How to Increase Profit Margin by Offering Value-Added Services

As a WordPress agency owner, finding different ways to grow revenue can be challenging, especially if you don’t want to just keep raising the prices. But the good news is that there are different ways how to increase profit margin without relying solely on price hikes. One of the most effective strategies is to offer value-added services that complement your core offering while creating more value for your clients.

This is essentially a win-win situation; your clients get more comprehensive products or solutions, and you get to increase your revenue without the negative side effects of higher costs. However, knowing how to properly use this tactic is crucial for capitalizing on its effectiveness.

In this post, we’ll dive deeper into what exactly value-added services are, the different types you can include, and how to communicate their benefits successfully.

What Are Value-Added Services?

Value-added services (VAS) are additional offerings that go beyond your core product or service, providing extra value to your clients. Your core products fulfill the needs of your customers; that’s what they came to purchase. On the other hand, value-added services enhance their experience, therefore contributing to long-term success.

So, the key difference is that core offering is essential, while value-added services go beyond that with the aim of providing supplementary benefits. For instance, let’s say you are offering standard web design services to your clients. In this scenario, your core offering would be the design and development of the website itself. In contrast, value-added services could be ongoing SEO optimization, performance monitoring, or website maintenance, which help the client’s website perform better over time, rank better on search engines, and continue to meet their evolving needs.

Why Value-Added Services Boost Profit Margin

By now, it’s probably simple enough to spot how easy it can be to boost the profit margin without simply just raising the prices. The reality is that you can price your core offerings only so high before people start searching for more affordable agencies. But value-added services offer a perfect workaround. They allow you to price your services much better or unlock the potential for recurring revenue streams.

With either of these payment structures, you are unlocking higher revenue without spiking the prices unjustifiably. So, looking at everything the client gets, the premium price you are charging will totally make sense. On the other hand, deciding to turn your maintenance and support services into a recurring revenue stream gives you the stability that one-time payment can’t offer.

In all honestly, value-added services offer several ways to boost revenue without drastically changing your core business model. And when it comes to growing your agency’s profits, upselling existing clients is almost always a more efficient and cost-effective strategy than constantly acquiring new ones. Client acquisition can be expensive and time-consuming; it requires marketing and advertising, lead generation, etc. On the other hand, once a client has already chosen to work with you and is satisfied with your work, they are far more likely to buy additional services from you. Ultimately, the cost of upselling existing clients is typically much lower.

Lastly, incorporating different value-added services can turn your agency into a one-stop shop for all the client’s needs. This will not only make you appear as a sole expert in the field but also boost your earning potential significantly.

Top Value-Added Services to Consider

In order to differentiate your agency from the competitors and ultimately boost your profit margin, offering value-added services is a smart, sustainable strategy. Here are some common examples of additional services agencies can offer to their clients, along with how they meet specific needs or complement the pain points of your clients.

Depending on your core offerings, some or all of these lucrative services can seamlessly fit into your profitable service offerings.

Ongoing website maintenance

This is one of the often overlooked value-added services. And clients often don’t think they need this kind of support, likely due to a lack of knowledge of what goes into keeping a website functional and optimized. Either way, this makes ongoing website maintenance a great additional service to offer to your customers wherever you are designing, redesigning, or developing their website.

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What does ongoing website maintenance include?

Ongoing website maintenance includes all the services needed to keep a website in top shape. It typically covers:

• Security updates and patches. Websites are vulnerable to security threats, especially if they’re not regularly updated. Maintenance services include the timely installation of security patches, plugins, and any third-party tools integrated into the site.
• Backup management. This entails setting up automated backups of your client’s website data so it can be restored quickly in case of a crash, cyberattack, or accidental data loss.
• Monitoring for broken links and 404 errors. These broken links and pages that can’t be found frustrate users and negatively impact SEO rankings, that’s why you need to perform regular checks.
• Compliance and legal updates. Depending on the type of business, websites may need to be kept compliant with laws and regulations such as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act), or other privacy standards.

While these are just some of the tasks your agency will need to cover, the overall goal of ongoing website maintenance is to ensure that the website remains functional, secure, and aligned with the client’s evolving needs.

How do you sell ongoing website maintenance to clients?

As clients are usually unaware of what website maintenance entails, in order to sell it to them, you need to emphasize the benefits they will have. Explain that, just like any other digital asset, their website requires regular updates, security patches, backups, and performance monitoring.

By offering maintenance packages, you help ensure that their website runs smoothly and stays protected from potential threats. Additionally, emphasize how this service keeps the site performing at its best – improving load times, SEO rankings, and the overall user experience. Be prepared, as clients may not fully realize the importance of these tasks until you explain how they can impact their business. The goal is to position ongoing maintenance as an essential service that provides long-term value, both for their business operations and their online success.

SEO & content marketing

When combined, SEO and content marketing are two powerful value-added services that can significantly enhance a brand’s online visibility and drive targeted traffic. While many clients know what SEO is, they still may not fully understand the ongoing need for it and how it will keep their online presence competitive.

