Let’s talk about how you rank in search results

[ltatum32]

I thought the new system brought ready to sign clients, however, I'm finding that I still have to submit my quote after paying for a "matched" lead. I'm spending the same (too high) for less leads

[tfitzpatrick914]

I really don't think this new way of connecting clients to pros. Since joining Promote in early November my numbers for client contact had dramatically decreased, and paying clients diminished.
I see the same top pros at the top of the list. Kudos to them but the rest of us are left with nothing. If I'm 22 on a list then there is little chance of getting any interest.

[scottz · Accepted solution]

Hi @tfitzpatrick914,

Thanks for giving Promote a try! 

We know it can be hard to rank near the top when there are a lot of pros out there to compete with. The best thing you can do is promote your profile. But there are other ways to stand out too, like filling out a complete profile, providing pricing estimates, and getting lots of great reviews. Check out my recent post here to learn more about how to improve your ranking.

I get that this is about more than just your ranking. We’ve heard from some of you that you preferred when customers were only shown a handful of pros. But that wasn’t working for customers. Customers want to see lots of options and are more likely to hire a pro when we give the customer enough options to choose from. And that’s what we want-- for more customers to find the pros they need and for more pros to get hired.

Chris, our product manager who worked on building the new search results system, is trying to address this concern. Check out his response from the Search Results Q&A here for more information on how to stand out if you’re not ranking near the top of the list.

[scottz]

I got similar feedback from these pros about how many pros appear in search resuults. I hear that it's important to your business to stand out in search results. Check out my full answer posted above (and also linked here). Thanks for joining the conversation!

@Bubba @wandafully @AutumnElectric @EmyW @wittekind9 @roseann @ecoview @Efrendude @Jenjackson09 @mcierley @Evofitg73 @Scotty

[tfitzpatrick914]

Hi Scott,
I'm curious about concerns that the other pros are posting regarding the significant drop in customers actually hiring a pro? Since that is also my concern since starting on Promote.

[jcp]

I see you just joined Thumntack in October. So you know - I have been with them for 4 years and pretty much 99% of my business came from Thumbtack. You don’t know how simple and great the system was until about May of this year. Change after change after change. My business dropped of 100% and the cost tripled. I stepped away. I saw my business shift dramatically with the changes and it was no longer cost effective or valuable. I am hoping it goes back to how the system was for years. The changes are drastic - so you have to understand those who are upset. This is how we earned a living for years. And now changes have caused those that were successful on this platform to no longer be. It is the truth. So then. - if successful established pros with great profiles and reviews can not book jobs anymore ..... well ..... maybe you can book one job a month but —- at what cost? For me - who used to book 4 to 6 jobs a month - and 1 out of every 6 contacted I would book - new system - zero. Your new - good luck and be wise and smart. Read these message from past Top Pros - look at their profiles. They know what they are talking about. One good thing is I am actually making money these last two months from repeat business from all my past Thumbtack clients. That I’m still thankful for.

[Top-pro]

This model does not work for my customer's according to surveys.I used to love tt,I would not be as successful without tt. But unfortunately, the extra cost, more competition and lies over the past year have ruined it for me and my businesses. Thank you and good luck

[Scotty]

@scottz and @Kameron,

I understand that you have a lot of replies to read and are probably skimming through a lot of these replies (or maybe you have a bot helping).

Perhaps you are missing the thrust of the message from your pros. Your users ARE NOT buying from income source (us, the pros). Perhaps there is just an increase in pros using the site. They (or maybe the pro) is indicating that they have been hired, but we are not actually getting business.

While I appreciate that customers "think" more options are better, that is rarely the case. Customers that get too many options rarely make a choice and, hence, are left without help. I know that isn't your ultimate goal. Case in point, in my particular business we are constantly studying the behavioral patters of customers as it pertains to their 401(k). What our industry has found is that plans with more than 15 investment options typically see a fall off in use. More interestingly, the plans with the best usage, are the plans that offer the fewest investment options. Some have resorted to reducing the number of investment options to FIVE. We have found those are typically the MOST successful plans (hence my recommendation).

If a user has viewed and read through 5 profiles, that should be sufficient. An infinite supply of options gives the customer the feeling/belief that there may be that one person that can magically make all their problems disappear for free. There are no magical wizards that can solve problems for free. We all know its silly, but hope springs eternal.

[CompleteWeb]

Currently your search results are funneling all the new jobs to only 2-3 of Pros in my industry. I am sure they are getting tons of contact but our business has dropped off a cliff because of this change.

I did a sample search for a Pro on Thumbtack as if I was a customer. I entered my local Zip code and searched for Web Designers. The results came back with NO pros in my local area. All the results where Pros from 100s of miles away from my target location.

The slogan on the Thumbtack homepage says: "Find local professionals for pretty much anything." - Key here is "find Local"

I understand that if the user unchecks "phone or internet", then local results show and my profile does so but your typical user will not know to uncheck this.

The results should start with Top Rated Pros in the imediate area and then you need to provide the option to search nationwide. Maybe a radius search?

Like everyone else is saying here. The search results also have no rhyme of reason. We are seeing Pros in the initial search with lower average reviews and much less hires showing much higher the search results.

[Mjr]

I'm not sure how the ranking system works but I still have issue with the whole pricing thing. It is too expensive and I don't want to be charged for reaching out and then not be a good fit or not be chosen after all as some customers reach out to multiple pros. I haven't used thumbtack much this year so my guess is I may not rank higher like I use to because if that. Maybe all these changes work for some pros but not all. Most comments I see on here are very negative about the changes which leads me to believe that thumbtack is no longer for the pro... it's just a way for them to make more money. I use to get alot of leads that turned into successful jobs but not anymore. If you are going to make changes you need to see what works best for the majority or have something in place for those of us that may need something a little different. I retain my customers. I don't need to constantly be searching but when I do I can't afford to be at the bottom of the list or pay alot for a dead end.