April's product roundup

[JasonB]

Below is an updated list of product changes we shipped during the month of April. We’d love to hear what you think and we want your feedback.

Don’t see your idea on this list? That doesn’t mean we aren’t working on it. Some features are much more complicated than they seem and take time to implement. Have other ideas? Reply below to share your suggestion and you may see it in a future update.

Major updates for pros in April:

• Customer Demo: Customers find pros like you through search results, and we now have a quick way to look yourself up and see firsthand how you show up and where you rank. The goal is to help you find ways to get in front of more of the customers you want.  Take a look at the link to the demo.

• Highlighting Nearby Jobs in the Lead: When leads are just outside your preferences, we now indicate that on the lead to help you better identify the ones you want most

• Lead Signals: To help pros easily identify leads that are either more valuable or more likely to turn into hires we now highlight facts about the project that could be overlooked like “only contacted you”, “provided pictures”, “recurring job”, etc.

• Customer notification - reminder to respond: To help remind customers that they have pros interested in their job, we are now sending a Reminder push notification 6 hours after the first pro responds (so long as the customer hasn’t responded to any other pros at that point).

• Image Quality: We updated our quality and dimension criteria for images on Thumbtack and removed existing images that did not fit these guidelines. Our goal is to help you get hired, and customers want to see quality images when they're deciding who to hire. By making sure the photos in your profile are clear and high-quality, you can showcase your work in the best light. This update also helps your photos load faster, giving customers a better experience when they view your profile.

Smaller changes for pros:

• Updates to prioritize relevant reviews on a pro’s service page: Reviews now show up for customers in order based on the relevance of the text in the review, so customers will see reviews most closely related to their job.

[DJStevie]

@JasonB 

Would love to see what awesome product changes await all Pros.

Is it possible to put these product changes out at the beginning of the month, so we aren't surprised during the month when they occur? Just a suggestion.

[Meckell]

@DJStevie glad that you're excited! Thanks for the feedback regarding this post, we're always trying our best to get you guys needed info as quickly and efficiently as possible. 

[Lar]

That's brilliant Jason, thanks for giving us a heads-up, much appreciated. I'm super excited to see what Thumbtack's latest update will do to resolve the top priority issues of increasing lead volume and increasing lead quality. If you say there are going to be 'awesome product changes' then this must be the BIGEE update we've been looking forward to for so long. I can't wait!

Cheers,
Laurence.

[DJStevie]

@Meckell 

Well, I'm excited if it's true what @JasonB says about the upcoming changes to be awesome. I hope that the upcoming changes will be more than awesome for the Pros.

[MR]

@JasonB A tease message such as yours implies that an update of new features was to be released in the next 24 hours or so... it is now Friday. You know morale is low here and we are all waiting for change to begin happening. Actions such as this only make things worse.

Any chance you can give us something to review any time soon???

[Meckell]

@MR I apologize for any confusion as to when you thought these updates would be shared. A timeframe was not promised, but they will be shared with you soon! We understand that you're eager to hear some of the new updates that we're working on, and we're happy to hear that. Please know that as soon as Jason has all of the info to share with you, it will be shared. 

[rachelalvesphot]

Does this mean you are working on them in April and they could come out

June, July - you know, whenever it's done?  Why not just announce it when

you actually know the changes have been made?

[MR]

Would it be possible to see a list of what TT changes in the past 6 months are the result of user suggestions and why those suggestions were chosen? I am not looking for a PR/ customer service type answer, rather something more analytical in the form of a spreadsheet that gives us insight into the criteria you use to review customer suggestions.
Clearly pros have many suggestions that should have been implemented long ago but it appears they are not in line with the selection criteria so having that knowledge would be useful if you continue to wish that pros suggest changes.

[Kameron]

@rachelalvesphot we recently started these product update posts to show the changes that were made during that month. Our last post HERE outlines all of the changes that were made during March. We've been posting a notice in the middle of the month to let pros know where to look and then each post has been updated towards the end of each month. 

[DJStevie]

@Kameron 

So, is it safe to say that when @JasonB said that awesome changes for April are coming, those are changes that we have already seen? And not necessarily new changes?

