PLATFORM SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT

McCrossen Marketing

mccrossenmarketing.com

Effective Date: February 21, 2026

Last Updated: June 24, 2026

1. Overview and Scope

This Platform Service Level Agreement (“Platform SLA”) defines the service commitments, performance standards, support expectations, and remedies provided by McCrossen Consulting LLC, a Texas limited liability company doing business as McCrossen Marketing (“McCrossen,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) to customers (“you” or “Customer”) who purchase services, subscriptions, or software plugin licenses through our Platform.

This Platform SLA is incorporated by reference into the McCrossen Terms of Service. In the event of a conflict between this Platform SLA and the Terms of Service, the Terms of Service shall control unless this Platform SLA explicitly states otherwise.

Scope and Exclusion of Managed Hosting. This Platform SLA governs the McCrossen Marketing Platform and related software services only — including the customer portal, AI Advisor, Dashboard, billing and support systems, the plugin license server, and McCrossen software plugins. Managed hosting, email hosting, DNS management, and related infrastructure services are not governed by this Platform SLA. Those services are governed exclusively by the Managed Hosting Agreement, including its service level and Service Credit terms. In the event of any conflict between this Platform SLA and the Managed Hosting Agreement with respect to managed hosting, email hosting, DNS, or infrastructure services, the Managed Hosting Agreement controls.

This Platform SLA applies to the following service categories:

  • McCrossen Marketing Platform (SaaS) — customer portal, AI Advisor, Dashboard, and associated tools
  • Software Plugins — Free Plugins (McCrossenSEO™, McCrossen SecurityShield™; provided free of charge) and Licensed Plugins (ArtistFlow™ and future plugins offered for license)
  • Consulting and Agency Services — marketing consulting, SEO services, advertising management, and strategy engagements

Managed hosting, email hosting, and DNS services are addressed under the Managed Hosting Agreement and are excluded from this Platform SLA, as described in Section 7.

2. Service Tiers and Commitments

Service levels vary based on the type of service and subscription tier. The following table summarizes our commitments by service category. Managed hosting, email hosting, and DNS commitments are set forth in the Managed Hosting Agreement and are not included here.

ServiceUptime TargetResponse TimeResolution TargetSupport Hours
Platform (SaaS)99.5%4 business hours24 business hoursM-F 9am-5pm CT
Chatbot99.0%4 business hours24 business hoursM-F 9am-5pm CT
Plugin License Server99.5%4 business hours24 business hoursM-F 9am-5pm CT
Plugin UpdatesN/A2 business daysVariesM-F 9am-5pm CT

3. Uptime and Availability

3.1 Uptime Calculation

Uptime percentage is calculated monthly using the following formula:

Uptime % = ((Total Minutes in Month – Downtime Minutes) / Total Minutes in Month) x 100

“Downtime” means the period during which the applicable service is materially unavailable to you, as measured by our monitoring systems. Downtime begins when the issue is detected or reported and ends when the service is restored.

3.2 Excluded Downtime

The following events are excluded from uptime calculations:

  • Scheduled maintenance windows with at least 48 hours advance notice
  • Emergency maintenance required to address critical security vulnerabilities (reasonable effort to provide advance notice will be made)
  • Force majeure events as defined in the Terms of Service
  • Issues caused by third-party service providers or underlying infrastructure providers
  • Issues caused by customer actions, including misconfiguration of connected services, plugin conflicts on customer-managed WordPress sites, or exceeding usage limits
  • DNS propagation delays following authorized record changes
  • Internet connectivity issues between the customer and our servers

3.3 Scheduled Maintenance

Routine maintenance will be scheduled during low-traffic periods, typically between 12:00 AM and 6:00 AM Central Time, with at least 48 hours advance notice via email. Emergency maintenance for critical security issues may occur at any time with best-effort advance notice.

4. Support Services

4.1 Support Channels

Support is available through the following channels:

  • Support Tickets: Submit through the customer portal at any time. This is the primary and preferred support channel.
  • Email: support@mccrossenmarketing.com for general inquiries and non-urgent issues.
  • AI Advisor: The AI-powered chatbot provides immediate self-service support for common questions, marketing guidance, and platform navigation.

