Mobile Notary Lead Charges

PalmerNSC

Hi everyone,

I’m new to both the notary business and Thumbtack, and I wanted to start a discussion to share some of what I’ve experienced so far using this platform to find clients and opportunities.

In my opinion, Thumbtack’s lead pricing needs to be reevaluated. Either the fees should be adjusted, or perhaps this just isn’t the right platform for professionals like myself to rely on as a primary source of clients.

As of today, I’ve been on Thumbtack for just over two weeks. Since I’m new to the platform, I didn’t have any external reviews to import, and I’ve only completed six total appointments. Because I’m still building credibility, I’ve felt compelled to max out my budget for leads just to remain visible in the search results. Based on my understanding, how much you’re willing to spend determines where you appear in client searches. If I don’t keep my budget high, I get buried behind more established pros who, like me, appear “always online and available” due to their listed hours.

Here’s the issue: In just two weeks, I’ve been charged $457 for 23 leads, which averages to about $16 per lead. I typically respond to clients within 1–2 minutes and I'd like to think I'm very professional and open in my response, yet I’ve only secured 6 confirmed hires from those 23 leads. A majority of my leads that get sent to me don't even view my message reply, I assume because they went with the pro who responded in 23 seconds… I’ve made around $600 from those confirmed jobs—meaning Thumbtack has taken over 76% of my revenue during this period. That is simply not sustainable.

To give a specific example: I received a $35 lead for a client who was less than 10 miles away and only needed one notarized signature. Based on my standard rates, that job should have brought in $40 total. Is Thumbtack expecting me to charge $70 or more just to break even? That’s not realistic for a service that takes 5–10 minutes.

To make matters worse, I just noticed that one of these clients canceled their appointment—something I informed support about in advance—and yet my refund request was denied.

All things considered, I don’t think it’s reasonable for Thumbtack to charge what they do for leads, especially in an industry like mine where transactions are often quick and low-cost. Put yourself in the client’s shoes: would you be comfortable paying $100+ for a notary to watch you sign a single page and place a stamp?

DustiO

Hi @PalmerNSC and welcome (to this Community and to Thumbtack)! Ok, a couple of suggestions:

1. Be sure to adjust your Max Lead Prices to reflect prices that make more sense for you and your business (looks like you currently have it set at the highest level, see screenshot below).
2. Even once you've adjusted your prices, I would also still recommend sending this feedback to support@thumbtack.com so that it can get logged.

I think lowering your Max Lead Prices should be the fix, but let me know if you have any more questions!

Also, for non-responsive customers — this is something that we have discussed in some past CommuniTEA (virtual networking sessions) and pros had a lot of great suggestions:

• Refresh your profile intro once a month using chatgpt (or something like that), to mix it up and test what resonates more with customers (from @1_gold_hands, a handyman who has grown to 7 locations using Thumbtack)
• Reach out via the Thumbtack messenger, and then text and call - different pros suggested different timing that works for them like text immediately, call after 1 hr or 2 hrs, etc (several pros suggested this one)
• Leave the message on a positive note and follow up with "nurture campaigns" - reaching out to customers every 30 days/60 days/etc with a refresher message (both @ShaquealThomas and @SOUNIQUE007 use this tactic and have multiple customers hire them at later dates)
• Try a contest/sweepstakes - tell them even if they have used another pro and don’t need your services they can gift it to someone else! But put a deadline on it to add some urgency
• Leave on a positive note, leave all of your contact info if they come back later (from @ShaquealThomas)
• Message people during off time like evenings and weekends, when they will have time to respond to the message right when they see the notification, vs if they are, say, at work (from @AR2i, who has had a lot of success using this tactic)
• Send them a note with all of the services you offer, in case they have already figured out that job, they can return later to hire you for other things (also from @1_gold_hands)

Hopefully some of this will help you. If you are able to try any of it, let us know how it works and if it helps!

PalmerNSC

• 1. Be sure to adjust your Max Lead Prices to reflect prices that make more sense for you and your business (looks like you currently have it set at the highest level, see screenshot below).

