, your client may not sell products today, but they may plan to in the next five years. With that in mind, it’s advantageous to set them up on a plan that will support this from the very start. In this particular case, the Business plan is their best bet as it empowers them to dip their toe into the “Selling” menus, get their store set up, and test the waters, all without committing to a larger monthly (or annual) subscription.
Your clients won’t always recognize how their future plans are relevant to the website they’re building today, so it’s your job to ask the questions.
Making the final decision
When you recommend a Squarespace plan to a client, you need to be prepared to justify it. Review the key requirements for the website that you identified with your client and align these with the most appropriate plan, backing up your decision with facts and data. Remember: the clearer you can be with your client, the better.
If you suggest one of the less advanced plans, it’s important to discuss any trade-offs or features the client won’t have access to. They may decide they aren’t willing to miss out on these, or, alternatively, they may want to avoid paying extra for features they don’t want or need.
A pro’s recommendations
Every client will have different needs. However, you can use the following framework as a guide to making plan recommendations.
Opt for a Personal plan if the client doesn’t require code injection, ecommerce functionality, premium integrations, or professional email.
If your client’s site doesn’t require ecommerce but does require code injection, the Business plan may be what they need.
If your client requires light ecommerce functionality, doesn’t expect too many sales, and is happy to pay a transaction fee on top of the usual payment processor fees, then the Business plan is still a great option.
For those expecting more than a handful of sales per month, the Commerce Basic plan is a better value than the Business plan.
Recommend a Commerce Advanced plan if your client needs abandoned cart recovery, selling recurring subscription products, advanced shipping, advanced discounts, or commerce APIs. No other plan includes these, so this is a hard-and-fast rule.
Circle members in eligible locations can earn a commission on the annual subscriptions (including websites, Acuity Scheduling, Digital Products, and Email Campaigns) they set up for clients. This means you can make more money when you bring clients to Squarespace! Learn more about the Circle Referral Payment Benefit.
Final thoughts
It is important to help your client select the right plan by giving them all the information they need to make a well-informed decision. By communicating the benefits of each plan clearly, you’ll take most of the decision-making out of the equation for your client, which lets them get back to other business needs.
Pro tip: Maintain ongoing communication with clients, even once their website is live. This gives them the confidence to take control and try things out with the confidence that they can get in touch with a pro if they get stuck. This expedites their learning curve and helps them understand how to use Squarespace more efficiently. Plus, great communication is a part of maintaining client relationships.
In the long term, you can continue to stay in touch with your clients. As they grow, their needs will likely evolve and you can be there to guide them again when the time comes to choose a Squarespace plan for their new circumstances.
Want more?
Check out Squarespace Circle, Squarespace’s program for professional web designers, developers, digital entrepreneurs, and creatives. Along with exclusive content, discounts, and other perks, Circle brings professionals together from all across the globe to exchange advice while connecting with new clients and collaborators.