[Kameron]

@MR we currently don't have anything like this to share. I've made sure to share your suggestion/request to see something like this in order to possibly help close that feedback loop. 

[MR]

@Kameron Thank you. That would be great as it would go a long way to helping us pros  better understand how our ideas are being implemented.

[DJStevie]

@MR 

I agree!! A list, spreadsheet, or graph to give us a better understanding as to how all of our ideas are implemented, and perhaps show us how many ideas/suggestions were given, how many have been implemented, how many are still being looked into, etc..I'm surprised that there isn't one in place, just like our insights page..

[MR]

@DJStevie  I am a bit surprised as well. Most companies like this who openly state that they rely on customer feedback to make product enhancements celebrate this by showing the results that came from customer feedback. Now, they wont necessarily give credit to individual users for privacy reasons, but they definitely say that this change was user requested.

Here, all we have (aside from maybe 1 or 2 remote examples) is what changes (to the detriment of the paying customer) were the result of buyer feedback  - which as of late has caused more morale harm than good.

We are all handholding TT to a brighter future - if they take our lead I am sure they will be successful 🙂

[DJStevie]

Well, @JasonB , it looks like my initial suggestion from 5 months ago isn't here again. Would like to know how to track down the status. Any ideas?

As for the Awesome April Product Changes, you forgot to mention Recent Updates To Job Questions that will be taken away on April 29, 2019. A fellow Pro had to post it before I did. Very important questions for each category were taken away for some unknown reason. Why is that?

As for what you posted today, Highlighting nearby jobs? What about providing us local leads in the Jobs Tab, not highlighting ones that are near our travel preferences? I still won't travel outside my preferred travel area for a job. Customer not going to pay me extra for gas, hotel if needed, etc. Please tell your Product Team to synch Promoted Travel Preferences to Jobs Tab!!! Many Pros have voiced this concern before.

If Thumbtack didn't remove the "customer viewed" tool for us, we would be reminding the customer ourselves, instead of Thumbtack doing that during a specified time. After all, aren't we as Pros supposed to be engaging in customer communication? Or is that being taken away from us altogether?

Stevie

[BillPersons]

Customer Demo, Lead Signals, Customer Reminders, review relevance - all good things, thank you!

And, with the regard to the email announcement today that some questions will be removed from the customer dialog,  I'd like to say "two thumbs up!"  - that's the first time i've seen changes pre-announced, and I hope it becomes the norm quickly.    I'm not as sure about the actual changes themselves, but I'll give them time to play out.   That's tougher to do when you're caught by surprise.

 Naturally, I have a few suggestions for improvement:

- announce changes earlier in the schedule.  partly so that we can review and make changes if needed, but,  more importantly,  to give time for TT to get feedback on how these might impact us.   Often the idea is good, but the implementation creates entirely new issues (the recent deluge of far-flung job requests is a case in point).

- as suggested in this thread,  track and publish which of these changes address suggestions from the pro community. 

[Kameron]

@BillPersons thanks for recognizing our efforts to be better at keeping pros in the loop and for sharing these additional suggestions. I'll be sure to share these thoughts with our teams. 

[TheLast10SF]

What's the actual improvement for the Demo feature? I liked the competitive insights link but it seems like the only new thing is now you can't click-through to the Pros profile. I found being able to click all the way through to the Pros profile very useful to better understand who I'm competing with.

Kudos on the tags, they're very helpful. 

Thanks. 

[Meckell]

@TheLast10SF happy to hear that you're excited about the tags! Be sure to check out our thread about it here. The update with the demo is that it is quicker for you to see where you rank in search results. Now, you can look yourself up in just one click! 

[HansenJC]

@Meckell @JasonB This is a curious topic. In the past year, I do not recall getting any notification of any changes. Have you turned off notices to some Pros? What email address do you use to send these notices? Is it possible my ISP is blocking TT as spam?

[Meckell]

@HansenJC pros are notified in a variety of different ways. It can be through the app as a banner or push notification, an email, or an announcement here in the Community. 

[HansenJC]

Using so many varied ways to communicate is at best haphazard. TT should standardise their communications with pros in a more consistant and reliable way. This is especially true of the use of the Community. Pros like me who get no leads find very little value in coming to the community. Had I not been informed by a post on the unofficial Facebook Group, I would have never known.

