Productized Services Definition & Examples

Productized services are a way for agencies to create a standardized, scalable offerings that combine the best aspects of products and services. They provide a fixed scope of work with predictable pricing and delivery timelines, allowing you to streamline operations, reduce costs, and minimize client frustrations.

From freelancers and startups to traditional service businesses, productization is a game-changer. It’s not just about shifting to self-serve or avoiding customer education. It’s about packaging services in ways that clients can easily understand and appreciate, much like picking a product based on its features and benefits.

I first started with productized services back in 2013, selling marketing packages to the ski trade:

productized service pricing table

I then moved on to selling funnel packages in 2016:

productized service plan table

And today in 2024 I’m doing it with my done for you newsletter service Letter Operators:

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The main difference between a productized service and an agency lies in standardization. Productized Services offer predefined solutions with set prices & deliverables catering to specific needs, making them more scalable and predictable.

Agency services, on the other hand, often involve custom solutions tailored to individual clients’ requirements, which can lead to higher costs and less predictability in revenue streams.

Benefits of productizing

Owning a productized service registers a wealth of benefits that traditional service providers may miss out on. One core advantage is the predictable revenue. Since each productized service has a fixed cost and defined scope, businesses can easily forecast their income, a feature that helps maintain cash flow stability – a critical aspect in the survivability and growth of any business.

Another advantage lies in the reduction or even the complete avoidance of the dreaded ‘scope creep’ scenario. With clear service parameters in place, businesses can maintain better control over their resources, timelines and budget.

From the client’s perspective, productizing services lifts the veil of uncertainty that usually accompanies bespoke services. Given that what they’re signing up for has a fixed price and clearly outlined deliverables, client satisfaction soars alongside efficiency, profit margins, and the company’s overall market competitiveness.

Productized Service Examples

Workhero is a comprehensive WordPress service that offers a range of solutions for businesses and agencies. They provide expert maintenance, security updates, search engine optimization, and website development services on a subscription basis. Work Hero’s team of experienced developers handles tasks such as regular website upkeep, building new sites from designs, and implementing various plugins and page builders. It has a really attractive pricing table:

AutoGrow is designed for entrepreneurs who want to write a book but lack the time or resources necessary. By providing ghostwriting, editing, design, and publishing services as part of their productized service offering, AutoGrow enables business owners to share their expertise with potential customers without getting bogged down in the details of content creation.

SpeedKills, another example of a successful productized service business, provides WordPress hosting services that are optimized for speed and performance. With fixed price plans tailored to specific tasks such as site migration or ongoing maintenance support, SpeedKills ensures that its clients receive top-notch web hosting solutions without having to worry about billable hours or contractual agreements. Vic Dorfman from Speedkills interviewed me back in the day about how I built a business on top of clickfunnels.

Design Pickle: A graphic design subscription service providing unlimited designs at a fixed monthly fee. They’ve streamlined the process by using dedicated designers assigned to each client account for consistency in style and quality.

ContentFly: A content marketing platform connecting businesses with professional writers for blog posts, articles, social media updates, etc., on demand. Clients can enjoy the convenience of acquiring top-notch content without having to manage in-house writers or freelance workers, thanks to ContentFly’s smooth ordering process and set pricing structure.

Bench: An online bookkeeping service that pairs businesses with a dedicated team of bookkeepers. They offer customized financial reporting, tax support, and expert advice at a fixed monthly price, eliminating the need for business owners to manage their own accounting tasks.

Types of Productized Offer Structures

When it comes to productizing your services, there are two primary types of offer structures: one-time purchases and recurring subscriptions. Choosing the right model for your business depends largely upon what customers genuinely require from their service providers, ensuring that the resulting offering is both valuable and relevant to potential customers.

One-time Purchase Models

In a one-time purchase model, clients pay a fixed price for a specific task or project. This type of structure works well for businesses that provide custom services or have clearly defined deliverables with little need for ongoing support. For example, AutoGrow’s content creation solution offers busy entrepreneurs an all-inclusive package where they can get high-quality content without worrying about billable hours or contractual agreements.

