Communicating the Value of Your Gig to Buyers - UPYOUR

[eoinfinnegan]

Following a comment from @jamesbulls a couple of days ago regarding communicating value to buyers I have spent some time thinking on this extremely important topic. It is something that we have all heard people say to us
"You must explain your value"
“Don’t focus on price, focus on value”
“If you don’t value yourself then neither will buyers”.

All very self explanatory and it is difficult to argue with these statements but what does it actually mean - Value?

Here is a basic definition of the word:

The regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something

Most of us would have come up with something like that I think but in business terms and specifically in the Buyer/Seller scenario, this definition doesn’t really go far enough. When I think of value in terms of Buyer/Seller, this is how I would define it:

The usefulness of a product or service in relation to the cost.

That’s nice and neat and I think it clarifies what we are talking about. What it also does is that it brings up the relationship between cost and usefulness (or utility in economics) which is a FUNDAMENTAL element of business itself.
If something has no usefulness, who will buy it? If something is cheap enough, the buyer may value it highly! If something is excellent quality but costs more than it is worth then the buyer will not value that highly, and vice-versa.
And so it goes on, the more useful something is, the more it should cost in comparison to its competitors. This is definitely an over simplification of how costing a product works BUT it is definitely a major part and is the focus of this post. For advice on the other elements of pricing and how to adjust your pricing, check out this other post in the series - How to up your prices sensibly and sustainably

I believe communicating value on Fiverr should be simple. If you keep it simple, then you will not need to repeat things to buyers and they will grasp it quickly as well as being able to quickly compare the different offers they get from different sellers. Here is a great example of keeping value simple:

Coca Cola count their recent “Taste the Feeling” ad campaign as extremely successful. More so than others in recent years. This campaign is the definition of simplicity - in terms of the message. In essence, what they were doing was telling people that Coke will quench their thirst. Now, when it comes to choosing a drink - what is the number 1 reason for doing so? If you didn’t say “to quench thirst” then you probably need to drink some water right now. It is the most basic reason and yet Coke chose this to be their Unique Selling Point (USP)! It is not unique - it shares the quality with every other drink for goodness sake! They left behind previous campaigns like “Open Happiness”, “Share a Coke”, “attractive man/woman drinking coke” etc and went with the reason that everyone knows.

Too often we believe that we should come up with huge explanations and complex USPs while ignoring the primary factor - the reason a buyer wants to buy. You may say what you will do in your gig description but we know a lot of buyers simply don’t read them. This establishes the base value of your product.
Next, I want you to do a little exercise if you will -

• Write down 3-5 things that you include with your gig. If you write, do you proofread it before delivery, come up with a title (or multiple titles), do you include comments/reasons for what you have written, do you do research, etc.

• Have a look through your messages with buyers, both within the order page and the Inbox, those who bought and didn’t buy. Check how often you mentioned these 3-5 things that you do for every buyer.

• Now ask yourself why you have not mentioned them with EVERY buyer and inquiry you have had?

At the very least you should be mentioning these aspects along with your delivery.

Dear Fonthaunt,
Please find the delivery of your order for an article titled “Moderation: a PITA or a Labor of Love” attached.
I have included the PITA bullet points you submitted and researched a couple more. You will find a couple of comments explaining my choice of words and you can choose from any of the 3 subtitles that I have included. I was unable to find someone who agreed with the the labor of love aspect but we expected that so instead I have followed the hypothetical route we discussed. If you have any queries, please let me know but I am confident that this article is ready for you to use.

The (fake) delivery message I sent to Fonthant clearly defines what went into the order. This emphasizes the value of the delivery they have received. As I said, this is the MINIMUM you should be doing to emphasize your value.

If you do more than that, you will see the benefits.

Here is how I communicate my value to clients:

When: In the beginning, when they first contact me. I have a variety of prewritten answers for different types of inquiries which I personalize according to the client and the query. I spend quite a bit of time on these and update them with new info or create new ones as required.
What: In these answers, I lay out the options available to the buyer as well as EXACTLY what I will do in the gig. BUT, here is the clincher - I always edit the what I do part to include or potentially include what they are looking for (within reason). 70+% of my orders are custom offers and so I have the freedom to redefine what the gig actually covers and that means I can delete some things and add new things to it!

"But Eoin, my clients all just order without contacting me!"
Never fear - In this scenario, you should simply send the prewritten message with a “thanks for your order” message. Emphasizing what you do and perhaps even asking if they have something particular in mind can bring great results. It can lead to extras/upsells, clear communication, etc. Doesnt work with everyone of course but at the very least, when they do look at the order, they will see your responsiveness etc and that alone has value. You would be amazed how few sellers actually acknowledge an order and with a seller I have not used before, I find this extremely irritating - I see it as a basic courtesy if the delivery time is longer than 1 day.
(Yes, I value good communication extremely highly and am prepared to pay more for it - I am not alone in this).

Ok, Moving On!

