New Contest - Use Thumbtack as a Customer!

[virtualtap]

My experiance was not good.
I get charged to much even when someone just says Hi, and then never responds after that,  I could spend hundreds just to find one person that is not willing to pay even $100 for a website. 

[JT-SanDiego]

Thumbtack, you use to be awesome when you were a fair playing field allowing business’ communication strengths to be a factor.
Now, not so much.
I originally started with thumbtack and it was great for my hvac business here in San Diego. The main reason was due to my ability to respond quickly to a potential customer because I understand prompt communication is critical.
Now, every lead I receive for the past several months has at least 1 pro that has responded to the request by thumbtacks automatic feature. (Paid-Service). Being placed with a disadvantage from the get go is not something I am willing to pay for and will refuse to bid on projects that have an even higher risk of lowering my transaction rates.

I hope it works out for you.
-Sincerely
Jeff Toyne.
(Top-Pro)

[Smithkat1981]

I'm sure this has been discussed. But the prices for these leads are outrageous.

Why are they so much? I cannot afford almost $50 per lead. And furthermore, I have tons of leads who supposedly "chose me" as their professional only to never respond back to me. (I have wasted hundreds by accepting these bogus leads)
I'm now simply denying any lead above $10.

Not to mention I have to I scroll through the 50 leads that are out of my area because I refuse to promote myself and get automatically charged.

Can someone answer as to why some leads are nearly $50???

[Kameron]

@Smithkat1981 is there a price that you feel would be more fair for your specific categories? It sounds like your drawing the line at $10. Is that what you were used to paying under the old system that we had in place?

[Smithkat1981]

Cleaning is a highly competitive market. There are so many people needing their homes cleaned. Ideally I'd like it to be how it used to be. I believe the leads were under $5. So if I respond to 10 leads it may cost me around $50.
But at $40- 50 per lead? Heck no. I'd be better investing $50 into Google ads or Facebook to generate solid leads.

[Kameron]

@Smithkat1981 $5 was likely the amount we charged before for your category with each quote you sent out, regardless if a customer ever responded. Now pros are only charged when a customer chooses to reach out to them specifically or responds to a quote sent to them, which is why the lead price is more. With that in mind do you feel like there's a price lower than $50 but more than $10 that you'd feel is fair? Also, keep in mind the size and details of the job will be a large factor in the price so if you had a specific job that you felt was priced too high feel free to send it to me in a direct message and let me know what price you think would be more accurate for it. 

[Hammerhead]

Only $50?

I'm a building contractor and every lead is $75. Suffice to say I pass on every one.

The Angieslist platform is the way to go. Over there the customer (the person looking for a tradesperson) pays a finder's fee in the form of a yearly subscription. That generates serious searchers.

The Thumbtack platform's customers are us (the actual tradesperson) meaning the people searching have nothing to lose even if they string you along.

$20 for a serious lead is a reasonable expense and would attract more contractors to the site.  A steady volume of sales instead of occasional big sales is the formula for longevity in business. Thumbtack doesn't understand this with the current pricing structure and is losing sales.

[MR]

I recently listened to a podcast the other day where the creators of TT said they want to be the Amazon of the job sourcing space... I hazard to guess that the current system will not make forward steps getting them there. 

[mrs]

I too have a residential cleaning company. I've been on TT for 2 years and was initially ecstatic with the service.

I'll expand but I'll give the short answer first.

Currently $36.69 for a lead with an initial request 3 bed/2 bath bi-weekly cleaning 1500-2000 sq. With the average starting price from pros for that configuration being $124. The absolute highest for that lead is $22 and that is only if 1 in 4 leads book.  If only 1 in 8 book that puts the lead price to $11 etc.

At $22 for that lead, I'm still looking to replace TT. At $17+ "need a new lead service" is in the back of my mind. At $12 I'm content and not considering replacing TT and recommending the service. I'm only still on TT because my lead to booking ratio is extraordinary from everything I can gather.

How I am coming up with the price. After 2 years on TT I have determined the average client who requests bi-weekly service books 9 (I rounded up from 8.93) cleaning in a year. And I am willing to spend 8% of revenue on a TT customer. I still have to "work" to land those clients there is still a time cost.  8% absolute max because at 10-20% of revenue are booking commission rates. Booking as in they do all the selling, communications, billing and collecting. Plus there is no risk that the projected retention time frame was too long, there is no risk of loss for last second cancellations. 8% is really high and only worth it because I can still target very specific circumstances. My math for Promote would be completely different.

In case you're wondering; The retention rate for TT is rather low:

20% of bookings change to a lower frequency. once every 3 weeks or once a month. They never intended to book a bi-weekly service.

10% of TT bookings are for temporary circumstances. E.g. while waiting for a place in a retirement home, because of a surgery, selling our home and want it neat for viewing. They never intended to book a bi-weekly service for a year.

30% have fired at least 2 other cleaning companies in the last 12 months. Our retention rate with this type of client is not zero but it is also not 100%. 

10% have a change in circumstance during the first year.

5% have circumstances we are not able to accommodate. e.g. a loose dog that bites, untreated insect infestation etc.  Not using promote is the only thing keeping this as low as it is 10%+ messages include an addition or restriction that causes me to not respond. Such as "remove bushes and tree limbs from lawn" or "many dead birds in attic" 

5% excessively cancel reschedule/extensive work order changes.

5% It's just a bad fit.

I would also like to note I am seeing 6 of 10 requests with zero pros responding for days.

[Rodneyswife]

Hello all, i am the wife of a construction worker, who had now mainly been focusing on decks, fences and additions. I run this page for him and i am setting up his appointments for him to give estimates. I find it TOTALLY RIDICULOUS that within the past few months TT has changed their way if doing things and now feels the need to charge me $75 the second i send ANY kind of response to a client!!! I'm sorry, but i can not continue putting out$300 a week, and actually only having MAYBE 3 clients actually b interested in working with a pro. TT does not realize there are clients who are only looking for estimates for work thru may NEVER do. So them besides me paying money for that, it takes up my husband time to go out, give an estimate to these people's and then they say "ok okay, I'll call you when we decided to do this" yeah!! Well thanks for nothing!!!!
I truly DO NOT like the way things have turned out with getting leads from TT. This has been where my husband has gotten 95%of his work from over the last 2 years... now, i am researching other sites that will not cost me an arm and a leg just to say BOO to a client. I can not afford to give TT 25%of my money every week!!!!!!!