Feedback About Premature Review Requests

ArthurHandyman

I’d like to share some feedback about the automatic reminders encouraging Pros to ask customers for reviews shortly after receiving a lead.
　　I frequently receive a new lead, and only about 10 minutes later Thumbtack sends me a message suggesting that I ask the customer for a review. At that point, in many cases, the customer and I have barely started communicating. Sometimes the customer hasn’t even responded yet. We may not have discussed the details of the project, agreed on a price, scheduled an appointment, or even decided whether we are going to work together.
　　So asking a Pro to request a review at this stage simply doesn’t make sense. A review should represent a customer’s experience with a completed service. How can I reasonably ask someone to review my work when I haven’t performed any work for them yet — and may never end up working with them at all?
　　There is already a much more logical opportunity to request a review after the job is completed. When a Pro marks a job as completed, Thumbtack provides the option to ask the customer for a review. That is the appropriate time for this reminder because there has actually been a service and the customer has something meaningful to review.
　　I believe these early review reminders are unnecessary and make the lead conversation more cluttered without providing any real benefit. They also put Pros in an awkward position by encouraging us to ask customers for something before we have earned it.
　　I would suggest removing these review reminders from the beginning of the lead conversation and only showing them after there is a reasonable indication that the job has actually taken place — for example, when the job is marked as completed.
This would make the communication flow cleaner, more logical, and more professional for both Pros and customers. I would appreciate it if this feedback could be forwarded to the product team for consideration.

MyCleanCharlotteMaid

I agree that review requests should happen after the work is completed, not right after the lead comes in.

For cleaning services, the customer cannot really judge the experience until they have seen the results, the communication, the arrival, the quality of the clean, and the follow-up.

The best time to ask for a review is usually right after a successful cleaning, while the home still feels fresh and the customer is happy with the service.

A premature review request can feel awkward because the customer may not even know yet if they are satisfied.

Reviews are very important for home services, but the timing should match the actual customer expert.

ArvinC

Hi @ArthurHandyman and @MyCleanCharlotteMaid , thanks to both of you for sharing your perspectives on this.

I can understand the point you're making about timing. If a Pro and customer are still at the very beginning of a conversation, there may not yet be a completed service or experience for the customer to evaluate.

I don't have visibility into what specifically triggers that reminder or the reasoning behind when it appears, so I don't want to speculate on that. But Arthur, I appreciate how clearly you've explained the experience you'd prefer, including having the reminder appear once there's a stronger indication that the job has been completed. And @MyCleanCharlotteMaid , your cleaning example adds helpful context around why timing can matter depending on the service.

I'll include this feedback when we're surfacing Community insights to the appropriate teams. I'd also encourage you to submit feedback directly through your account, as that helps it get logged alongside your specific experience.

Thank you both for taking the time to explain not just what you'd like to see changed, but why it would create a better experience for Pros and customers.

ArthurHandyman

Thanks for the response. This is exactly the issue I’m referring to. In my case, I received a new lead at 11:42 AM, and just a few minutes later, at 11:46 AM, Thumbtack was already prompting me to set up a review reminder.

At that point, the customer and I hadn’t even agreed on the job yet. So asking a pro to set up a review reminder only four minutes after receiving a lead simply doesn’t make sense.

I’m attaching screenshots showing the timestamps as an example. I believe this prompt should only appear after there is some indication that the job was actually booked or completed.

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