Downgrade in lead competency

Average_joe1

has anyone else noticed that the quality of the customer lead has diminished? We only advertise for irrigation repair and installation which requires a license in Florida yet thumbtack allows non-licensed people to advertise. Yet in the past month I’ve noticed that the customer quality has gotten worse. They all want free estimates which we clearly state in our profile that we do not provide free estimates. We charge a service call. But if you look us up as a customer thumbtack has it worded as an estimate. I’ve been on this platform since 2015 and the greed has gotten out of hand I spend a lot of money to compete with people who are not legally allowed to perform our service and for tire kickers to waste my time and money. Not to mention this generic phone number bs now. And giving the customer 72 hours to respond before refunding money. If a customer reaches out and I respond in 2 min they should only have at most 24 hours before a refund is issued. Not to mention I’ve been getting a lot of 12-3am leads which we are charged with on our response time. What professional is up at 2am in the morning to respond to a lead? Then when you wake up and respond the customer gets 72 hours to reply. Customers need to be rated

DustiO

@Average_joe1 For clarity, response time is only calculated during business hours (between 8am - 8pm local time), response time begins being calculated at 8am for leads that come in outside those hours, so hopefully this removes some of the late-night-leads stress.

As far as lead prices go, have you tried lowering your max lead prices? I also took a few minutes to look you up in search results and I am seeing $125/Service Fee listed right there, so I am not sure where customers are seeing free estimate?

If you have any specific feedback to share about Thumbtack Numbers, please feel free to drop in a comment here so I can share with the team.

Thank you!

Average_joe1

request estimate is misleading because the customer thinks they are getting an estimate we are going to the home to fix the issue

Average_joe1

get quotes

Average_joe1

thanks for the clarification on the response time and yes I’ve set my max lead price very low because you get the same leads for $27 as the person who has the higher max lead price of $70-80. Was spending $60-70 for a lead to fix a sprinkler head for $125.

DustiO

I could be wrong, but I think it's because the customer may be looking for a quote for the entire job vs just the service call? But, you are right it is a little confusing from a customer perspective.

Average_joe1

here is another example more than likely this customer is watering at the wrong time which is why they’re system won’t turn on