Freelancer Tips

Fiverrcast Episode 34: FAQ with Fiverr Support

By
Fiverr Team
|
May 18, 2016

Transcript

Redd: Hello and welcome to Fiverrcast, the official Fiverr podcast for sellers, by sellers. My name is Redd and you can find me on Fiverr at Reddhorrocks.Adam: And I’m Adam AKA Twistedweb123. Today we’re joined by Fiverr account manager Trisha. Welcome to the show Trisha.Trisha: Hey Adam. Hey Redd. Thank you very much.Adam: It’s great to have you onboard. Now we should probably say that we have all met before and we actually met you at the New York event last year.Trisha: Yeah. We did. It was awesome.Redd: Trisha, you are one of the people responsible for the creation of the Seller Success Program and you’re a customer service person in general too and an account manager for a lot of users on Fiverr. So tell us just a tiny bit about that and what that actually all involves and what your job entails.Trisha: Yeah. So as you mentioned, I’m a Success Manager here at Fiverr and we work with sellers on the platform to help them improve their business on Fiverr. We have a lot of great freelancers on the website and – but maybe they don’t have so much experience with business. So we come in. We kind of help them bridge that gap and along with that comes a lot of like customer service related issues and that’s what I’m here to talk about today.Redd: So you’re a part of a fairly growing team of seller success managers. This is kind of a – the account management side of it is also kind of a newer program. It has been going for how long now? Getting close to a year, isn’t it or am I just completely off on the math?Trisha: No, you’re pretty close. I guess I would say somewhere in the six to nine-month range.Redd: So I know not everyone has a seller success manager. So why don’t you tell us a little bit about what that really entails for people and who the target audience is and who you guys are working with for that?Trisha: So, you’re right. Not everybody has a seller success manager. The program is still due. We are working on expanding it. But currently we’re working with a lot of top-rated sellers and level two sellers and across some of like the more dominant categories on Fiverr and we are – we’re growing from there.Adam: So being an SSM and also a part of the customer service team, we have got you on the show today to answer some of the most frequently asked questions or questions that are pitched to customer service to see if we can finally get to the bottom of some of these issues that people seem to be facing or just questions in general.So we can just launch things at you or we can do it nice. So I’m going to pitch it to Redd to start with the first one and see which direction she takes it in.Redd: We have a slew of awesome questions to help our listeners better understand some certain aspects of the site and aspects of customer support from a customer support perspective. So can you tell us a little bit about how the response rate works?Trisha: Yeah. So response rate is actually a feature that I think a lot of sellers are confused about sometimes. The way that it works is it’s based off the first reply you give to a new message. So if a potential buyer messages you asking some questions, you will want to answer that message within 24 hours to avoid your response rate decreasing. It does not count for every subsequent reply. So you don’t have to constantly be there ready to reply to every single message that the same buyer poses to you. Of course you want to keep communication open but it’s only the first message in that new conversation that counts against your response rates.Adam: So are there any messages that don’t include in the response rate? I mean I’ve had it before where I’ve gone to respond to a message and that user may have had their messaging disabled or they’ve been removed from the platform. Is the fact that I can’t reply to them then counted against me?Trisha: No. If you can’t reply to the user, then it doesn’t count against you. Similarly if you receive a message that is maybe considered spam, you can report it as spam and that will not count against you.In some cases like these examples, the response rate may take like about up to 48 hours to update. So you might briefly see a decrease but then it will come right back up and of course if anything seems unusual, anybody could contact customer support anytime and we would be happy to check it out for you and make sure everything is all groovy.Adam: So does the response rate have any effect outside of our own account? Because to my knowledge, it’s just a metric that our sellers can use on our account to help us. But does that have any effect in regards to search engine results or I should say internal search engine results from Fiverr or any listings or anything like that or is it just really an internal metric for us as sellers.Trisha: So actually keeping your response rate above 90 percent – of course I like to see 100 percent is best to – if it goes low, it could impact your search results.Redd: So how often does your response rate cycle through? So if I happen to miss a message, how long does that missed message hold