4.2 Priority Classification

PriorityDefinitionResponse TargetResolution Target
P1 – CriticalComplete service outage, data breach, or security incident affecting all users1 hour (24/7)4 hours
P2 – HighMajor feature unavailable, payment processing failure, or service-affecting misconfiguration2 business hours8 business hours
P3 – NormalFeature degradation, non-critical bug, dashboard data not refreshing, plugin update request4 business hours24 business hours
P4 – LowFeature request, cosmetic issue, documentation question, general inquiry1 business dayBest effort

Note: P1 24/7 monitoring for managed hosting and email hosting customers is addressed in the Managed Hosting Agreement.

4.3 Business Hours

Standard business hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Central Time, excluding federal holidays observed in the State of Texas.

4.4 Escalation Process

If you believe your issue is not being addressed within the stated response or resolution targets, you may escalate by:

  • Updating your support ticket with an escalation request and justification for higher priority
  • Emailing support@mccrossenmarketing.com directly with the ticket number and escalation reason

Escalation requests will be reviewed within 2 business hours during business hours.

5. McCrossen Marketing Platform (SaaS)

5.1 Platform Availability

We target 99.5% monthly uptime for the McCrossen Marketing Platform, including the customer portal, Service Catalog, CRM features, billing system, support ticketing, and administrative tools. This equates to no more than approximately 3.6 hours of unscheduled downtime per month.

5.2 AI Advisor Availability

We target 99.0% monthly uptime for the AI Advisor chatbot. The AI Advisor depends on third-party AI model providers. Outages or degraded performance from these providers are excluded from our uptime calculation but will be communicated to affected users when known.

During AI provider outages, the chatbot interface may remain accessible but unable to generate AI responses. Lead qualification and account management features that do not require AI processing will continue to function.

5.3 Data Refresh and Connected Services

Dashboard data from connected services is refreshed on scheduled intervals. We do not guarantee real-time data availability. Data refresh failures due to third-party API outages, rate limits, or OAuth token expiration are excluded from SLA commitments. We will notify you if a persistent data refresh failure is detected.

5.4 Stripe Payment Processing

Payment processing availability depends on Stripe’s infrastructure. We do not guarantee payment processing uptime independent of Stripe’s service status. Stripe maintains its own SLA which governs their service availability.

6. Software Plugin Service Levels

6.1 License Server Availability

We target 99.5% monthly uptime for the plugin license validation server. If the license server is temporarily unavailable, plugins are designed to continue operating with their most recently validated license state. A brief license server outage will not cause immediate deactivation of premium features.

6.2 Plugin Updates

We provide updates for licensed plugins including bug fixes, security patches, and feature enhancements. Update commitments:

  • Critical security patches: Released within 48 hours of confirmed vulnerability discovery
  • High-priority bug fixes: Released within 5 business days
  • Standard bug fixes and improvements: Included in the next scheduled release
  • Feature enhancements: At our discretion, included in major version releases

Updates are delivered through our plugin update server. Customers are responsible for applying updates to their WordPress installations. We recommend enabling update notifications.

6.3 Plugin Compatibility

We test plugins for compatibility with the current stable version of WordPress and the two most recent prior major versions. We test with PHP versions 8.1 and higher. Compatibility with specific themes, page builders, or third-party plugins is not guaranteed. If a conflict is identified, we will make reasonable efforts to resolve it, but resolution is not guaranteed for conflicts caused by third-party code.

6.4 Plugin Support Scope

Plugin support covers:

  • License key and validation issues
  • Configuration guidance for documented features
  • Bug reports and troubleshooting for confirmed plugin defects

Plugin support does not cover:

  • Installation and activation assistance
  • Conflicts with third-party themes, plugins, or custom code not developed by McCrossen
  • Server configuration, PHP settings, or hosting environment issues on customer-managed servers
  • Customization or modification of plugin code beyond documented settings
  • Training or education on WordPress administration, SEO concepts, or marketing strategy (these may be available as separate consulting services)

7. Managed Hosting, Email, and DNS Services

Governed by the Managed Hosting Agreement. Service levels, support commitments, availability targets, and Service Credits for managed hosting, email hosting, and DNS services are set forth in the Managed Hosting Agreement and any applicable Order or Statement of Work, and are not covered by this Platform SLA. This includes server monitoring, security monitoring and incident response, backup administration, DNS management, and infrastructure availability, each of which is addressed under that Agreement. In the event of any conflict between this Platform SLA and the Managed Hosting Agreement with respect to those services, the Managed Hosting Agreement controls.

8. Security Incident Response (Platform)

This section applies to security incidents affecting the McCrossen Marketing Platform and software services. Security incidents affecting managed hosting environments are addressed under the Managed Hosting Agreement.