What does SEO & content marketing include?

• Keyword research and optimization. Depending on the industry your client is in, the targeted audience will differ, and so will the content they will search for online. You need to find the most relevant keywords and include them in the content your agency produces.
• On-page and off-page SEO. This includes the website’s internal elements like page titles, meta descriptions, header tags, and high-quality backlinks to boost website authority.
• Blog posts and articles. Creating informative, SEO-optimized written content that answers common questions or addresses client pain points. This is where you’ll include the researched keywords.

These are just some of the key tasks your agency will need to provide when offering SEO and content marketing as an additional service. Ultimately, you’ll need to create a comprehensive strategy that yields results for your clients.

How to sell these services?

Selling SEO and content marketing requires showcasing the long-term ROI (Return on investment) these services provide. The good news is that results here are easily measurable, so both you and your client will know how valuable they are and how much you’ve achieved. With all this new genuine traffic their website is getting, they will easily see why your services are indispensable.

The great thing about this type of value-added service is that essentially all your clients need it. So, even existing clients could benefit from some monthly SEO packages or content plans. Successfully upselling your services here will help you generate recurring revenue and turn your prior customers into loyal clients again.

Custom integrations & automation

If your clients are looking to streamline their operations and improve efficacy, which they probably do, they will need this value-added service. No matter the industry they are in, integrating essential tools such as CRM systems, payment gateways, or booking platforms simplifies complex workflows. This automation enables smoother customer interactions and better data management, all crucial for customer satisfaction.

Performance optimization

Performance optimization entails far more than just how fast the client’s website loads; it impacts user experience, SEO rankings, and conversion rates. Offering performance optimization as a value-added service will provide your clients with real, measurable results while helping you increase your agency’s profit margin.

It includes website speed optimization, mobile optimization, server performance and uptime monitoring, as well as some other services. When speaking with a client, you should highlight that faster websites also result in higher conversion rates because users are more likely to engage and take action on a site that loads quickly.

Additionally, by positioning performance optimization as an essential add-on service, you can demonstrate the direct ROI it brings. This can be a powerful selling point because, besides higher conversions and better loading speeds, it also brings lower bounce rates and better overall engagement.

These improvements are easy to understand and justify, while they also give your agency an opportunity to charge premium prices for ongoing optimization and performance audits.

Consulting & strategy sessions

Offering consulting and strategy sessions is an excellent way to position your agency as a trusted advisor while adding significant value to your clients. Consulting can be regarding digital marketing, website strategy, or business growth; either way, these sessions allow you to provide expert guidance that goes beyond selling your core products.

When you sell a specific product, it only takes a bit more work to help clients see the full picture. Just make sure you are guiding them through a comprehensive strategy that aligns with their business goals. This approach helps you establish a deeper, more long-term relationship with clients, which is key for boosting your agency’s value.

How do value-added services meet additional client needs?

Each of these value-added services helps solve specific problems or meet additional needs that go beyond the scope of the core offering. They help you target client’s common pain points and enhance their overall experience. With that being said, it’s not necessary for your agency to offer them all, but rather to choose the ones you excel at that are complementary to the core services that you already offer.

When customers come for a specific service, they are often unaware of what else goes into building a complete solution for their business.  For example, a client may approach your agency for a website redesign but may not realize the role of ongoing SEO optimization, content creation, or website maintenance plays in a long-term strategy.

This is where your agency’s ability to upsell and cross-sell value-added services becomes a powerful tool for increasing your profit margin. You are the one who should sell clients something they need, as they are likely unaware of the importance of the added service.

Packaging and Pricing Value-Added Services

After making an executive decision on which value-added services to offer and which ones you should skip, next on the agenda is to see how you can effectively sell them. The key is to create offerings that clearly demonstrate the additional value your agency brings.

Creating bundles

One of the most effective ways to offer value-added services is by creating service bundles that combine both your core services (for example, web design or development) with add-ons ( website maintenance, SEO, content creation, etc.). By doing so, your clients can clearly see the full scope of what they’re getting, and you can easily demonstrate the value of your offerings. Additionally, this gives you an opportunity to price your services much better, charging premiums on the bundles that come with full support.

In this scenario, using tired packages such as Basic, Pro, Enterprise, etc., is a great way to cater to different client budgets while offering scalable options. Lastly, bundling up your services will allow you to increase your average revenue per client as you’ll be offering packages that fit their needs but also make it easy for them to see value in each plan you have.

Value-based pricing

When it comes to pricing, great advice to keep in mind is to charge for your services based on the value they bring to the client rather than just the time and effort. This strategy justifies higher prices by focusing on the results that clients can expect, not just the tasks you’re performing.

For example, when offering SEO services,  instead of charging by the hour, you can highlight the value in terms of increased traffic, lead generation, or conversions. Similarly, when offering custom integrations, you can price them by the value they provide in terms of time saved, efficiency improvements, and business growth. This way, clients are much more likely to accept your offerings as they’ll know exactly what they will get out of them.

