“There needs to be a way to stop timewasters who ask for a quote without any intention of ever going ahead,” says one Bark pro. “Maybe a guide with realistic budget advice may help this?”
This was a piece of feedback we heard time and again in your responses to our recent Seller Survey. The overwhelming consensus was that we should give people more guidance to make sure they have realistic budgets.
It got us thinking about what we could do to make sure everyone who uses our site knows what things actually cost. We’ve been testing a number of ideas behind the scenes, and today we’re happy to announce what we think is the ideal solution.
It’s called the Budget Estimator, and it essentially simulates the experience of having an expert on hand to let you know what everything costs.
Here’s why it should mean a better experience for both you and your customers:
The problem with letting the
buyer dictate the price
So why were so many people selecting unrealistically low budgets when placing their Barks in the first place? Are they all cheapskates?
We don’t think so. Based on the feedback we get from you and your fellow pros, it looks like most people simply don’t know what things cost – especially when they’re first-time buyers.
For example, you might guess that a 10-shot photo shoot lasting two hours costs less than a 200-shot wedding shoot with album and retouching services. But unless you’re a professional photographer, you probably have no idea what the price difference is.
Some people intuitively consider this when setting their budgets, and get good responses as a result. But, unfortunately, others do not.
So, when presented with a series of prices and not knowing what something is really worth, most people worry about getting ripped off. They think: “I don’t want to be quoted more than I should be, so I’ll choose the cheapest option just in case.”
The upshot of all this was that people tended to select the cheapest option available when placing their Barks, even when that’s not what they really wanted.
This led to a mismatch between what people placing Barks expected to be quoted and what pros like yourself usually charge for their services.
The result was bad for everyone: buyers got fewer responses at higher prices than they were expecting, while pros felt that most Barks weren’t worth their time and didn’t bother responding to them.
Luckily, our new Budget Estimator changes all that…
Now the power is in YOUR hands
Letting our users specify their own budgets clearly wasn’t the way to go. That’s why, starting today, we’ll be doing things differently.
Instead of having people guess what a service costs, we’ll show them what to expect based on what you and your fellow pros usually charge. Here’s how it will work:
- Whenever someone submits a Bark, we’ll identify what they’re looking for based on their answers to our questions.
- We’ll then cross-reference their request with historic estimates for Barks in the same category and area, and remove any outliers that look far larger or smaller than usual.
- Finally, we’ll present the customer with a range of prices to help them work out what they can expect to be quoted.
As you’ve seen, our old system meant people expected unrealistically low estimates because of the “Market for Lemons” effect.
But our new Budget Estimator should give everyone a more realistic idea of what the services they’re looking for actually cost.
You’ll be able to see the guide prices we provide for each of the Barks you receive, so you can consider them before responding.
If you decide to give an estimate that’s less than the industry average, your customers will feel like they’re getting a great deal – and your customers should still be happy to pay more than the industry average in exchange for a premium service.
In short, we believe our Budget Estimator will help educate our users – so you can win more business at higher prices than you might have been able to in the past.
Let us know what you think!
We’ve tested this new website feature thoroughly to ensure it works smoothly for buyers and sellers alike, and we hope it means you can win even more new business thanks to our service.
Please let us know how you’re finding it by emailing our friendly Customer Service team at team@bark.com, or leaving a comment using the form below.