Sudden 95% decline in profile views

Since 2017, I have been a fairly successful Thumbtack pro, usually a Top Pro, but something mysterious occurred in late March/early April 2022. I had consistently been getting around 500 views per week, through March. Starting in April, I was down to about 25 views per week, and I've been there ever since. I got about 20 direct leads in the first three months of 2022. Since then, I have had zero leads.

How could this happen? I can imagine a profile gradually languishing, but this change was so sudden and extreme that I think it suggests something on Thumbtack's end.

Does anyone have experience with this issue? To be clear, the issue is not "I'm not getting enough views." The issue is "My views suddenly declined 95% with no discernible cause."

I have made some minor cosmetic changes to my profile and can continue doing so. I've also gotten a couple new reviews during my visibility drought--which doesn't seem to have changed things, and anyway my ability to get verified reviews will soon disappear with the last of my clients.

I'm really hoping someone has useful advice. I doubt that changing my profile picture or something like that will trigger a 20-fold increase in views, but at this point I'm open to all suggestions, even implausible ones.

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Comments

  • DustiO
    DustiO Administrator, Moderator Posts: 1,582

    Hi @GoodQuestionTutoring thanks for posting! I couldn't see anything weird when I looked into your profile, so I have reached out to a team member that might be able to dig a little deeper to see what is happening! I will let you know what they say. Thanks!

  • WDodson
    WDodson Posts: 27

    I am still pretty new/inexperienced in Thumbtack so take my comment with a grain of salt. I would try to replicate this on your laptop in Incognito mode.

  • WDodson
    WDodson Posts: 27


  • DustiO
    DustiO Administrator, Moderator Posts: 1,582

    @GoodQuestionTutoring I am having someone from the support team reach out to you so they can help you! It seems like there is something awry so hopefully they will be able to get it sorted. Please keep me posted - and sorry I wasn't personally able to help you more!

  • DustiO
    DustiO Administrator, Moderator Posts: 1,582

    @GoodQuestionTutoring The agent who reached out to you got back to me this morning to let me know that the issue seems to be resolved - wahoooooo! Please let me know if there is anything else I can help with, or if anything still seems to be wonky. Thank you!

  • WDodson
    WDodson Posts: 27

    Any notes on what caused this issue?

  • DustiO
    DustiO Administrator, Moderator Posts: 1,582

    @WDodson I am not sure, as it was the Support team that figured it out! @GoodQuestionTutoring might have more insight, though!

  • DustiO
    DustiO Administrator, Moderator Posts: 1,582

    @GoodQuestionTutoring the Top Pro badge is a separate issue which is still being worked on. If I were you I would follow up with the Support agent that helped you the other day - he is really great and can maybe shed more light on why views are still low. I wish I could help more! Hopefully this week will look better, since we're only one day into it! Fingers crossed!!!

  • @GoodQuestionTutoring , have you had any luck with this issue? I'm in a similar boat, also a tutoring business. I offer 3 popular subjects (all levels of math, Spanish & the SAT), and was receiving 1000+ views and multiple leads per week between August 2021 and April 2022. My profile is filled out, with a good headshot, plenty of reviews and photos, a 4.8 star rating and FAQ's. I temporarily hid services in May 2022 due to being fully booked, turned them back on in June, but ever since, have been getting virtually 0 views and leads.

    Whenever I get in touch with a support agent about the problem, they say the same thing: apply to opportunities and maybe there will be more leads when the school year starts. Neither of these suggestions seem very helpful or encouraging. The only helpful tip I got was to update a new setting, the max price you're willing to pay for a lead. I just set very competitive max lead prices and changed my budget from $50 per week to unlimited, with the hopes of getting the ball rolling. Fingers crossed I don't wake up to 50 leads & $1000 in fees, but then again, I suppose that wouldn't be the worst thing!

    So: have you had any luck getting leads again? Have any other pros with similar experiences found techniques to improve visibility and leads? I will probably create a new post about this issue, but wanted to respond here first. Hope others see this and find it helpful, or would like to add their own similar experiences.

  • DustiO
    DustiO Administrator, Moderator Posts: 1,582

    @AnonymousTutor Keep us posted on whether or not any of those things help. @GoodQuestionTutoring I am so sorry to hear this - have you reached back out to Support at all?

  • DustiO
    DustiO Administrator, Moderator Posts: 1,582

    @GoodQuestionTutoring I was able to search in your zip code and see your profile and everything looked right - the "contact" button was there and everything... Not sure what is happening. I know we already talked about this, but have you made sure you have all of the jobs you want to do checked in your preferences? Has any of that changed since last year when leads were aplenty?

    I would definitely take the suggestion to respond to some "opportunities", and see if you can get a new review (even from a past customer) and see if that helps at all - you aren't showing up on the first page for me when I look, so that may be why!

    I wish I had more tips!! If you would like I can personally have someone from support reach out to you and see if they can find anything else?

  • WDodson
    WDodson Posts: 27
    edited September 2022

    This is sorta what drove my other recent post, asking how does TT allocate SEO and PPC advertising budgets by local markets.

