Lead Prices Are Eating My Photography Business Alive

picsbykurt

I got an email from Thumbtack today saying:

“Pros belong where decisions are made.”

It talked about expanding the Pro Advisory Ecosystem so the people making decisions at Thumbtack can hear directly from the pros doing the work.

So, that led me here.

I joined Thumbtack hoping it would help me build my photography business. But as the months have gone on, I’ve watched more and more of the money I actually make through this platform get consumed by the cost of leads.

Photography leads in my market can easily cost me $20–$30 or more. I regularly see customers contacting 3–5 photographers at once. That means several of us are paying for the exact same opportunity, while only one photographer can actually make the sale.

And a lot of these customers are looking to spend $100–$200 on photography.

The math just stops working.

This is especially difficult in a spread-out market like mine, where booking a job can also mean substantial driving time and travel expenses. Maybe the economics are different in a dense metro area, but here, every dollar spent acquiring a customer matters.

What really bothers me is seeing a customer contact several photographers and realizing Thumbtack may collect lead fees from every one of us. One photographer gets the job. Everyone else paid for the privilege of competing for it.

What exactly is that lead fee buying us?

It isn't advertising my website. It isn't generating traffic to my Instagram. It isn't building an audience I own. If I don't win that particular customer, there is very little lasting value to my business from the money I just spent.

Compare that with Airbnb, which has become my largest source of photography revenue. Airbnb gets paid when I get paid. Their fee is tied to an actual booking, so our incentives are much more closely aligned.

That's becoming increasingly difficult for me to ignore.

Why should I keep using income from successful bookings elsewhere to subsidize leads on Thumbtack that may never turn into revenue?

I don't expect every lead to become a customer. That's part of running a business. But I do think the economics need to make sense for the pros who make this marketplace possible.

I'd like to see Thumbtack reconsider how photography leads are priced, put stronger limits or friction around customers mass-contacting pros, or find a model where Thumbtack's success is more closely tied to the pro actually getting paid.

I want Thumbtack to work. That's why I'm posting this instead of quietly leaving.

But if the economics don't change, I don't know how much longer it makes sense for me to stay.