1

I have been a web developer for quite a few years now, all my clients being acquaintances or similar. I now have a more formal client that I have recently created a website for. They are interested in a maintenance contract and would like me to create a service level agreement for them.

I am confident that I will be able to create an SLA, I have downloaded various templates that I can tweak to suit my business and their needs. I am planning to offer clients the chance to buy 'credits' at a set amount per credit. Once their credits run out, they can purchase.

They have asked me the following questions, which I'd like some help with if at all possible;

  • How would the support usage be measured?
  • How would email support be measured?
  • What kind of response times would we have?
  • Are there holiday exceptions where support would not be available?

My initial answers to the questions would be;

- I will provide an estimate of credit usage before commencing any work

- Free email support if response is under 15 minutes

- A 3 day business response time. Resolution times will vary

- Support will not be available when I am on annual leave (1 week per year)

Do these sound like reasonable answers?

The email question has me particularly stuck. Sometimes I will receive an email that I can quickly respond to and takes no more than 2 - 3 minutes for a reply. However other email queries rely on me sending instructions and screenshots etc.

Bear in mind I do this work in my spare time as I also have a full time job.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

If you have a full time job, I'd make it clear that prompt support is only available during, for example, 5:00pm and 10:00pm (depending on your availability). Prompt support will mean a response (even if it's just an acknowledgement) within 15 minutes. That is the first step, as there is nothing quite like having a client calling when I'm in a meeting with my day-job's boss.

Credits are a system I haven't used, but Microsoft does. Have the client purchase the credits ahead of time, set an expiry period on unused credits, and use the credits for support incidents. I can understand why the client wants this, but you need to be sure about it - if a credit is per incident, that can be a 15 minute fix, or a 2 week fix! If it's time slots, then I'm wondering why credits and not an hourly charge.

Be aware of free email support if quick - Yes, a simple yes or no should be free. Screenshots or walkthroughs or creating extra work for yourself needs to be billed. Use your credits or hourly charge for this.

As a freelancer, it's hard to take a break, unless you have coverage. Until you do, ensure that you give the client as much lead time as possible before you take vacation so they can plan accordingly.

Improve this answer
2
  • thanks for such a comprehensive answer @Canadian Luke. This is exactly the sort of advice I was hoping for. When I say they buy credits, one credit = one hour. Rather than people buying one hour at a time they can purchase 5 or 10 credits in bulk.
    – jonboy
    Commented May 4, 2016 at 19:46
  • Ahhh, that makes good sense! I've only seen credits by Microsoft
    – Canadian Luke ♦
    Commented May 4, 2016 at 19:56

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.