One Star – anything over 24 hours is unacceptable, including email support
Two Stars – average response times to respond to a customer’s service request, approximately 12 hours
Three Stars – mismatch across channels, for instance, immediate responses on live chat, but slow response times on email or ticketing systems (takes days to resolve a single issue)
Four Stars – consistency across channels, agents being on the same page, clear and consistent messaging, and above-average response times
Five Stars – under a minute response time on live chat (preferably 6-15 seconds), instant connection to phone support, up to one hour for email and ticketing system
Reliability
One Star – customer support isn’t accessible at all times, 24/7
Two Stars – support agents aren’t synchronized; they don’t represent the company culture in the same ways, significant variations in the responses’ quality depending on the active agent
Three Stars – support agents don’t always set the right expectations and might not know when to refuse a request that’s not under their area of authority/responsibility
Four Stars – support agents set the right expectations, keep information flowing both ways, and stay true to the company’s values
Five Stars – customers can always reach support 24/7/365 and expect the same level of quality each time they connect with customer service (the highest consistency levels)
Integrity
One Star – customers find it challenging to find a common language with support agents; the conversation usually takes the form of an argument
Two Stars – support agents act overly protective of their interests and tend to be right, not putting the customers first
Three Stars – “nonchalant†support agents that try to finish the conversation faster, not better; still, they stick to the company’s values and tend to respresent it in a good way
Four Stars – support agents demonstrate sound judgment, honesty, dependability, and loyalty, backed up by a strong surveillance system (i.e., a rating system appears after the conversation so that the customer can fill in a form)
Five Stars – the support service lives up to the commitment made either through explicit statements or implicitly through behavior, even when no one is “watchingâ€
Courtesy & Patience
One Star – impatient customer support agents, explaining the processes on a higher level, not understandable to a beginner
Two Stars – dedicated agents to resolving one’s issue, one way or another
Three Stars – professional and helpful support willing to cooperate with first-time users to understand things from their point of view
Four Stars – super-friendly support agents open for communication across multiple channels; willing to adjust their language to the customer’s level of skill and understanding
Five Stars – polite and patient customer support agents, willing to repeat the same process, offering various solutions for a single problem so that the customer can implement the easiest one across various channels (live chat, or even phone) to get closer to the customer
Professionalism
One Star – support agents don’t always stay calm under stress and lack the skill for conflict resolution
Two Stars –agents don’t know the company’s services well; thus, they aren’t genuinely reliable and helpful
Three Stars – customer service demonstrates positive attitudes and a high willingness to learn and assist the customer
Four Stars – the agents are very well organized; each person holds themselves accountable for their actions and has specific tasks within the organization
Five Stars – customer support agents are solution-oriented, entirely reliable, demonstrate high standards, and show that they care about every aspect of their job and the customer’s well-being
Providing Solutions
One Star – the customer can rely exclusively on self-help or no help at all
Two Stars – a comprehensive Knowledge base, FAQ, or video tutorials that explains almost all issues a customer can face with the provider are available
Three Stars – customers support agents are available to resolve the issue over live chat, phone, email, or ticketing system
Four Stars – 24/7 available support agents are willing to guide the customer in solving their issue or resolving it themselves if possible and preferred
Five Stars – customer support offers multiple solutions for a single problem, depending on the user’s level of understanding (beginner or pro)
Phone Support
One Star – no phone support available
Two Stars – automated support system, backed up by tutorials and canned responses
Three Stars – human customer support representatives available during work hours
Four Stars – 24/7/365 available customer support agents
Five Stars – multilingual phone support service available around-the-clock, 24/7/365
Chat Support
One Star – no live chat support
Two Stars – chatbot available 24/7 providing automated responses (usually insufficient)
Three Stars – customized chatbot service available 24/7, redirecting customers to helpful step-by-step tutorials within the provider’s Knowledgebase
Four Stars – human-powered, fast, and helpful chat support available during work hours
Five Stars – live chat support agents available round-the-clock, 24/7/365, providing fast responses, helpful guidance, or a solution to the customer’s problem (preferably in multiple languages)
Email Support
One Star – no email support available
Two Stars – automated email templates for customer support, such as welcome emails with login details, but response times might take days
Three Stars – very helpful but pretty slow email support, with over 24 hours of response time
Four Stars – email support with a few hours of response time, providing helpful guidance and resolution of problems
Five Stars – email support agents that respond as soon as possible, apologize for the negative experience, explain and provide context to the customer, and, if needed, offer an incentive, discount, or a refund
Ticket Support
One Star – no ticketing system available
Two Stars – poorly designed ticketing system with slow response times, no automation, and insufficient responses for the customer
Three Stars – a reliable ticketing system, but pretty slow response times
Four Stars – a well-developed ticketing system offering concise subject lines (a few options to choose from) and space to describe the issue in detail with average response times
Five Stars – the support service is very fast to respond (1 to 3 hours); the agents resolve all customer inquiries and prioritize more severe issues
Price
One Star – more expensive plans than competitors offering the same value
Two Stars – very cheap plans due to lack of features or quality of service
Three Stars – good money for quality but costly extras, significantly increasing the price of the base plan
Four Stars – average prices for the value, sufficient number of freebies, and cheap add-ons
Five Stars – excellent price to value ratio, money-back guarantee, or a sufficient free trial to test the service
Features
Useful Tools
