CLN Login1. Review all 11 categories
Skim the full library first. The categories build a complete picture of who is in your shared base.
RESOURCE · SECTION 3 OF THE PLAYBOOK
The Upgrade Routing Library
30+ upgrade scenarios organized into 11 customer categories. Match each shared hosting customer to the plan they actually need, instead of pushing everyone to the same VPS tier.
HOW TO USE THIS LIBRARY
2. Highlight 3-4 routes
Pick the routes that match your portfolio and where your base has the most customers.
3. Build one campaign per route
Each chosen route gets a dedicated landing page, email sequence, and offer.
4. Ignore the rest for now
Most providers try to launch all routes at once and stall in execution. Focus first.
1
WordPress Sites
Single WP site, non-technical owner, hitting performance limits
Managed WordPress
Single WP site with small WooCommerce (under 100 products)
Managed WordPress, ecommerce tier
High-traffic blog or news site (50k+ monthly visits)
Managed VPS with caching layer
WordPress membership or LMS site with active community
Managed VPS
WordPress with custom plugin development
Unmanaged VPS or Managed VPS with dev access
Multi-author publishing site
Managed WordPress Business or Managed VPS
2
Multi-Site Aggregators (Non-Agency)
3 to 8 sites on shared, non-technical, wants same control panel
Managed VPS Starter
8 to 20 mixed sites, semi-technical
Managed VPS Pro
PBN or affiliate site network operator
Unmanaged VPS or multiple VPS
Hobbyist running family or community sites
Stay on shared (no upgrade push)
3
Ecommerce
WooCommerce small store (under 500 products)
Managed WordPress, ecommerce tier
WooCommerce mid-size (500 to 5,000 products)
Managed VPS with the bundle
Magento or PrestaShop store
Managed VPS Business or Dedicated
High-volume ecommerce (10,000+ products, 50k+ MAU)
Dedicated or high-tier VPS
Subscription or recurring billing ecommerce
Managed VPS with predictable performance
PCI-scope ecommerce (handles cards directly)
Managed VPS PCI-ready or Dedicated
4
Agencies and Freelancers
Starter agency (1 to 9 client sites)
Reseller hosting plan
Mid-size agency (10 to 30 client sites, mostly WP)
Managed WordPress agency tier
Mid-size agency with mixed-stack clients
Managed VPS Business + reseller add-on
Established agency (30+ client sites)
Dedicated or multi-VPS allocation
White-label-focused agency
White-label reseller or partner program
5
Developers and Technical Users
Solo developer running staging environments
Unmanaged VPS Starter
Developer running production custom app (Node.js, Python, Go)
Unmanaged VPS Pro
Developer running multiple client production apps
Unmanaged VPS Business or Dedicated
Open-source community runner
Unmanaged VPS Starter
6
SaaS and Application Hosting
SaaS founder, early stage (under 1,000 users)
Unmanaged VPS Starter
SaaS growing (1,000 to 10,000 users)
Managed VPS Pro or Business
API or microservices hosting
Unmanaged VPS Pro with high-frequency CPU
Mobile app backend
Managed VPS Business with CDN
7
Seasonal and Event-Driven
Tax or accounting service (January to April spike)
Managed VPS with burstable resources
Event ticketing or registration site
Managed VPS with elastic scaling
Holiday or seasonal retail (Q4 heavy)
Managed VPS with the bundle
Awards, voting, or campaign sites
Managed VPS short-term or burstable
8
Content and Media
Video-heavy or streaming site
Managed VPS with high bandwidth
Podcast host or audio-heavy site
Managed WordPress media tier or VPS
Photography portfolio (high-resolution images)
Managed WordPress or Managed VPS Starter
Online course or LMS platform
Managed VPS with the bundle
9
Community and Institution
Forum or community platform (Discourse, phpBB)
Managed VPS (concurrent connections)
Educational institution or school site
Managed VPS or Dedicated based on size
Non-profit with growing traffic
Managed WordPress or Managed VPS Starter
Religious or local community site
Managed WordPress or Shared
10
Compliance and Regulated Industries
Healthcare or medical (HIPAA scope)
Dedicated or specialized HIPAA tier
Legal services with data residency
Dedicated with specific data center location
Government or public sector
Dedicated with compliance package
Financial services (non-PCI)
Dedicated or Managed VPS PCI-tier
11
Behavioral Signal Triggers (Cross-Cutting)
Hitting CPU caps repeatedly (5+ days per month)
Managed VPS Starter or Pro
Hitting memory caps (out-of-memory errors)
Managed VPS Pro
Hitting inode or file count limits
Managed VPS Starter or storage tier add-on
Bandwidth overages
Managed VPS with higher bandwidth
Rapidly adding subdomains or accounts
Reseller plan or Managed VPS
Database lock issues or slow queries
Managed VPS with dedicated DB resources
High concurrent connections or brute force traffic
Managed VPS with the bundle (WAF protection)
PRO TIP · ONE OFFER PER ROUTE, NOT ONE OFFER FOR ALL
The mistake most providers make is building a single "Upgrade to VPS" offer and sending it to every shared customer. That works for almost no one. Each route in the library above needs its own positioning, its own pricing anchor, and its own customer story.
Start with the route that matches the largest segment in your base. Build one campaign end-to-end (landing page, email sequence, offer). Measure conversion. Then layer the next route. Three or four well-built routes outperform one generic campaign by 5 to 10x in our experience.