8.1 Incident Classification

SeverityDescriptionResponse
CriticalConfirmed data breach, active exploitation, ransomware, or unauthorized access to customer data on the PlatformImmediate response. Customer notification within 24 hours. Remediation initiated within 4 hours.
HighAttempted breach detected and blocked, vulnerability discovered in production, or sustained attack on the PlatformResponse within 2 hours. Customer notification within 48 hours if data was at risk.
MediumSuspicious activity detected, failed intrusion attempts, or security configuration issue identifiedResponse within 8 business hours. Customer notification if action is required.
LowSecurity advisory from vendor, routine vulnerability scan findings, or minor configuration improvementAddressed in next maintenance window. No customer notification unless action required.

8.2 Customer Notification

In the event of a security incident that affects your data or services, we will notify you via email within the timeframes specified above. Notification will include: a description of the incident, the data or services affected, actions taken to contain and remediate, and recommended actions for you to take (such as password changes).

8.3 Post-Incident Review

Following any Critical or High severity security incident, we will conduct a post-incident review and provide a summary report to affected customers within 10 business days. The report will include root cause analysis, remediation actions taken, and preventive measures implemented.

9. SLA Remedies

9.1 Service Credits

If we fail to meet the uptime targets specified in this Platform SLA, you may be eligible for service credits as follows:

Monthly UptimeService CreditHow Issued
99.0% – 99.49% (Platform)5% of monthly feeApplied to next invoice
95.0% – 98.99%10% of monthly feeApplied to next invoice
90.0% – 94.99%25% of monthly feeApplied to next invoice
Below 90.0%50% of monthly feeApplied to next invoice

Service credits under this Platform SLA apply to Platform and plugin services only. Service credits for managed hosting, email, and DNS services are governed by the Managed Hosting Agreement.

9.2 Claiming Service Credits

To claim a service credit, you must submit a support ticket within 30 days of the end of the month in which the SLA was not met. The ticket must include the dates and times of the outage and a description of the impact. We will verify the claim against our monitoring data and apply any eligible credit to your next invoice.

9.3 Credit Limitations

Service credits are your sole and exclusive remedy for our failure to meet the SLA commitments described in this agreement. Service credits:

  • May not exceed 50% of the monthly fee for the affected service in any single month
  • Are not redeemable for cash and have no cash value
  • Do not accumulate across months
  • Do not apply to free-tier services, promotional credits, or one-time purchases
  • Do not apply to downtime excluded under Section 3.2

10. Customer Responsibilities

To ensure optimal service delivery, you agree to:

  • Maintain accurate and current account information, including a valid email address for notifications
  • Apply plugin updates in a timely manner, particularly security updates
  • Maintain secure credentials and enable two-factor authentication where available
  • Provide timely access and information when requested for troubleshooting
  • Report issues promptly through designated support channels
  • Maintain independent backups of critical data (we recommend not relying solely on our backup systems)
  • Comply with the applicable Acceptable Use Policy
  • Ensure that Connected Services (Google OAuth) remain authorized and tokens are valid

11. Third-Party Service Dependencies

Our Platform relies on several third-party services. Service levels for these components are subject to the respective provider’s own SLA and are excluded from McCrossen’s uptime and performance commitments:

ProviderServiceOur Dependency
AnthropicClaude AI APIAI Advisor responses, content generation, insights classification
OpenAIGPT APISecondary AI provider via AI Gateway
StripePayment processingAll payment transactions, subscriptions, invoicing
CloudflareCDN, WAF, DNS, CAPTCHAContent delivery, security, DNS resolution, bot protection
GoogleAnalytics, Search Console, GBP APIsDashboard connected services data
Various Search Data VendorsSEO data APIDomain authority, backlinks, SERP tracking

We will make reasonable efforts to communicate known third-party outages to affected customers and will work with providers to expedite resolution. However, we cannot guarantee resolution timelines for issues caused by third-party providers.

12. SLA Modifications

We may modify this Platform SLA at any time with at least 30 days advance written notice to affected customers. Modifications will not apply retroactively to service credits already earned. Material reductions in service commitments will be communicated clearly, and you may terminate affected services without early termination penalty if you do not agree to the modified terms.

13. Contact Information

For SLA-related inquiries, service credit claims, or escalations:

McCrossen Marketing

Support Portal: https://mccrossenmarketing.com/portal