Up your game.

[bcs]

I used thumbtack for several years and loved gaining new clients for my business. However, I had to stop using this platform due to the way payments are now accepted for the buying credits. I have always had my debit card linked but now it's credit card only. This has been very disappointing and had to go seek elsewhere for my business.

[jcp]

I agree - all notices from Thumbtack, the company I pay for service, should be required to notify their paying customers of all changes, notifications, memos, updates, etc. by contacting pros using their primary email. Just like my cable service does, my phone service does, etc. why I have to randomly learn about things sends off a “secretive” or “untrusting” vibe. This was posted a week ago and I just found it. Why is that? Doesn’t make sense that a standard form of communication to all the paying pros is not used. You have to agree is appears odd. What would you think of your cell provider only told half their people of importance changes coming. This is our business and we pay for the service. So could the team discuss and come to an agreement that every pro should know about changes to the system in one uniformed, consistent delivery system? Like using our email address associated with our account? Please help us by truly considering this.

[MLCC]

It would be helpful if you let the Pros decide how to organize and highlight reviews rather than trying to make that decision for us. 

We know our businesses and we know what our particular industry or niche is looking for. Letting us choose which reviews are most relevant to what we are trying to accomplish and who we want to attract is better. There are some reviews we'd like to highlight and prioritize over others to help us showcase our businesses more appropriately and get hired more. 

It would be better to give Pros more decision making responsibility and authority of how we are marketing ourselves.

Thank you, 

Michelle MacGregor

[jcp]

Agree - I just noticed - I prefer having my most recent review come up first - so it shows that I am currently active. Actually - I pay for this service so that is what I want. Having a review from 2 years ago show first makes it appear that was my last review. Look at yelp- you always see the most recent review. That’s how reviews work. Yelp is the leader in “reviews” so take a note from their book. Please - show my last review first and in chronological order from there. Or let us choose. It is counter productive to see a review from 2 years ago - it’s common sense in advertising and reviews to show the latest first. Come on .....

[cranichik]

@Meckell So I checked out the demo to see where I place. I am a few pages in, UNDER a person who has 1 year on TT, no hires and no reviews!! Not to mention all the other people with less time, stars, and reviews. I have 6 years , 5 stars, and 11 reviews. Can someone at TT explain this logic?? This is why I get more business from other sources.

[Meckell]

Welcome to Thumbtack and the Community @MLCC! As of right now, we don't highlight certain reviews on a pros profile. Customers like to see the work you’re doing, so the most complete and recent review will appear first. After that, the review order is determined by:

1. Verified reviews
2. Reviews with at least one media item
3. Reviews containing between 52 – 675 characters
4. Reviews that have been updated recently

For example, a recent verified review with a photo of the job will appear higher than an older unverified review without an image. Let me know if you have any questions about this! 

[jcp]

Letting Thumbtack determine review order is just another sign to me how out of touch your team is. Look at Facebook - people’s comments appear in order and most recent - not by if a person posted a picture or not. Look at Amazon - reviews are in order and most recent - Look at Yelp - in order most recent. The review order should be most recent PERIOD. There should be no “after that”. When I look up my services on myself and in friends phone - my reviews are never in the same order. Always random. Just now my first review was from feb 2018 - the next two were from 2016. Consumers don’t shop that way - ask Amazon and Yelp - leaders that are doing it right. Please - start making smart moves that help us! Most current review shows most current work done and most current representation of ourself. Because someone attached a photo they rank higher in a review? That is such a uneducated, unaware, out of touch choice. You think I would want a 2016 review to show up as my second review in my page? Tell me - how would you like that when you are looking at reviews on Amazon on a product your interested in - How would you like to see every review on Amazon in a different, random order. Maybe the first review is from 2016. Ask Marco - does that make sense? My April numbers were awful - horrible - as many others have been. Everything matters especially when other choices TT has make are also working against us. At least put our reviews in order by most recent. Please. Oh my, I can’t even believe that this is a discussion. At least then give us the option. I want my most recent review shown first.

[DJStevie]

@jcp 

Agreed!!

