Leads

I haven't been getting leads for almost a week now. I don't know what the problem is please

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Comments

  • Theresa
    Theresa Posts: 49

    @Eze For the first time in 7 years I've only received 1 lead for the entire week. Not sure what's going on with TT. May I ask what category you're in?

  • Same here. It's been over two months with no leas. I am a top pro still not helping.

  • Tito
    Tito Posts: 1

    Same boat. But then again it’s that time of the year. Lately I’ve seen thumbtack advertising more than ever before so hopefully that works

  • I’ve noticed a decrease in leads myself since they forced the instant book feature earlier this year. I believe it’s because I’ve been so outspoken about the instant book feature hurting businesses on their platform. Not sure if you’ve had a talk with customer support but that might coincide with one another of course they will deny it but that’s when I noticed a difference.

  • I continue to see low numbers in the listing views for my categories. When I Google my specialty Thumbtack doesn't even appear in the search.

    I know this is how clients would find me in the past. So if TT is not in the top 10 Google search for my categories then clients are not finding me.

  • I was getting 3-5 leads a week. I have not received a lead in three weeks. What's Up?

  • Yup, they are not so hot lately. Plus I have 110 five-star reviews and I switched to customer view. I don't even come up. Hmmm something is off

  • Yeah, we are all in agreement. Something is off. We all pay dearly and get back minimal results. With $3.2 billion valuation of the company. They don't care who wins and who looses. Time to jump to other platforms.

  • I've searched my categories in TT and on both I'm usually the top 5. And still no leads 😕

  • I just did the same thing, with the same result. Very odd. Anyone talking directly to TT?

  • @Wayne_M when you speak to TT about these concerns they usually turn it around and blame the Pro.

  • I get the same answers all the time. Plus they say they will tell the higher ups. Lol

  • Honestly I don’t think they are trying to scam you, it just isn’t not an effective sales weapon now compared to previous versions. And all the people who represent thumbtack in customer support/sales and @DustiO are very kind and I truly believe they want to do their job and help. The problem ultimately stems from leadership. Which is not a problem that thumbtack has deal with alone everybody who works for or owns a company has to go through their own individual issues, but thumbtack has grown into a large business and the focus of a business will often change when it grows to the size thumbtack is now. Now the focus goes towards quarterly profits and taking care of shareholders instead of “how can I grown my business make money and help people” -small businesses. So hopefully they will turn it around but you can’t blame the people who work for thumbtack. They are people who have a job and if they don’t do what they’re told they get fired. And I’m sure not everything they promote they themselves actually believe but everyone has to do what’s best for their family which involves doing their job. This is an issue that will grow and if it doesn’t get fixed it will likely end up like Angis list, which implemented similar processes and shortly later we’re bought by homeadvisor. Many of the people who work at thumbtack are great but I don’t think particularly mark the ceo has any experience in working in the service industry involving physical and mental hard work. So that lack of empathy or understanding will lead to us being quantified as numbers not people. But no one wants that and I don’t want this company to be bought by google or go out of business so hopefully we’ll see a reversal in attitude towards the pros.

  • @Mitchell_Lawncare I agree. I don't believe the employees are to blame, they are just following a script. It feels to me that TT is no longer putting Pros in front of customers. Like I said, when I Google my service TT doesn't even come up int the search anymore.

  • What is the "instant book" function? I have not heard of it.


    I am a wedding officiant, and I was doing lots of weddings, not nothing. I am retired, 79 years, and living on limited, fixed income. Wedding money is what I use to get the "extras"

    So, what is next????

  • DustiO
    DustiO Administrator, Moderator Posts: 1,910

    @Wayne_M Instant Book is not currently available in your category, so you can keep on business as usual! I am happy to tag in any other wedding officiants we have here in the Community if you'd like specific advice/tips from people in you industry, just let me know if you'd like me to.

    @Theresa @Mitchell_Lawncare thank you for the kind words/understanding. I know Theresa has tried a lot of different things to increase views and nothing has really worked and there seems to be a lot of up and down for views. I wish I had a good answer/advice for you, @Wayne_M - you can always try playing around with your max lead pricing and of course getting more reviews, commenting on existing reviews, adding more photos, etc all help your ranking. As a former business owner I always also recommend not having all of your marketing "eggs" in one basket, so maybe some folks in this thread have some other advice for where else they market their businesses. I know w few people use google/yelp, but there might be some other suggestions!

  • FWIW - I got my first lead in over a month this afternoon. I will have to see what shakes out in the future.

  • Can someone explain "Lead Pricing" to me. What is the algorithm that decides what the price is? Particularly for my category: wedding officiant

  • It is pretty random. I shoot Videos and photos for corporations and weddings. The lead price is all over the place. I think they made it up. I used to pay $9-$13 when I first started. I paid over $200 not too long ago and never got a response from the lead.

  • Yeah, unfortunately just because the leads cost more hasn't prevented customers from ghosting pros. Which really hurts us financially.

  • I think overall TT is losing its strength. But they honestly do not care because they made their money in the early years, I wouldn't be surprised to hear one day they shut down and reinvented themselves with a new platform. It's well-known in the industry that these kinds of platforms will have peaks and valleys.

  • In the years that I have been doing weddings, several platforms have come and gone. I wonder which one I should look at now...

  • I have never paid that much...but, it seems to be very random. And, the prices are all over the place. Is there some kind of formula?

  • Thats one Lead that didn't book. I have plenty more examples.

  • DustiO
    DustiO Administrator, Moderator Posts: 1,910

    @Ash2023 This is not a screenshot from Thumbtack and I cannot see any leads in your account history that cost this much - can you clarify where you got this number? Or do you have another Thumbtack account? I'd love to take a look for you.

  • DustiO
    DustiO Administrator, Moderator Posts: 1,910

    @Wayne_M couple of things to answer your question about lead pricing. First, you have control over what you're willing to pay for leads, and you can see the lead price range if you look at your Max Lead Price page (here is an article with more detail about that as well). Second, demand in your area and service is also a factor in lead pricing. Hope this helps! Sorry it took me a couple of days to get to this!

  • Do you think I am making it up? I have paid that much before. Here you go since you think I am a liar.


  • DustiO
    DustiO Administrator, Moderator Posts: 1,910

    I just wanted to help look into the specific lead you were referring to - what I am seeing here are the preloaded balances, which don't represent individual leads, but preloaded amounts that get added to your Thumbtack account. If you look at your payments page you can see that there are several leads within those amounts. But I would love to help and take a look at the one you were referencing since it seemed really high and the customer didn't respond. I will often take these posts and share with the team, because it is really great feedback. If you have the customer name I can take a look for you. I think I can see from the top screenshot that it was in March - I will see if I can find it. Thank you!

  • I appreciate you trying to help. My weekly spending used to be around $600 and I have paid a lot for leads. I will have to dig back and see the charges for that particular one. I am not making it up when I say I used to pay $9-$13 per lead now it's in the hundreds at times (Not all the time)

    No matter who I talk to they all say the same answer they are trained to say that they will talk to the team. Then nothing changes. I am starting to use other sites because the ROI on TT is not there anymore. I feel that way, and so do others in my industry around the US. I understand that TT needs to make a profit but it's becoming unfair.

  • DustiO
    DustiO Administrator, Moderator Posts: 1,910

    Since I saw the date I was able to go back and find this particular lead (I didn't go back far enough earlier). I will definitely pass along the pricing feedback - is there anything else / any other context you'd want to add to that feedback? Most of your other leads are in the $20-$60 range, so this does seem pretty high - but I don't know anything about video production, was this a particularly big job she was asking for?