on for?Trisha: It’s every 30 days. So if you missed a message on the 10th of May, it won’t drop off of your analytic until the 10th of June,.Adam: And just to clarify as well, it’s done as a cumulative total. So if I get 100 percent responses in 29 days but then I get like 90 percent on the 30th, it’s the percentage of all of that in total over that 30-day period and not just that specific day.Trisha: Correct. It’s across the entire 30-day period.Adam: So talking about search results and our positions in them, we also get asked a lot how to actually increase your position in search results on Fiverr. Are there any suggestions that you have for that?Trisha: Yeah, absolutely. The number one answer to that I say is quality. So if you work on really creating a very compelling Gig with an excellent title, eye-catching photos and a really clear description, that’s going to help because it’s going to help people click on your Gig, check you out, get you some more orders, which will get you some more reviews and generally keeping all of your customer service to your buyers, top quality is going to help.A high response rate, minimizing your cancellations, definitely minimizing your late deliveries. Really the more work that you put into this and the higher quality of an offering that you’re making to your buyers, that’s all going to eventually translate and help you grow your search ranking on Fiverr.Redd: Just a quick question about that, you say to minimize your cancellations. Are you talking about all cancellations or is there like a certain kind? I know for me frequently I have buyers who they will place an order but they won’t quite place it correctly and they will end up canceling out the order mutually and then placing a new one. Will that negatively impact me?Trisha: No, a mutual cancelation won’t negatively impact you. Same if like the buyer orders by mistake and the reason for canceling the order is such. But like what I’m thinking about are maybe canceling an order because it’s late or canceling an order and not mutually without like the buyer agreeing to it. Things like that could definitely impact you. You can see that on your “orders completed” on the left side of your dashboard. It will reflect that.Redd: So does an order – OK. So say I have – I’ve cancelled an order and it is an auto complete cancellation where they haven’t responded. So that counts against me or no?Trisha: If the buyer does not reply, then yes, it could count against you. I mean I would have to like look at a specific order to give you an answer on it but you do want your – if you need to cancel an order, the best thing to do is first to communicate with your buyer and say, hey, for whatever reason, I won’t be able to complete this job. Please keep a look out. I’m going to send you a mutual cancellation request.Adam: Coming back to the quality in regards to search results, I think that’s actually a really key point because when I review a lot of websites as part of my Gigs, I often get asked – you know, we want better search engine results. We want this. We want this, et cetera. We want to pay everywhere at the top.Then you go and actually look at the website and you see that in terms of design conversion and usability, everything else could be improved. So I think it’s really key that it’s not so much actually always about how high up you are or how many people are visiting your Gigs. But it’s about actually having your Gigs set up in a way that they’re there to convert to whoever visits it because I mean it’s all well and good having 100,000 people coming to view your Gig. But if it’s not created in the best possible way and only two or three orders, you’re massively missing out there compared to if you had 100 or 200 people looking at your Gig but half of those order instead.Trisha: Yeah, absolutely. In the end, what we all want is to get orders. So creating a really, very clear offering is going to help that happen.Redd: So moving on to – we’re talking a little bit about getting orders. Do you have any strong opinion regarding the benefit of packages when it comes to seeing people be more successful with gaining a large number of orders versus not? Like have people who are on packages been getting an increase in orders in your experience?Trisha: Yeah, absolutely. I love packages. I think they’re great. I especially love the triple package offering. It really gives you as a seller not only the ability to really clearly set up your offering by using the custom pricing factors that we offer. But you can also use it as a tool to upsell where you have – perhaps your first package is $10 or maybe it’s even $5. But you can really list out. Well, if you spent $25, you could have all of these things and then your buyers can still even add extras on top of that.So from what I’ve seen, I see a lot of sellers having great success in bringing in higher dollar orders and really I’ve heard a lot of reports of people reducing questions from their buyers about it because everything is just so nicely laid out.Adam: I imagine even if they weren’t generating the same amount of orders as a non-packaged Gig. The whole idea behind