Is it just me or has Thumbtack dropped the ball lately?

DippyDawg · August 7

I was poking around my account and checked my pro status and realized for the first time since 2019 I'm not going to have my platinum top pro status. The thing is, it has nothing to do with me or how I conduct my business, and it has everything to the way Thumbtack has been working lately.

Here's what I'm talking about. I have barely gotten a lead per week the last few months. I was chalking it up to the time of year and how summer is typically slower than other times during the year. Then I started poking around my account to see what I could do to help get more leads.

Much to my surprise, according to Thumbtack's own numbers, there's no way I can ever make pro status again. How do I know this? I was actually shocked when I was playing around with my settings and found that no matter how much I raised my max lead price, I was only going to get 4 or 5 leads per month. PER MONTH!!!

I have my weekly budget set for about 5-6 leads per week. It used to be it was lower (when the lead cost was lower) and I'd blow through that budget maybe halfway through the week and add more. Now I still have it set for the same 5-6 per week and I don't even get that many leads in a month.

It's nothing I've done on my end and it's not very transparent as to what or how the maximum lead price helps anything. Crap! I just checked again and it shows if it's set at the max of $46 I'll get as many leads as I would at $23, and that magic number today is 3. I'll get 3/month.

It used to be that I'd spend $100+/week on leads and now it's a fraction of that for the entire month. This platform built my business and has been a great tool until the introduction of the Max lead pricing. Not sure that's the reason, but something changed around that time, I don 't know what or why, but it definitely has not been advantageous for this pro.

So doing some simple math…3 leads per month x 3 months per Top Pro period and there's no way Top Pro is ever going to be possible again. Not sure about other services but I need 24 leads minimum for Platinum, I'll get a projected 9. I used to get that many in 2 weeks easily and be qualified for Platinum in about 6 weeks, easy peasy.

I'm not saying Thumbtack needs to change the Top Pro criteria, but I am saying they should go back to whatever algorithm was working before. It seemed like it was working for them and definitely working for me. I know they were making 10x more from me than they are now and I was very happy to pay it.

I have been very happy with Thumbtack for more than 6 years, but now I feel like I need to start looking for an alternative to either supplement or replace Thumbtack. And, if I'm being honest, that bums me out.

If anyone has suggestions about how to make Thumbtack work like it used to, please pass them on. I'd be happy to hear them.

DustiO · August 7

@DippyDawg thank you so much for this feedback. We are currently exploring different ways for pros to earn points if they are in a category that has less demand. Stay tuned here in the Community and I will update when there are updates to share! In the meantime, if you can make it work, join our weekly CommuniTEA sessions to chat with other pros to share common struggles and get some tips and tricks that you may not have thought about!

DippyDawg · August 21

@DustiO Thank you for your response. The big problem, as I see it is something has changed over the last year that has made this platform far less reliable and I'm not sure why that's the case. I've asked customer service about it and to explain how the max lead prices work, and all I get is a runaround of sorts. I haven't heard a single good answer or explination of how this works…not one. I get to pay more for more competition is what I take away from it and when pressed the person on the phone cannot explain how spending more money and competing with more pros for less leads is actually good for me. So, whatever the rationale for the max lead pricing, I've just come to accept it. But what has happened lately that has fewer people looking for trainers on the platform? Did Thumbtack change the way they market the service? Are there just too many pros on here? If I'm really showing up in the top 3 I would expect to at least be contacted by 25% of those, especially since Thumbtack is encouraging owners to reach out to mulitple pros. Something just isn't right based on all the years I've been using Thumbtack as my main source of leads. Sadly, that may change out of necessity.

DustiO · August 22

@DippyDawg I am not sure on the specifics around marketing in individual categories, unfortunately. It could be due to current economic sentiment and folks maybe shying away from more "luxury" items (although exercise and fitness should not be considered luxury!).

You can read more in depth about max lead pricing here. You could definitely play around with lowering those max lead prices to see if it impacts your ranking and number of leads — you're not locked in to those for any time period, so it is worth experimenting a little, in my opinion!

Is it just me or has Thumbtack dropped the ball lately?

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