I know that Thumbtack is allowing the Job Posters to sort through reviews(they have the click option to sort new-oldest, etc). For some reason, they want Job Posters in control more. I had one who hired me a month ago ask why I had reviews all over the place. I had to explain to her that it wasn't me. She said that she couldn't be bothered clicking the sorting tab, but looked over the references that I sent  her, which led to my being hired.

 I also saw that companies such as, Amazon, Yelp, and even saw on a Marriott site, that all reviews are listed from newest-oldest. 

Suggestion to Thumbtack, please allow Pros to control the review sorting, or have the sorting listed from newest-oldest. This way Job Posters see the newest up front, instead of wondering if the Pro has done any recent work at all, therefore, bypassing the Pro altogether.

DJ Stevie

[jcp]

Exactly! Why TT doesn’t understand the importance of this - among many other common traits in on line shopping - is beyond me. Most recent review first - common practice on millions of popular sites.

[MLCC]

Yes, I would agree. Review management is something we need to be able to do for ourselves.

I really don't understand how Thumbtack thinks they can know about and make decisions for all of the varied industries.

It's impossbile for Thumbtack to know the best ways to market each of our industries and very definitely impossible to know how to promote the unique businesses within. (Unless you want to provide us with a coach who can actaully help us have success as Pros...which I know Thumbtack says they want for us. I am happy to talk with someone to help them understand my unique business and what I need, if you'd like to know.)

To make decisions about the rank order of our reviews should absolutely be our decision.

We know how to promote ourselves and should have ultimate authority over how to do that. 

Is this an authority/responsibility issue? Does Thumbtack not want us to have authority and responsibility over how to promote ourselves?

May I add another comment about Reviews? This is a big one for me!

Please, please, please....

Stop asking people if they would like to write me a review. I will do that myself. 

If people want to write a review, they can, but PLEASE stop asking them for us. Please give us the courtesy of managing our Customers and our promotion at least in this way. It's a big deal.

—Asking for reviews after one exchange, either messaging or a brief phone call, is not going to really be helpful. They have really no idea what to comment on so the reviews are so insignificant and don’t help the pro. 

PLUS, and very importantly, if they don’t happen to like the price or a very small thing disappoints them, it encourages them to leave a poor review which could really kill the pro’s business/ratings very unnecessarily. Especially when (let’s be honest) there are a lot of disgruntled people who like to complain. Give your Pros a chance to actually work with the client before you hound them for a review.

This is so unusual for businesses to ask for a review when they’ve done NO work for the client. It’s just not appropriate and could very likely backfire.

And the reality is, in these cases the ACTUAL business isn’t asking for the review…Thumbtack is. PLEASE reconsider this approach. 

And our email and message inboxes get inundated with suggestions to ask for reviews…I’m NEVER going to ask after 1 ten minute phone call with a POTENTIAL customer. What could he/she possibly review??

Let Reviews be our responsibility, not Thumbtacks. We can ask our customers at the right time AFTER the work has been done. What if someone reviews during the quoting stage but DIDN’T end up working with us? The review could be less than 5 stars based on nothing really. 

Also, what if the customer reviews us because they think they HAVE to because Thumbtack is asking for it? I’ve had that happen before…the customer thought it was required! And Customers have complained that Thumbtack's reveiw requests are annoying, filling up their inboxes.

And, what if we get a 3 star review simply because they aren’t working with us…or just because we are more expensive than their budget. Terribly unfair.

And what if a customer reviews us because Thumbtack asks, but then when the project is complete, they don’t go back and write any thing else because they think, oh I’ve already done that. Then we don’t get a substantial or even legit review. It’s just a poor system, in my opinion…which I share with others. 

We are grown ups, we are business people, and we can ask for our own reviews. Please let us have control over managing our own businesses/marketing in that regard. 

Asking for reviews might be a way for Thumbtack to be showcasing their Pros. More pros with more reviews makes Thumbtack look good, right?

Here’s the major downside…if you’re asking customers to review Pros so early, they might actually give a review based on something insignificant and not helpful…here’s an example:

As a customer, I get 15 quotes to look at…I contact half of them…I choose the one I want to hire, and it’s Pro A. Thumbtack sends a note, “Review Pro A…Review Pro B…Review Pro C…Pro D….etc.” I review Pro A a higher one because I’ve chosen them; the others less than 5 stars because I didn’t. 