it as well is that you may receive less orders but if those orders are of a higher value, then you’re going to receive a larger revenue which is probably the whole kind of point overall.Trisha: Yes, certainly and I think different sellers have a different methodology for how they like to handle their flow of orders. I see a lot of success stories on the blog and on the forum about sellers who they’ve really increased their offering to have it start at maybe $50, $100, even $300 and of course they’re not getting the same type of volume that they received with their $5 offering but they’re really receiving very high quality orders, very intense detailed work that they can focus on more because they’re only focusing on big projects.Redd: So it also would probably be a big improvement on their average selling price as well which is everyone’s goal is to have that as high as possible.Trisha: Yes, absolutely.Adam: I mean I can – that’s the sort of workflow that I would like to follow because if you break that down, I think there’s a tipping point between finding the right price because if you’ve got a $300 order or a $300 package, that’s fantastic if you’re selling it. So that’s the equivalent of $65 orders. So the math there alone seems fantastic. Why do 60 small orders when you can do one $300? But I think it’s important as you’re establishing yourself, you find out your tipping point because there may be a point where you kind of – you know, $400, $500 or $1000 and you think to yourself, well, if someone orders this, that’s the same as doing two hundred $5. But if no one orders that, then you’ve missed out.So I think it’s all about finding that balance of the in-between to make sure you’re maximizing your revenue and potentially reducing the amount of single orders you have but still being an appetizing proposition to buyers.Trisha: Yeah, absolutely. I would encourage anyone to really set up triple packages and experiment a little bit with your pricing, tries the structure for a week or two and then after that, switch it up a little bit and kind of see what works better for you. There are a lot of options and everybody has to find their own sweet spot but you have the tools and the flexibility to try it out.Adam: So talking about new features, one of which was packages. Another one has been recently added is the watermark on to deliverables. Now, obviously with new features often come new questions and one of the other questions that we’ve seen pop up quite a lot is, “How do you remove this watermark from your Gig or from the order, from a buyer’s perspective and also the seller’s perspective as well?”Trisha: Oh, yeah. So I love the watermark as well and it’s very cool in that when the delivery is made, the image will have a Fiverr watermark on it. To remove the watermark, you just need to complete the order. So once the order is completed and feedback is left, then when you download the files, there will not be a watermark.Adam: And from the seller’s point of view, if you don’t want the watermark on your Gig?Trisha: Yeah. As a seller, if you would like to turn off the watermark, just go to the Edit Gig and you can use the toggle to turn it off.Redd: So one of the other questions we get asked quite a lot because I know that we all believe so much that communication is key when it comes to providing excellent customer service. Do you have any tips or tricks for people whose buyer or seller might have stopped responding to them in the middle of an order?Trisha: Oh, absolutely. I mean the first thing I would consider is to remember that Fiverr is a global marketplace and the person that you’re talking to, they may not be in the same time zone as you. So I would always allow for a little bit of time for a reply but say if like a day has passed and you have some really important information you need to convey or maybe even longer. You could also always contact customer support and we would be happy to help by reaching out to your buyer or seller on your behalf and just giving them an email with a little nudge saying, oh, your seller is actually looking for some information from you and if they’re having any difficulty, we would of course guide them through that as well.Adam: So another question that often gets asked a lot is, is it possible to remove feedback on an order?Trisha: It is possible although the occasions can be rare. Generally, to remove feedback on an order, both parties should agree. Both the buyer and the seller. For example as a seller, if you’re left a less than excellent feedback and you don’t necessarily agree with that. The first thing that I would advise that you do is communicate with your buyer. Most issues along this line can be solved by communication. I would recommend reaching out to them and asking them to understand a little bit more about why they left you the feedback that they did and perhaps with communication, you can work that out.If both parties agree, it is possible to contact support to remove the feedback. But other than that, it would generally would not be possible unless there is some sort of violation of our terms of service. Like perhaps there’s like