No longer getting any leads or views... Literally 0!
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Same boat here. I am a notary and it is costing too much to just give information with no cash from the deal. Plus with notarization we don’t make enough anyway. Our state is $5 per stamp. As soon as my deposit runs out I am done. I am tired of people asking for a notary and I pay the price just for me to work my tail off to answer their questions and then they never return your call or text. Waste of money. I wish the platform was set up differently. Not just for browsers like in a store. I guess the customers don’t know that they are wasting our money, if they paid a membership to Thumbtact and had the investment like we do it would be a different platform.
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I had to take a break from bidding because as of January I was constantly getting bogus direct leads in the category of Logo Design only, and would be charged automatically for these leads.
In a 7 week period, I received almost 45 such leads. I would have to take time out of my busy schedule to contest these leads and either wait for a refund or a credit, and not be able to continue to bid until that was achieved.
To my knowledge, TT has not been able to solve this hacking situation and I could not position myself low enough on the search engine to avoid additional bogus leads in logo design, which is my main service.
I've been with TT for 10 years now and have seen my ability to make an income dwindle and then disappear with you. With constant policy changes, it's become harder to go after new leads because there is no disclosure on the customer side of budget ranges, and everyone seems to want 5 star work for $200 or less!! In the design area, customers were no longer required to state their budgets as of Summer 2018.
All the comments above point to the fact that loyal users of this service are NOT making any income, and TT is doing very little to keep loyal Pros on their site.
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Disappointing to read this article posted on LinkedIn in which CPO only mentions homeowners as Thumbtack customers. Certainly doesn't seem like Thumbtack is trying to attract/retain pros who offer other services: https://www.emergingtechbrew.com/stories/2023/04/14/coworking-with-p-j-linarducci
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Not enough emphasis is placed on other services. I’m a graphic designer and notice in other categories such as house painting, customers have to disclose much more information as to exactly what they need done. In some cases budgets need to be disclosed also. In 2018, TT eliminated the need for customers to disclose budgets in my design categories with the exception of web design. It used be in categories:
under $200
$200-$500
$500-$1000
over $1000. This was a great help for those with years of skill and experience. They could after top tier job listings and those with larger budgets would respond well, knowing that they were paying more for more ext and skills. TT needs to bring that back!
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@DustiO I'm experiencing the same issue. My business shows up in the Top 5 in my category for my area, I'm still a newer business so I don't have as many reviews yet but all 5 stars giving me an excellent status. I am very active with my pro account but still rarely see any leads.
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can you check out mine as well please
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Do you want to know who gets the most leads??
It's people with super low star ratings who post prices that are ridiculously low, like $29 for a logo.
The reality is most clients do not read reviews, they just look at prices. Then they complain about getting ripped off.
I was told Pros with below a 4.5 star rating are kicked off TT, but I've seen people bid with 3.0 ratings! what's up with that. You cannot compete with that, ever.
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@DustiO I recently joined Thumbtack as a wedding photographer. I have messaged many people in opportunities hoping to get responses so it gives me a chance to respond fast and possibly get some jobs. I have had zero views of my messages/quotes. It makes me feel that my profile is not visible to anyone. I tried searching in my area and with various filters I know I have set up on my profile. I could not find myself as a customer at all - even at the bottom of results. I checked and I do have targeting on and my profile is set up. I also cannot find my profile through a google search of "thumbtack [my business name]." I spent a couple hours chatting with Thumbtack help and all they could say is to respond to customers faster - I don't understand how to respond faster to customers that do not even know I exist. I understand not all of them will reply or want to hire me, but I'm surprised that after weeks of messaging people not one person has viewed my messages.
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Check out who you're competing against on TT. I offer creative services in the areas of Logo and graphic design and as of late, meaning this year, because I've been a member going on 9 years, it appears to me that TT is now allowing just about anyone with any low-star rating and bargain basement prices, to compete for direct leads! I'm competing with Pros who say they offer logo design for the starting price of $15, $29, etc., etc. Their reviews are awful, but customers apparently don't read review and just zero in on the price.
If you go to the opportunities section and bid there, you can look up under competition and actually how may customers repeatedly approach these types of pros, again and again. I read somewhere that TT doesn't not allow pros on the search engine with ratings below 4.5, but I've seen Pros with 4.2, 4.3 and yes 3.3 ratings compete fir jobs.
Herein lies part of the problem: you simply cannot compete with Pros of this low level.
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@Sydney Check out this article to see the difference between a direct lead and an opportunity (you often won't hear back from opportunities, but you're also not charged for those unless the customer responds). If you look at your insights page you can see a couple of things that are most likely a factor: 1) The pros you are competing against have a lot more reviews than you do. I would suggest asking past clients to review you as you are allowed to have up to 10 reviews from outside Thumbtack. 2) There are a high number of photographers in your area, and not a huge number of jobs to be won, so having those reviews is key. 3) The average photography pro in your area has 67 photos, so I would recommend adding more photos to your portfolio too.
Keep plugging along on those opportunities, too as responding to those can help you rank higher. I would also make sure your Max Lead Price is set to the most competitive if you want to be sure to show up. You can see a breakdown of recommendations to boost that ranking here, too.
Hope this helps!
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@DustiO i see you were able to help the others with no views/no leads issue. We are experiencing the same thing now. It’s like no leads at all within 3 months already having the best ranking account in the area. Could you please explain it and advise how to resolve it? Thanks in advance!
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I am not sure if there are more recent comments., but this is basically what happened for me. I had staedy leads for about 6 months and then around springtime '23, I got no leads for what seemed like a month or two. then in late july in desperation, i increased my travel area to get more leads. i got like 3 leads all at once ( mostly on the weekend and which were difficult to win because i had to charge extra for travel), and then have not had a lead since. it is very difficult, because thumbtack was also integral to my business. I just don't understand how the algorithm works. it seems like you can go from gold to going out of business very easily. please help!
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I’m going to throw this out there. After being with TT for almost 9 years I’m starting to explore other options like Twine and Braintrust, and other options. I suggest to everyone else struggling with leads to do the same.
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