Effectively Communicating the Benefits of Value-Added Services to Clients

Like with any other sale you are trying to make, in order to close a deal, you need to speak to the client’s pain points so they really hear what you have to say. In the case of value-added services, that means demonstrating how your services will drive real results for their business. Here are some key points to make clear when speaking to a client and how to do so:

Educate clients on the ROI

One of the best ways to secure a sale of value-added service is to take time to educate your clients on the return on investment (ROI) they can expect. To do this effectively, you need to go beyond listing the benefits of each value-added service and truly demonstrate the value they bring to the business.

One effective way to communicate ROI is by quantifying the results of your services. For example, you can show how SEO services could increase organic traffic by a specific percentage. In this case, it’s important to highlight that organic web listings get 73% of clicks –  a significant portion of search traffic. As for performance optimization, be sure to mention that if a website takes more than 5.7 seconds to load, conversion rates can drop below 0.6%. This way, your client will see how important website load speed is and will, therefore, much rather pay for your assistance.

For all value-added services we discussed, ROI is typically moderate to high, and here is how you can present it to the clients:

• Website maintenance and support: Regular updates, security patches, and uptime monitoring ensure that your client’s website runs smoothly and remains secure. This reduces the chances of costly downtime or data breaches, saving them money in the long run. Additionally, well-maintained websites perform better, leading to improved SEO and a better user experience, which translates into higher conversions.
• UX/UI audits and improvements: A better user experience can directly boost conversion rates. Small changes like a more intuitive design, faster navigation, and mobile optimization can lead to overall higher engagement and reduced bounce rates.
• Custom integrations and automation: By implementing tools like CRMs, payment gateways, or booking systems, clients can reduce manual work, improve operational efficiency, and save time. For example, an automated booking system will save hours of administrative work, allowing the client to focus on revenue-generating activities.

Use client testimonials and case studies

A great way to demonstrate how good your value-added services are is to share the thoughts of your satisfied customers. Client testimonials offer firsthand accounts of how your services have made a meaningful impact on their business, helping to build credibility and trust.

For example, consider a client who saw significant improvements after implementing your SEO and content marketing services. A testimonial from this client might highlight how their website traffic increased by 30% within three months thanks to optimized content and targeted keywords. Or perhaps they noticed a notable improvement in their conversion rates due to performance optimization services. These types of testimonials are incredibly valuable because they showcase the real-world benefits of your services.

In addition to testimonials, case studies are also a fantastic tool for showcasing the results. A case study allows you to go into more detail about a client’s challenges, how your services addressed those challenges, and the outcomes that followed. This way, you can take potential clients through the entire process, from problem to solution, helping them visualize how you can solve their problems in a similar way.

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Here is a great example of how to present this:

Consider a client in the healthcare industry (like a clinic or a dental office) that is struggling with manual scheduling, resulting in double bookings, missed appointments, and inefficient use of staff time. After implementing your branded booking solution, they were able to streamline appointment scheduling, reduce no-shows, and improve patient satisfaction. A case study that details the whole process should also highlight measurable improvements, such as 30% fewer no-shows and a 40% reduction in staff time spent on scheduling. These results would speak volumes to potential clients in the healthcare space, demonstrating how your booking solution can solve some major problems.

Offer free audits or initial consultations

Offering free audits or initial consultations is a good strategy for introducing clients to your value-added services. While you may think you’d profit much more if you charge for these services as well, doing it this way lowers the barrier for potential clients. Now, they’ll have a chance to experience your expertise firsthand without a financial commitment.

A free audit or consultation serves as a low-risk entry point where clients can see immediate value before deciding to commit to a long-term partnership. During this meeting, you can offer a quick analysis of their website’s SEO performance, pointing out areas for improvement and how your services can address those gaps. The key to converting a free audit or consultation into a sale is to clearly demonstrate the ROI they can expect from implementing your recommendations. Once they see what they are lacking, whether that’s good search engine rankings, fast website load times, or sufficient scheduling – they’ll be much more likely to move forward with your solution.

Lastly, consultations allow you to showcase your new services to existing clients. Rather than waiting for them to ask, you can proactively highlight new solutions that could further benefit their business.

Conclusion

When considering how to increase profit margin, value-added services stand out as an exceptional strategy that benefits both your agency and the client. These services allow you to offer additional value, improve client satisfaction, and unlock new revenue streams – all without sacrificing quality or customer loyalty.

Focusing on services that complement your core offerings and address specific needs helps you build a more sustainable and profitable business model. Plus, the power of upselling existing clients who are already familiar with your work makes this strategy far more cost-effective than constantly chasing new business.

Ultimately, the key to how to increase profit margin lies in your ability to position value-added services as essential investments that drive measurable results. By strategically pricing and packaging these services, your agency becomes more than just a service provider; it becomes a trusted partner in your client’s ongoing success.

Author Barbara Stankovic

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