    I'm wondering if a change in TT advertising (which TT pays for) or in search support (organic SEO) has lead to a change in site traffic and changed your profile views, or caused a decline in traffic to your business service category on thumbtack.com.

    My sense of it is that the vast majority of customers don't go to thumbtack.com for help, they first do a Google search. So, if your business service category, and/or your local city/zip, is suddenly un-activated by TT marketing on Google (or Bing etc) then you will probably see a decline in views in the TT "Insights" reporting. Right? Maybe?

    Unless your potential customers are in a habit of not using Google and going directly to Thumbtack to view and hire you. When I look at my TT Insights page it doesn't show where a view is coming from: Is it from a Google search, or from someone who bypassed Google and typed in thumbtack.com (aka 'direct' traffic) and found you there.

    Just a theory, amigos 🤔

  • @GoodQuestionTutoring thank you for that -- I have not tinkered or looked into lead prices or budgets really, nor have I analyzed Google search beyond a few local tests. So I trust your instinct on that. One thing is clear, 'views' needs some explanation so if anyone knows of a topic or blog post about traffic sources, search terms, or data dumps that would be great.

    If lead prices go up I guess the assumption from TT is that we raise our rates to recover those costs. And/or we compete harder and win more leads vs our local (or national) competitors, thus offsetting the higher fees with more/better customers. And one hopes that TT marketing allocations support that dynamic.

  • I went from 1800 profile views a week to fewer than 10 when the calendar turned from March to April. It is definitely the max lead price. Zero leads in about 6 months. I set it to max and suddenly I had 200 views in one day, and 5 leads. No leads are so expensive that I am going to be getting leads on the first day of the week, even with a weekly budget of over $200. I have spoken several times to support and not once did anyone ever mention he maximum lead price, I had to find it on my own.

  • AnonymousTutor
    AnonymousTutor Posts: 4
    edited September 2022

    @nowren , was there anything else you changed? Since setting my lead prices to max & budget to unlimited, I've seen a slight uptick to 19 views and 1 leads, but nothing close to the 200 views & 5 leads you're reporting. I was getting 1000+ views back in March, so I would think the numbers would be more comparable. Also, I'm pretty much high as possible on search ranking stats (4.9 rating, 2 min response time, 100% response rate).

  • I hit my max budget of $150 in about 12 hours yesterday, so I will probably get no more leads for the whole week. I do remote lessons, so I pretty much respond to every opportunity to get into those markets. I hit my old budget after my first lead yesterday, so I increased it, then hit it after 1 more lead, then increased to 150, and hit after 5 leads. Seems insane that I will have to put a puget of $300+ just to receive leads more than one day a week, and even then I don't think it will last all the way until Monday.

    I had multiple calls and chats with thumbtack, not one person said anything about the max lead price. I was throwing the blame on the preload balance, because they advertised that and tried really hard to get me to send them free money. Not one time did they mention the max lead price, and it was automatically set to $20, at least $10 lower than any lead I received yesterday. I could not believe when I saw the 1800 to 8 lead change, and this feature was never mentioned in any kind of advertisement or email the way sending free money with the preload balance to them was.

  • AnonymousTutor
    AnonymousTutor Posts: 4
    edited September 2022

    @nowren , I am curious about your responding to opportunities. Do you mean you send messages to all opportunities in the "Opportunities" section? I sometimes do that, but have only ever had one person respond from there. I asked someone at Thumbtack if responding to these improves search ranking, and they said no, but I am curious if your experience has been otherwise. I agree regarding the new pricing of leads, both with you & @GoodQuestionTutoring , but still don't seem to be generating that flood of leads in the first place.

  • Pre-pandemic I was not doing as much business. I used to offer lessons at students homes. Since going remote at the beginning of the pandemic, there was a huge surge of jobs available in the opportunities section. I would always respond to whatever I saw, and in 2020 got a lot of work from opportunities. This was really great, but where it really helps is by responding to leads outside of your local market.


    I am in Southern CA, so anytime I saw something in another state I would send a message. After sending the message, the apt prompts asking if you would like more leads in this area. Tapping yes will place your profile into the list of profiles that people in that area will be able to choose from by just browsing through pros for your service. (This only works in the mobile app. The website will prompt and ask if you would more leads, but upon confirming there is an error and there is no way to get this prompt again for that opportunity, that I have found at least.)

    For about the last year my response rate to opportunities has gone down to zero. I think this is also due to a change in thumbtack allowing an unlimited number of people respond to opportunities ( sometimes is see 10 pros responded). The value is in getting you name on that zip code/areas search page which costs nothing unless they respond to you, at which point it is a bonus because of the new potential business.

    Hope this helps. Leads in other markets are significantly pricier, but getting into them if you offer remote services is invaluable.

  • That is really helpful to know, thank you so much. @GoodQuestionTutoring & I have been chatting via email if you'd like to join in, it sounds like we're all running comparable operations and could each benefit from connecting. If so, just message me your email and we can get some correspondence going.