a privacy issue or profanity or something like that. Those would be the only exceptions.Adam: So talking about negative feedback and sometimes the fact it can’t be removed, often sellers will maybe look to refund the buyer so the feedback can be mutually removed amongst them and they can move on.Now from my point of view personally, I always weigh up a refund. If a buyer doesn’t like something that they purchased from me, I will usually offer them the revisions they’re allowed and try to work with them further. But if they just keep asking for a refund, most of the time I will refer to the refund cancelation policy of Fiverr.Trisha: Related to our order cancelation policy, generally as a seller, if you’ve done the work and you’ve done the work with quality, you’ve communicated with the buyer, you do not have to cancel the order and I believe that your time is money and of course feedback is very important. But so is your time and I think I like the advice that you give Adam where it’s best to properly work with your buyer a little more and perhaps be allowed revisions or trying to satisfy them instead of giving up the funds from the order.Adam: Yeah. I mean from my side, what I will often do is I will often send a link to the buyers with the cancelation policy in case they are confused. What I often say after delivery is if you like the order, fantastic. We can mark this as complete. If you don’t like the order, please reach out to me for revisions, et cetera. I just kind of give a little bit of a note on my logo design Gig to say, “Please bear in mind as you’re paying as much for my time and the service as you are as the end deliverable, refunds are not available after delivery,” and I stand by that because I stand by the work I produce.Now in my earlier days as a seller when one low feedback on say 50 ratings could really damage me, I will either work with a seller further and further more than the revisions that I state to make sure we can secure the order or I would have refunded. But now especially as my deliverable is so subjective, if I stand by the work I perform, I will happily showcase it in my portfolio and I will allow my buyers to make that decision.If I received let’s say a $100 order and I spend a few hours on it, and I send it through. I’m not going to get those hours back and if what I think I’ve created is good, I’m probably not going to refund the buyer in that scenario. If the buyer then goes ahead and leaves a comment saying they weren’t happy, et cetera, I will reach out to them. They’re more than welcome to request revisions. But what’s more important for me there is on my profile, other potential buyers coming and seeing my work and making their own judgment based on what I’ve done.But as you say, I do stress it’s only if you’re actually doing the work. If by working you deliver nothing or not deliver what you’ve stated, then obviously I would refund. I mean that’s not something I do. But if I feel I’ve done the work and I stand by what I’ve done and especially with my logo design Gig being so subjective, I kind of put that out into the world and kind of say to others, “Make your decision.”Trisha: Absolutely. Perhaps you have – just as you said, like a not so great feedback. If you cancel that order and remove the feedback, you are potentially missing a really beautiful piece from your live portfolio that even though it doesn’t have the best review may attract another buyer because that’s just the kind of thing that they’re looking for.Redd: It’s interesting because I feel like it’s really important to weigh. It’s important to weigh the benefits too. Like every so often I might have an order where we get – we’ve gotten into the order and it’s a lot different than anticipated and the other thing that I will sometimes do is I will weigh whether or not it’s worth continuing to work on a small order again and again and again when I’m – especially if I’m in a situation where I feel like I’m not going to be able to hit the exact mark for this potential customer.So the other thing that I might occasionally do is send someone over a refund and say, “You know, I’m really sorry. We don’t seem to be on the same page with this order. Here’s a refund for this. I hope you find another provider,” because it’s important sometimes to not just weigh the work you’ve done but to weigh the amount of work you could do in the future and if you’re going to be spending a lot of time on a project, that you still are fairly confident that the buyer is not going to be satisfied with. Why waste either of your time?Trisha: Right. Not every buyer and seller are going to be a match. So what you do is wonderful. It’s just important to keep communication open with your buyers and as long as you do that, you will find that you will run into cases that call for refund or not so great feedback less and less.Adam: I think that makes a lot of sense because as you say, let’s say you got a $5 order and you’ve got two $20 orders in your queue and you do the $5 order and they would come back and they come back again and again and again. In literal terms, you could be doing the $20 order there and you my