• Correct me if I’m wrong here, but if I drop my max lead charges, that would result in me showing up further down the list of notaries available in my area, correct? Which—the only result of that would be me getting fewer clients and less revenue. That kind of strikes me as counterintuitive, does it not? I get the purpose of paying more money to be farther up the list, but shouldn’t the lead charge be more in tune with what a notary in my area expects to charge a client?

• 2. Even once you’ve adjusted your prices, I would also still recommend sending this feedback to support@thumbtack.com so that it can get logged.

• I will do this, but let’s be honest here. I’m smart enough to understand that I’m asking Thumbtack to make less money off of Pros than they already do. If someone is going to file my suggestion anywhere, it’s probably going to be in the backlog of the backlog, never to be seen again. I’m not trying to be combative—I just see the realism in such a statement.

• 3. Reach out via the Thumbtack messenger, and then text and call - different pros suggested different timing that works for them like text immediately, call after 1 hr or 2 hrs, etc

• Trust me, I already do this. All I’ve gotten is mostly the client’s voicemail, never to be heard from again, or them telling me they already found a notary. Of the 10 non-wins I’ve called, 0 have resulted in an appointment. I even lowballed one client $20 under what another pro offered, and the client seemed annoyed with me for trying to undercut the other pro… Forgive me for trying to save them money…

• 4. Leave on a positive note, leave all of your contact info if they come back later.

• I have been leaving clients with a business card. You can see through my reviews that I provide great service, and those people have stated that they’d reach out for future notary needs. Honestly though, when it comes to notarial services, this isn’t an industry where a client needs me once a week, once a month, or even once a year. In the 30 years I’ve been alive, I’ve only ever needed a notary once. This is a business where the need is infrequent—especially when you consider that, if someone is able-bodied, they can go to a bank or UPS and get their document notarized. Mobile notary services are primarily for people who are physically unable to travel, or simply unaware that these businesses offer notary services.

• 5. Leave the message on a positive note and follow up with "nurture campaigns" - reaching out to customers every 30 days/60 days/etc with a refresher message

Please refer to my above response, this isn’t an industry where a client needs me once a week, once a month, or even once a year.

• 6. Message people during offtime, like evenings and weekends, when they will have time to respond to the message right when they see the notification, vs if they are, say, at work

• I’m not trying to be rude here, but was this just copy and pasted from another topic? I had already stated that I’m having trouble getting people to even message me back after their initial pro selection, because in my area I’m competing with people who respond in 23 seconds(For the record, my response times have been under 5 minutes, minus maybe 1-2 leads). If I don’t hear from them within an hour, the lead is dead—someone else has already responded, called, and confirmed the appointment. And again, I’ll mention: this line of work usually secures a client’s future needs after a single appointment. I’d be surprised if someone found a notary they liked, and then came back later to choose someone else—unless that original notary was no longer available.

•  7. Try a contest/sweepstakes - tell them even if they have used another pro and don’t need your services they can gift it to someone else! But put a deadline on it to add some urgency.

Let me give a hypothetical situation for this one. 3 of the clients I've assisted so far have been for family members that are signing Medical/Durable Power of Attorney, or their living/last will. How would you take it if a notary you hired reached out to you unprompted to promote a contest or sweepstakes for notary services after you hired them to sign a dying family members last will? While I understand what you're saying here, and see how that would help in other businesses, I don't think half my 6 clients so far would take a message like that as a positive. To put it bluntly, I don't think I can reach out to someone to say thanks for hiring me for your dying mom's last will, I'll notarize your dad's will for half off when he's on his death bed!"

PalmerNSC

Forgive the formatting, I've tried editing it and it won't let me post the edit.

DustiO

These were just recommendations from other pros, you can take them or leave them and obviously you know what works best for you in your specific industry :)

As for the Max Lead Prices - yes, they can impact ranking, but I always recommend that pros test it out and see how that ranking is impacted. If the prices don't make sense for you and you aren't seeing a good ROI then it would probably be worth testing out. You are not locked in to those, so you could try it for a few days/a week and see what happens! But again, it's up to you, you know your business best!