Feeling can not afford thumbtack?

Ceciliahome

our unit lead price increased 1.5x since beginning of the year. Our expense doubled. But lead quality actually suffer. Is that because we too rely on thumbtack ?

we have being no.1 in our category in last 5 years. We only slight revenue increase year over year. But this is first year our lead price increase so much. We feel like we have to find other channel to market our business.

ArvinC

Hi @Ceciliahome , thanks for sharing the actual numbers. After five years of strong performance, I can understand why you're taking a closer look when your lead costs are increasing faster than your revenue.

One thing worth checking is your Lead Prices settings. With the current experience, the lead price you set represents the price you can expect to pay for a matching lead, rather than functioning as a maximum where the final cost may vary based on competition. If you haven't reviewed those settings recently, I'd take another look at both your lead prices and weekly budget to make sure they still align with what you're comfortable spending. It's also worth checking whether you've made or accepted any recommended adjustments over time, since changes to either setting can affect your overall spend.

I also wouldn't rely on increasing your lead price alone to address lead quality. Response time, reviews, profile strength, targeting, and the types of jobs you're pursuing can all play a role. I'd look at your recent performance and identify which services, locations, and job types are actually converting into profitable customers, then focus your budget more intentionally around those.

It can also help to look at your overall customer acquisition cost, not just the cost of an individual lead. Compare what you're spending with the customers you're actually winning, including repeat business and referrals. That can give you a clearer picture of whether your current investment is producing the return your business needs.

And diversifying your marketing can absolutely be a healthy strategy. Referrals, repeat customers, local partnerships, your website, and other channels can complement a more focused Thumbtack budget so your business isn't relying too heavily on any one source.