How to Rely Less on Thumbtack Without Losing Booked Jobs

Which booked jobs would be missing from your upcoming schedule if Thumbtack leads stopped today?

Before changing what you spend on the platform, count the work it brings in. Then test one way for customers to contact you directly. Review both against the openings you need to fill.

An inquiry is someone contacting your business. A suitable inquiry fits your work, service area, and capacity. A booked job has a place on the schedule. Record revenue after the work is completed.

Make a weekly worksheet

Copy this line once for Thumbtack and once for the direct path you test. Start a new pair of lines each week.

Week: ___ Source: ___ Spend: ___ Time handling inquiries: ___ Inquiries: ___ Suitable inquiries: ___ Jobs booked: ___ Revenue from completed jobs: ___

Note the date each booked job is scheduled for. When a job is completed, add its revenue to the same source’s record. This keeps an inquiry, a booking, and completed work separate.

Include any marketing spend behind the direct path. Also record the time spent answering and following up on inquiries from both sources. A direct inquiry can still cost time and money.

Test one direct contact path

Choose a path customers can use now, such as the phone number on your website or a contact form there. Keep that path easy to find while Thumbtack continues running.

For every new inquiry, ask, “How did you hear about us?” Record the answer, whether the work fits, and whether it gets booked. Put Thumbtack and direct inquiries on separate worksheet lines. If you cannot tell where an inquiry came from, mark its source as unknown.

Your Google Business Profile can help you watch activity around a direct path. Google says its performance report counts clicks on the profile’s call button as calls and clicks on its website link as website clicks. That data is available only for verified profiles. A click does not tell you whether someone made a suitable inquiry or booked a job; record those outcomes yourself.

Compare bookings with your openings

Count the openings you still need to fill in the next week or two. Then look at booked jobs from each source that are scheduled for that period. Do not use raw inquiry or click counts as replacements for bookings.

Hypothetical example: A business has four openings next week. Thumbtack brings in three jobs booked into those openings, and the direct path brings in one. Keep Thumbtack running: the direct path has filled one opening, but the platform is still supplying three of the four bookings. Continue the test and review another week’s results.

Your schedule and results will differ. Compare the work each source actually books with the capacity you need to fill.

Decide what to do next

Review the worksheet and schedule each week:

• Keep Thumbtack steady when its bookings are still needed to fill upcoming openings.
• Try a small reduction when direct bookings have helped fill needed openings across several weeks and your upcoming schedule can absorb a change. Keep tracking both sources so you can adjust again.
• Wait and review when you have too few inquiries to judge or your capacity has changed.

Check spend and time alongside bookings before deciding. One busy week is a reason to look closer, not a reason to assume the direct path will keep filling the schedule.

For ideas on attracting direct inquiries, see Low-Cost Marketing Ideas for Contractors. For a broader decision about paid marketing spend, see How Much Should Your Trades Business Spend on Marketing.