  • Main benefits: Predictable income and highly efficient processes.
  • Ideal for: Custom services, specific tasks, and projects with clear end goals.

Recurring Subscription Models

A recurring subscription model involves charging clients on a regular basis (e.g., monthly) in exchange for access to certain features or ongoing support. This approach suits businesses like WP Curve, which offered WordPress maintenance plans at different pricing tiers based on client needs before selling to GoDaddy.

Recurring models work best when there is an ongoing need for the service provided by the company – such as website management or continuous content marketing efforts – allowing them to build long-term relationships with their clientele while enjoying predictable revenue streams.

  • Main benefits: Stable cash flow and opportunities to upsell additional products/services over time.
  • Ideal for: Businesses providing continuous value through updates/support, or services that require ongoing maintenance.

Ultimately, it’s up to you and your business objectives, customer requirements, and the kind of productized service provided to decide between a single purchase or reoccurring subscription. By understanding what your potential customers are looking for in a service provider, you can tailor your offer structure to best meet their expectations while maximizing profitability and scalability for your own consulting business.

Productized services provide creators with a variety of methods to generate income from their content, varying from single payments to continuous subscriptions. By gathering feedback from ideal clients and refining the concept accordingly, content creators can ensure that their productized service is meeting customer needs.

Identifying Ideal Clients for Feedback

To refine your concept based on real-world feedback, start by identifying at least ten ideal clients who represent the types of businesses or individuals you want to serve. These should be people who are likely to benefit from your productized service offering and have experience in dealing with similar services firms.

  • Content creators: If you’re targeting content creators as potential customers for your newsletter software, reach out to bloggers, podcasters, video producers or other professionals involved in content marketing.
  • Business owners: For those focusing on providing solutions tailored towards business owners’ needs such as SEO strategies or website maintenance plans; connect with entrepreneurs running small-to-medium-sized enterprises across various industries.
  • Venture capitalists:If your target audience includes venture capitalists looking for assistance in evaluating startups before investing capital into them; consider reaching out directly via LinkedIn or industry-specific networking events where they may be present.

Implementing Changes Based on Customer Insights

Gathering insights from these ideal clients can provide invaluable information about their specific pain points and expectations when it comes to working with a provider like yourself. Use this feedback to refine your productized service offering, ensuring it aligns with their needs and provides a solution that truly adds value.

  1. Adjusting pricing: If potential customers express concerns about the fixed price of your services, consider adjusting your pricing structure or offering tiered packages based on specific tasks or levels of support provided.
  2. Streamlining processes: In case clients mention inefficiencies in the current workflow for similar services they’ve used before; take this opportunity to develop a highly efficient and repeatable process within your own business model. This will not only address their concerns but also set you apart from competitors who may still be relying on billable hours or custom contractual agreements.
  3. Incorporating additional features:If feedback suggests that certain aspects are missing from existing solutions available in the market; explore ways to incorporate these into your product development roadmap while maintaining focus on delivering predictable income through scalable offerings.

Taking time to gather real-world feedback from ideal clients is an essential step towards refining and perfecting your productized service offering. By understanding their unique challenges and expectations, you can tailor-make solutions that provide genuine value while setting yourself up for long-term success as a provider of high-quality, scalable consulting services,

Conclusion

In conclusion, productized services are a great way for content creators to offer standardized and high-quality services to their target market. By identifying your audience, defining your offerings, setting prices and packages, creating an effective sales funnel, and prioritizing customer support you can create a successful productized service. It’s important to focus on quality over quantity, automate where possible, leverage existing resources while keeping up with demand.

Remember that pricing strategies such as value-based pricing model or tiered pricing model could be used in promoting your productized service through social media platforms like developing a content strategy or networking with influencers. Measuring the success of your productized service is essential by tracking performance metrics and analyzing customer feedback so you can adjust strategies as needed.


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