One Star – no free goods included in the offer, nor available as extras
Two Stars – helpful tools are available as add-ons at an extra charge
Three Stars – the plan includes a user-friendly control panel (cPanel), free domain, and SSL certificate
Four Stars – more extensive offer, including backups, Website Builder, pre-installed apps
Five Stars – cPanel with Softaculos and 1-click installs, CMS integrations, DNS, free website migration, automated daily backups, free domain transfer/registration, email services
Global Presence
One Star – data center in a single location
Two Stars – two to three server locations worldwide
Three Stars – server network dispersed on at least two continents
Four Stars – a well-dispersed network covering four to five continents and multiple locations
Five Stars – a well-established server network with data centers across multiple continents, Cloudflare CDN, speed-enhancing and caching technologies
Free SSL
One Star – the provider doesn’t offer SSL certificates
Two Stars – SSL certificates are only available as paid add-ons
Three Stars – free Let’s Encrypt included in each web hosting plan
Four Stars – each customer gets a free SSL certificate with the possibility to upgrade to a more advanced solution
Five Stars – a variety of SSL certificates available as cheap add-ons with one free SSL included for each account
Free Backups
One Star – the provider doesn’t offer free backups
Two Stars – weekly backups performed by the provider, while the customer can perform a few manual backups
Three Stars – daily automated backups and snapshots stored on-site
Four Stars – automated backup service, backups kept for weeks with the option to download copies to local storage
Five Stars – hourly/daily/nightly backups kept in a different location/offsite for data loss recovery
Email Accounts
One Star – no email subscription included for free
Two Stars – customers get an email with each web hosting plan
Three Stars – up to a few email accounts with each plan
Four Stars – email hosting is available as a separate service
Five Stars – custom, feature-rich email service that allows clients to set up a custom email address and use it to send and receive emails, included for free
Website Builder
One Star – the hosting packages don’t include tools for building a website
Two Stars – a Website Builder available as a paid add-on
Three Stars – Website Builder with only a few basic features included in all web hosting packages, or an advanced version limited to the more expensive plans
Four Stars – a comprehensive and easy-to-use Website Builder available in all web hosting packages
Five Stars – customers can choose from beginner-friendly, high-quality Website Builders with 1-click installs or other integrations
Free Migration
One Star – no free website migration included
Two Stars – a single free site migration for each customer, possibly with errors
Three Stars – time-consuming migration process with a lot of downtimes
Four Stars – fast and efficient, automated website migrations available in all web hosting plans
Five Stars – fast and human-powered, free website migrations included in each package, with no downtime
Benefits
One Star – poor performance and feature set, no flexibility or support services
Two Stars – low long-term contracts and technical support available
Three Stars – improved website performance, enhanced security, high uptime, and unlimited resources
Four Stars – brand building possibilities with liberty in web design and templates, a high SERP, and branded email address
Five Stars – the ultimate customization options and flexibility in pricing, design, and hardware
Freebies
One Star – a minimum of a free SSL certificate
Two Stars – free, user-friendly control panel, SSL certificates, domains, and backups
Three Stars – other speed-enhancing and security features, such as caching, WAF, malware scan and removal, etc.
Four Stars – free domain registration/transfer, at least one email account, automated backups, Cloudflare CDN, SSDs, other advanced technologies, and tools
Five Stars – many free goods included, up to unlimited email accounts, website migrations, hourly backups, Softaculous with 1-click installs, CMS integrations, including WordPress, and more
Performance
Uptime
One Star – no uptime guarantee, frequent outages, no compensation for downtime
Two Stars – insufficient uptime guarantee with lots of “tricky†issues in the SLA
Three Stars – real-time results below 99.9%, timely notifications for scheduled maintenance
Four Stars – very reliable uptime of 99.95% or above with compensations for downtime
Five Stars – excellent uptime of 99.999% to 100% availability, backed up with real-time testing and results
User Friendly
Ease of Use
One Star – no free control panel/dashboard included
Two Stars – custom control panel that’s not as straightforward; confusing to beginners
Three Stars – straightforward and comprehensive custom control panel or paid integration with popular alternatives, such as cPanel, Plesk, Direct Admin, Webmin, etc.
Four Stars – you get an excellent control panel free of charge, along with self-help for navigating its hosting features (video tutorials, step-by-step instructions)
Five Stars – popular control panel integration or a custom solution, self-help articles/videos, and instant chat customer support available for assistance in the process
Creating an Account
One Star – shady registration process that might impose security and privacy concerns on the customer
Two Stars – lots of required fields and information; account activation might take up to several days
Three Stars – an encrypted process that protects the user but might be time-consuming and take over 24 hours
Four Stars – straightforward account registration with customer service available for additional assistance in the process
Five Stars – instant account activation with only a few required fields in the process
Connecting a Domain and Installing WordPress
One Star – the web hosting plan isn’t WordPress optimized
Two Stars – transferring a domain or installing WordPress requires tech skill or experience
Three Stars –straightforward process of connecting a domain and installing WP, with just a few clicks
Four Stars – WordPress-optimized hosting packages demonstrating excellent ease of use with 1-click installs and domain transfers
Five Stars – customers can choose from several options, either 1-click installs, automated or manual processes, depending on their needs and skill
HostAdvice.com provides professional web hosting reviews fully independent of any other entity. Our reviews are unbiased, honest, and apply the same evaluation standards to all those reviewed.While monetary compensation is received from a few of the companies listed on this site, compensation of services and products have no influence on the direction or conclusions of our reviews. Nor does the compensation influence our rankings for certain host companies.This compensation covers account purchasing costs, testing costs and royalties paid to reviewers.
