LOWER SEARCH RESULTS FOR HIGH RANKING PROS

We have been on thumbtack for over 3 and a half years. Over this time, we have made changes to ensure we are in good standings with thumbtack, while taking care of our customers , and keeping a 4.9 Star rating. We respond with a less than 3 minute average, are a top pro ( two times running), have maintained a 4.9 star rating or higher in the past 3 years, and take care of the customers thumbtack entrusts us with.

Now there has been a huge change. Companies with no top pro status, with an over 15 minute response time, and with a 4.7 or less star rating are being listed in the search results above us. We are concerned that this is not only happening to us, but many other companies that take care of customers. All while the customers are being lead to a company, that does not have the same standards as thumbtack, or us.

The direct question from this information is this: Is providing good, prompt and ethical service that your company asks of us wanted? Are all of the awards, quick responses, ratings; do they carry weight?


Comments

  • DustiO
    DustiO Administrator, Moderator Posts: 1,582

    Hi @Securedmovingco_1 thank you for coming here with your question. Ranking is a pretty complex issue, so I asked one of our Advanced Support Agents to chime in here.

    Is providing good, prompt and ethical service that your company asks of us wanted? Yes they are definitely wanted. Without a good selection of pro pros offering good, prompt, ethical service, there would be no customers to connect pros to. We appreciate how hard it can be to get the recognition from customers, and you certainly have shown dedication over the years.

    Do all of the awards, quick responses, ratings carry weight? Yes, but it is important to understand in what way they carry weight and how they affect individual ranking. Ranking is the outcome of taking all qualifying factors from each participant and determining an order pros show up in an individual customer search. There are 3 main categories: What you control - the factors from your account that you can directly effectWhat your competition controls - they are dealing with the same factors you control and also are trying to run a successful businessCustomer behavior - their search, their traffic, what they tend to gravitate toward. For what the pros control: The most significant factor is your targeting preferences. Those are set to pre-accept leads, and which specific leads in a particular service up to your budget for the week. Next weighty on a day to day basis is going to be response rate 8am-8pm in the pro's timezone. Profile completeness is considered, and that can impact customer traffic to your account, which is another factor. Review rating is in there, but would be considered along with all the collective pros settings, response time and customer traffic. In searches where there are ties, things like response time could factor in. Awards have never been a direct ranking factor. Thumbtack does align the goals to achieve an award with our ranking factors to help pros work towards a successful business. Any market that has more than 30 pros is going to have fluctuation search to search, even with the same search terms. Keeping an attractive, up-to-date profile with the customer's in mind will influence customer behavior. For our pros who want to work with more data, the insights page in your account has additional details regarding customer behavior, your traffic, the number of jobs actually sent within 50 miles of you and the competition.

    I hope this helps, but feel free to post any follow-up questions you might have and I will do my best to help you find the answers!

  • Awards aside ma'am.

    Two months ago we ranked top three, to top five.

    Since there has been an algorithm change , we have been surpressed between 10- 20.

    Our rating beats 95% of competitors, our response rate beats 90%, our profile is one of the strongest.

    Yet when a customer specificaly goes online the tag will read "Top 10 Movers near Fort Worth, TX." When customers see this, the top ten is what they are expecting, not a company that by their workmanship rating has shown a lack of care and concern for thier items. Yet, those that have shown a lack of care and concern, as well as a slow response rate seem to be at the top of search results for "TOP TEN". Top ten can only mean top ten.


  • Is there any insight for how those like us that have made the sacrifice to provide exceptional service, respond promptly as asked by Thumbtack, and operate a business with integrity?

    How are we the thumbtack pro's to view ourselves?

    Service, promptness, integrity = TOP TEN

    OR?

    Post a picture that people might like, get clicks, provide a nominal service = TOP TEN


    From all that can be recalled, if people or organizations are the best by the standards they uphold or live by, this would then be viewed as High Regard.

  • CarolynQ
    CarolynQ Posts: 1

    Hi! I am the author of the response from the 10th. I would agree that being under the Top 10 would be considered high regard from a customer engagement perspective. Your feedback is being taken under consideration for future updates.

    Regarding what can be done, we encourage anyone reading this post to feel free to reach out to Service and Support for assistance. Because ranking is created specifically from how your ranking factors relate to competition and customers, we cannot guarantee a certain place, but we can assist in finding actions and options that may increase your rank.

  • Thank you for taking the time to respond to our concern. We feel that we are speaking for all the companies that take pride in doing what Thumbtack asks of us; giving great service, being prompt in response( respecting the customer), and by operating a business with interity. Wehope by speaking for not only ourselves, but for others, that we ( Thumbtack, and pros that care) are able to impact all that we come iin contact with in a positive way in these tough times.


    Thank you once again for your willingness to work with us in helping others,

    Secured Moving Company LLC

  • Being third is not bad in my opinion. If a consumer is going to choose you, they will do so considering you rank in the top five. If they were not going to, it probably won't effect you. Keep being on what you do, do honest business. Work with integrity, and hopefully thumbtack will recognize your efforts and workmanship, by rewarding you with what is rightfully given.

  • chilogm1
    chilogm1 Posts: 56

    I thouth i was the only one having this issues. i see a new setting of max leads price. which makes no sense. It's all about who wants to spend more with no benefits of getting hired. i try to understand this new setting. I get charge 3 times the price for fans installation leads now

  • chilogm1
    chilogm1 Posts: 56

    I hope that doesn't go through because it seems like a money grab purposes. My business would get about 15-30 leads a week and under $200 $300 dollars spent on leads. Now i would go days without leads we use to have a page of prices for each lead in different categories and now it's literally twice or triple the price for the same lead. Same we also looking for a different marketing place to move on now cause the slow way they start to show things to people makes no sense. how is a top pro not showing in the search but someone who just started does or someone with a 4.5 star over a 4.9.

  • DustiO
    DustiO Administrator, Moderator Posts: 1,582
    edited June 2022

    Thank you all for sharing your honest opinions and experiences here - just wanted to let you know that I am sending this thread to our product teams so that they can see this discussion.

    All of the teams behind the scenes are continually looking to improve Thumbtack, and conversations like this really help to understand the experiences that professionals are having.

    Thank you all for being here and posting and I hope I continue to see engagement here in the Community. I will share in this thread if I learn of any new/helpful information about ranking!

  • DustiO
    DustiO Administrator, Moderator Posts: 1,582

    @Cleaningcrew96 I have shared all the information that I have regarding this issue, I also let you know that I shared your feedback with the appropriate teams and that I will share here if I learn anything more. This issue is top of mind for me, and I will definitely share if anything new comes up. I wanted to remind you to take a look at our Community Code of Conduct - where we ask that conversations remain constructive and that you do not post duplicate messages (especially after the team has already answered/addressed concerns). Let me know if you have any questions, thanks!