Customers tell me it’s annoying and overbearing to get multiple messages from Thumbtack asking for reviews.

But overall, the best reason to let us ask for them is because it should be our responsibility as business owners! It shouldn’t be Thumbtacks responsibility. Encourage Pros to ask, of course….but then leave it to the Pros.

[MLCC]

Please bring back the ability to see the other Pros in our category!

Question: Why did you take this away?

When you make changes, can you please also consider the impact it will have on the Pros? Perhaps making changes after surveying Pros on how it impacts us might allow us to feel more like we are partnering together.

It "feels" like the emphasis is really more about benefitting the Customer.

We all want the Customer to have an amazing experience. I'd like to believe Thumbtack wants the Pros to have the same. 🙂

Thank you for your reply to my specific question: What is the reason Thumbtack took away the ability to view Pros' profiles?

[Kameron]

@MLCC Although we do prevent pros from contacting another in the same category, pros can still view other pros and their profiles when viewing the actual search results online. It sounds to me like you've gone through the Customer Demo mentioned in this post. In that experience, the demo is meant to only show the list view and how the search filters and ranking are applied. If you'd like to view your competition even more closely then you just need to view the search results through your customer account. 

[jcp]

Send review request ONLY after job completion. Pros select that date. No one else. Standard business practice. Amazon sellers send product reviews after you purchase and receive product. No brainer.

Reviews should be listed from most recent. Why am I seeing a review from 2016 showing up as the first review? I started asking my clients to list in their review the specific job I did - because I do both video and still photography - but customers are not seeing those job specific reviews and this bothers me tremendously. It’s poor business marketing for TT to not recognize this when general consensus is all people read most recent review first. Go out on the street and ask 10 people how they want to see reviews on any websites. On any website in the world! I asked my step mom yesterday- who shops on line a lot - how she reads reviews - what do you think she said? She said - I don’t give a crap what someone said 2 years ago about a product. And that is for me too. When I go to purchase on amazon - I want most recent review shown first. You know - forget it - I just don’t even know why I’m actually typing this and trying to explain this simple thing to TT. Just shows how out of touch your team is.

[MLCC]

Thanks for your reply, Kameron!

[jcp]

Yesterday I was charged $26.85 for a promoted lead - this customer contact 13 total pros. That is $350 automatic profit for TT. Each time a customer contacts another pro - it’s a mathematical fact it reduces our odds of being booked or followed up. We provide all the information a customer can review about our services and our rate, etc. so why is it acceptable - or necessary - that this customer is allowed to contact 13 pros? These are the kind of things that TT allows that shows they are not “working” on our behalf - but on their own behalf. The only reason this can be acceptable is so TT can profit because it is totally unnecessary to allow a customer to contact 13 pros. I am so upset seeing this today. I want to see this changed soon as I am sure many others feel the same.

[MLCC]

I could not agree with you more! This is one of the reasons we grow increasingly more frustrated. 

I want to believe Thumbtack is a partner with its Pros and wants things to be "fair." This doesn't send that message.

It's disheartening when we see Thumbtack's profit and we know a client can only hire one person. In your example, the other 12 are paying crazy high prices for nothing. That was a change made a couple of years ago about the time they were developing "Instant Match." We would be charged automatically for certain leads and Thumbtack went from only 5 Pros getting to offer to 15!!!! Fifteen!!

You're prices went up and the competition got stiffer. We pay more, get hired less, and Thumbtack gets a lot more money.

Why? I was told because the Customer wanted more Pros to choose from. It was a response to the Customers' needs. 😞

OK...

If they do, they do. I love serving the Cusotmer. But how is raising the prices and increasing the competition helping our business. For me, it isn't. You?

It's important to me that this message board be about making great changes so everyone feels good about the platform and the service. I'm not interested in simply complaining. That's never the point. The point is to make things better.

I believe there's a cost to doing business, but wow, this is terribly frustrating to watch changes happen that hurt us...and yet we're told Thumbtack wants to help us.

It's really unfortunate.

Can we please have a discussion about some specific things that will actaully help Pros and still allow Thumbtack to also succeed in their business?