think to yourself, well, this $5 order, we’re not just getting it quite right.But I do think as Trisha says, it’s very important to communicate there. So the buyer understands and appreciates that you’ve met that mutual ground and they’re receiving a refund as opposed to them just thinking you’ve left them a little bit high and dry and cut your losses.Trisha: Right, exactly. If you feel that you need to cancel an order, definitely communicate with your buyer why and you will find that you will have not only a better experience with them but perhaps they will come back to you in the future for another project because they will remember the great service you gave them.Redd: Yeah, exactly. I think that’s one of the other things too. It’s like there’s nothing wrong with admitting that you guys might not be a good fit. It’s just all about being considerate of your time and being considerate of theirs too because obviously they’re going to want their project completed as fast as possible.Trisha: Absolutely.Adam: Yeah. I mean in my earlier days when I was doing my website review Gig, I used to always do the review. Then they would come back to me and ask for a quote. Then I would send a quote. They would pay and then they would send me details and usually only at that point I would find out what system they were on and a couple of times I kind of got stung myself where I realized after they gave me the details, the system they were using was not appropriate for what I could do at all and I literally couldn’t perform the work. So I would have secured like a $200, $300 order and then I would have to turn around and say, “I’m sorry but unfortunately I didn’t realize this or this,” et cetera, and provided that refund.Now thankfully I’ve learned from that that I found out – if it’s not clear, I find out the system that they’re on now. But it just goes to highlight the fact that in that scenario you may be tempted to think, “Well, what could I do for this order? How much can I do? Can I still do it too?” But you do sometimes just have to cut your losses and a lot of those times, those buyers have come back to me in the future with other websites and we’ve worked together again.Trisha: Yeah, absolutely. It’s – just because one order doesn’t work out doesn’t mean there’s not potential for the future.Redd: So Trisha, what is your favorite feature on Fiverr that you feel is underutilized?Trisha: Wow, that’s such a good question. I mean we have so many great tools and I love all of them for different reasons. I would encourage people that are looking to do a little more to play with Fiverr Anywhere. Adam has done some amazing things with Fiverr Anywhere that he should definitely talk to you about sometime.I also really like the buyer request feature and we’ve been working on improving that a lot. If you haven’t been on in a while, I would really encourage you to check it out. Buyers can now leave their budget for particular orders. So you have an idea if they’re worth contacting or not.Then you can also – as a seller, you can delete requests that you feel are irrelevant though. As you do that, you no longer have to wade through requests that are just kind of cluttered in your way, keeping you from the best Gigs that are available for you to fulfill.Adam: So Trisha, if you need customer support’s help, what is the best information you can send with your ticket to help them help you more?Trisha: Well, I would say if you’re – for the fastest resolution, the best thing to do is send any and all relevant information. Of course if you have a question about an order, include your order number. Perhaps there’s a conversation with the buyer. You may want to include the buyer’s username. Pretty much anything that you think that could be related, if you put that into the ticket, that will help support give you quick service and a quick resolution.Redd: So when it comes to talking about support and quick resolutions, is support a 24-hour thing? Like are there – I know that you’re based in Florida, correct?Trisha: Correct.Redd: And there are other – I know there are other – a few other locations too. Is that mostly so that you can have like different time zones covered? Is there just someone sitting, working in Florida 24 hours a day, like 3:00 in the morning, waiting for tickets? How does that all work when it comes to the staffing for customer support?Trisha: Yeah. So most of our customer support is actually based in our Miami office and we do have 24-hour coverage. Nobody here has to work 24 hours but we have folks who are here during the day and the evening and through the night. So no matter when you contact us, there is a team of people that is ready and waiting to help you.Redd: Well, that’s about all the time we have today. So Trisha, thank you so much for joining us. We really, really appreciate it and as always, our jingle was made by Ryan, Customdrumloops and we were edited today by Dansha. Thanks so much for joining us and thanks again to Trisha and we will see you guys next week.Transcription by Prexie Magallanes as Trans-Expert on Fiverr.

Fiverr Team
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