"Cheap" is really a values judgment by the author - a business should consider every customer valuable. If the customer is 'cheap' for the amount of effort/support, then the product/service is priced too low.
If competing on price, support should reflect the model, i.e. self-serve methodologies.
Especially for digital products/services which have essentially zero marginal cost, the customer is really paying for your time.
If customers are overloading support channels, it probably means the product is priced too low and the price curve should be accordingly adjusted to lower the number of paying customers while maintaining profits.
Of course, the product/service can have an artificially low price point to encourage eventual upsell/cross-selling opportunities, but all the more reason to have a measured funnel before losing most of your time to support.
If competing on price, support should reflect the model, i.e. self-serve methodologies.
Especially for digital products/services which have essentially zero marginal cost, the customer is really paying for your time.
If customers are overloading support channels, it probably means the product is priced too low and the price curve should be accordingly adjusted to lower the number of paying customers while maintaining profits.
Of course, the product/service can have an artificially low price point to encourage eventual upsell/cross-selling opportunities, but all the more reason to have a measured funnel before losing most of your time to support.