I would doubt that many Pros would object to finding a solution that works for everyone, including Thumbtack.

But this current set up with the way leads work, how you charge, and WHAT you charge is nothing less that outrageous and ridiculous and very definitely, not "fair."

I mentioned in another post I'd like to see Thumbtack consider thinking of their Pros as their customers. They are running their business like we are. The people who pay us are our customers.

Would that not be true of Thumbtack's business? Since we pay them for their service, aren't we their customers?

I don't really feel like their customer. I want to give Thumbtack the benefit of the doubt of course, but honestly, I feel taken advantage of in some ways. It's discouraging.

Some things to consider and hopefully discuss further with people who can make the decisions within your company.

Thank you for providing a place for us to share our concerns and feedback and I'll thank you in advance for taking action based on the feedback to provide a new solution that works for more of us.

[jcp]

So well put @MLCC. I’ve been in business 20 years. I was highly successful 2015-2016 when first starting with TT. I don’t want to complain - I want to use this platform to to help. It’s so frustrating to listen to customer support justify to me that 13 pros contacted is fair. But your right - if TT thinks it’s fair then why the higher rate and increased competition? It is insulting that TT thinks explaining to me that it’s better now. Paying $26 for a lead that contacts 13 pros. Oh - and that’s the discount rate because I was on promote. A partnership is an arrangement to advance our interests. And my monthly numbers do not reflect that. TT made $350 on one customers search and I made $250 profit the entire month of April. Let Marco tell me that is a partnership. When one side of the partnership is profiting so much on each lead. There is no denying because I did have two successful years. When a system changes and the outcome of what was once successful is no longer happening - and you implement all the tools that are supposed to help you maintain that success - but it still doesn’t work - something is wrong. I feel pretty confident that many pros feel the same.

I also believe in the cost of doing business. I do expect to pay for that. However, when I had an average of $80 a month in 2015-2016 with a lot of success and now to $200-250 a month with minimal success...... numbers don’t lie. How does Marco think this is right? How about taking over my account for a month Marco? You respond to my leads as a test. Get an insight as a Pro day to day. After 30 days you look at the numbers and the responses and the results and then assess the entire 30 days as a videographer and photographer. I have three categories of services. THREE. I got three leads in my videographer category in a four week period. Zero hires. These numbers are disappointing. Maybe if I just joined TT a few months ago I wouldn’t see it the way I do. But for two years straight I had success and then dropped off 100%. So - it’s not me.

[MLCC]

Just a thought...if Thumbtack wants to send out lots of Pros to a Customer to choose among the many (because Customers were asking for more options a couple of years ago)...how about charging the Pro who gets hired and letting the others quote for free? Once you're hired, you pay. Until then, you work really hard to get the job. Still messaging clients and working for that "sale."

That way those of us, the other 12 in your example, aren't wasting money on leads that will go no where.

I know another site that does this...and I prefer it actually. You get to communciate to your heart's content, unless you're hired and you pay for the lead. Nice!

Just a thought...

[GrampysMagic]

One thing I would like to see changed is that when a customer does indeed respond and TT takes thier fee, the Pro should be givin the clients phone number (email address would be nice too) so that we have another option to contact the them.  WE NEED THIS INFO!!!!  Right now the only way we have to contact them, even after being CHARGED for the lead response, is via the TT platform and that sucks.   

Case in point, I had a client respond to my bid with a generic/canned "Great, what's next" response.  TT took thier fee.  I messaged them the info and never heard back after sending several messages.  Had I a phone number, I would have probably booked the gig.  I disputed this to TT that I felt I was trolled. To my surprise they did in fact refund the fee.  I do thank them for that. 

So since we are PAYING for the initial lead responses and it is up to US to close....give us ALL the info we need to do so.

[GrampysMagic]

TT needs to fix the broken app for the Apple iPod Touch.  It use to work great, but the latest updates will NOT RUN on the iPod anymore.  Everyone does not have an iPhone and I am very upset this does not work anymore!!!

[DJPC]

Bingo!!! I've emailed, called, posted and done everything possible to get Thumbtack to let pros control their own review or at least, show the most recent ones first since 2017. Just like anything else, professionals get better with time and experience so recent review will be more positive than the ones from years ago. I had to cancel a gig 2 years ago due to an emergency relocation situation. The client gave me a bad review and that is the only negative one I have out of my 47 reviews. For a long time in 2019, this negative review from 2 years ago kept showing up on page 1. I had clients questioning me about a cancellation from 2 years ago and other deciding not to book me as a result. After numerous attempts, Thumtack informed me that they show potential clients "relevant review" first. So my 46 other 5 stars and very positive reviews were not "relevant" enough to show on page one. As I write this, that negative review from 2 years ago shows up on page 2 at the very top. Your post is spot on! I have been fighting this issue since 2017 and Thumbtack is more interested in charging 6 pros $30 for the same lead rather than help pros actually land the gig.

[jcp]

I too have complained about how reviews are displayed. Most recent always! Look at Amazon! When I read product reviews I don’t care about four years ago. I want to know current info and how current these products are being purchased. I will skip a review on Amazon that last Review was months or years ago. Hello! That’s how it works. Why Thumbtack thinks this is clever to randomly show reviews is shows lack of understanding the system, customers and pros.

[MLCC]

What discourages me is the lack of responsibility/authority we have to determine what's best for our businesses.

Certainly, it's common practice to list most recent reviews first; that makes sense and it's why other businesses do it. 

Beyone that, however, I think the greater concern is that Thumbtack doesn't allow us to manage that on our own, thinking THEY know best which reveiws are most relevant to market OUR business. 

That's a serious head-scratcher for me. 

I know my business. I know what resonates with my Customers.

I know what's relevant and what isn't.

It amazes me Thumbtack believes they can determine the most important, relevant reviews are. And the way determine that?? Pictures, word count, some other random ways that have zero to do with helpful content for Customers or Pros. 

If this is a complicated behind the scenes programming thing, I understand that could be an obstacle. But I haven't hear that's what it is. 

The way I understand it, they really believe they know best. 

It's just disheartening and doesn't encourage what Thumbtack wants us to believe that they have Pros' success in mind. 

I wish it "felt" more like Thumbtack actually wanted to help us develop our business. It feels third place behind Thumbtack, then Customers, then maybe Pros...as long as it benefits the other two first. 

I'd love to see some of these things change. I love my Thumbtack Customers!! I just get very discouraged with Thumbtack's processes.

[MLCC]

I think this example is what I mean about how Thumbtack is trying to use a one-size-fits all approach to managing the process for Pros and communicating to us that our success matters to them.

1) Verified Reviews--that's great, but Thumbtack does encourage us to get reviews from other Customers, not from Thumbtack. So, when we do, they don't get posted (sometimes, that's happended to me, can't see them or they are buried).

I've had fantastic reviews from people not on Thumbtack (because Thumbtack said I could invite them) but then not be able to see them. What's the point.

According to this approach, these reviews are not even in the top four conditions to be considered. That's unfortunate.

2) At least one media item--I'm counselor/life coach. I'm never going to have a picture posted in a review. Ever. That would be so weird.

How can this possibly be "fair" to those of us with businesses where pictures of our work is never appropriate or necessary.

3) 52-675 characters--What? If the words are powerful and communicate the Customer experience, why is the number of characters relevant?

4) Reviews that have been updated recently--I'm not sure why this made the list. Perhaps you might help us understand how this is relevant or what this means. I know I have a real problem with Thumbtack "hounding" (their word, not mine) Customers to write reviews for us BEFORE we've even done work with them. Ugh. That is so irritating.

But here's the consequence: They submit a review ... with just stars. Why? Because they can't say anything yet, because we haven't even worked together. We've had a discovery call, or even one phone call, and they don't know HOW to even review us.

The problem is they are not likely to go back and update the review after we've worked together for a length of time. Because they already reviewed...because Thumbtack asked for it...not because the Pro asked for it. 

If they don't go back and add words to the stars, that apparently doesn't make the cut either for getting a rank. We could ask for them to, but that's weird too. "Hi, I know you already submitted a review but can you go back and actaully write something now. Thumbtack won't rank it for me unless it's been updated recently."

Please just listen to some of these things that really matter to us. Our businesses are our business, right? We kinda know what we're talking about and what we need.

Thank you, 

Michelle