Having established that defining and communicating exactly what you do is how to express the value of your service, I want to focus on price and its effect on value/the perception of value.
$5 sales is what this site was built on. It is however, not what the site is focused on any more. Regardless of that, price is still a key reason for why people come to Fiverr and for why people choose particular sellers. I want to point out that I am discussing Price separately to Value, because they are two different things and the buyers who choose to buy based on one of these can be very different to each other.

If the price is the absolute most important thing to a buyer then what they are actually doing is valuing price over value. HUH? This buyer has a fixed budget and will not be moved on it. So how do you sell to them? First of all, IMO, these buyers have a bad reputation on Fiverr which is unfair. Some are absolutely awful, and I have spoken about this before but that is generally those who will not pay more than $5 for anything. Here I’m talking about those with limited budgets such as those who want something worth $150 for $100 etc. This type of buyer can actually be ok to deal with but it is up to you to define how the order will go. To have a successful transaction with this type, you must:

• Establish what is being offered
• Define exactly what is being done AND what is not being done as a result of the lower price being agreed.

To do this, you will need to negotiate or discuss what the buyer doesn’t need and/or what you are not prepared to include at that price. Defining this can mean that A. you do less work. B. your buyer knows what they are getting. C. If there is a problem, you can show this to CS.

So, what do you see as valuable in your gig? What do other people offer that may add value to yours? Is it worth it? How are you going to express this to Buyers?
If you do nothing else with what I have written in this post, I suggest you create prewritten messages about your services which you can customize. Send them when Buyers message you, on receiving an Order and/or when sending a delivery - Honestly, from both sides of Buying and Selling, I can see the use in doing this.

The Buyer’s perception of your gig’s value is defined by you so make sure you are saying it clearly!

This post is one of a series of posts I am doing which are aimed at helping sellers to Up Their Game and begin to earn more from their work, gain new clients and make the most of being a freelancer. The posts will mainly be based on This Poll which is still open so if you haven’t made your voice heard, please do so as the more that vote on an issue in that poll, the more likely I am to post about that issue.
To see all posts in the series, Click Here

[eoinfinnegan]

I want to tell readers about my current situation to encourage people to implement the ideas I have shared throughout the UPYOUR SERIES.

In March I had a fairly self inflicted fall in sales as I was working on something else and also because I had an exceptionally busy December (double my average sales) and January (triple) and needed a break. During this time I began looking at ways to ensure my income was sustainable and aimed to increase it. Yes, that’s right - I had just had exceptional months and it was then that I began looking at what more I could do! I didn’t decide that I had “made it”, I didn’t sit back and wait for the orders to keep rolling - I worked on doing more. This is because I know from experience that EVERY BUSINESS will experience good times and bad - your responsibility as a business owner is to make the most of the good and find ways to smooth out the bad. Little did I know that Fiverr was about to do something that would have affected me extremely badly, had I not been working to ensure that I did not rely on Fiverr for sales.

If you sell on Fiverr, then you need to know that it is still your own responsibility to make your own success.
In April, I had a fall in new clients and could not really be found in search, but because of work I had done, I still made my monthly target. This work was mainly those tips and ideas I share in this series of posts.
This month I hit my target after 18 days with just my usual gigs. Another one of my gigs landed on the first page of results for a great keyword and I have had a huge upturn in sales for that gig. That is on top of my other sales. Now, I don’t know why the gig has hit the first page and I don’t know how long it will last. I could sit back and rub my hands with glee but I know that this could be another short lived great period so I will continue to implement my methods and think up more as I go along. You see, I don’t know how that gig landed there, it could be because of my great service, the fact it is a bit unique in that niche, it could be because of various off site things I have done etc - I simply do not and can not know how. As a business owner, I refuse to rely on something I cannot control. It makes no sense and if I did, I would live in constant fear of collapse due to the possibility of Fiverr/other people’s actions.

It’s hard work
Implementing the methods I have has taken time and effort, it has been a consistent period of plugging away and focusing my energy. Every time I see a post about “no sales” or “success comes if you do this one thing” I shudder. There is no “one thing” that will guarantee success on Fiverr but there is many ways to give you the best chance of success - and most of them have all been written long before I started writing on the forum. If you want to get somewhere on this platform, it will take effort - if you are just sitting there hoping for a lucky fix then perhaps you should play the lottery instead. The disappointment is only once per week then, rather than all those minutes sitting watching for a notification from Fiverr.

What do you do for a living?
If your answer is “I am a Fiverr seller” then you need to reassess what you are doing and your mindset. Your government sees you as a self employed person or a small business. That is what you are taxed as. You need to see yourself in the same way. Fiverr (or the other platforms) do not employ any of us, nor do they guarantee sales or an income. That is your responsibility and nobody else’s. Fiverr is a platform on which you can sell. It is like a busy high street where you are a store. If you don’t make the effort to be a successful store then the clients will pass you by for the others who are more professional and seem to know what they are doing. You could be the best logo designer in the world yet not be successful here. It takes more than your ability to do what you sell.

[misscrystal]

On 5/18/2017 at 11:25 PM, eoinfinnegan said:

perhaps you should play the lottery instead. The disappointment is only once per week then, rather than all those minutes sitting watching for a notification from Fiverr.

Nice tip, thanks!🙂 

[miiila]

“But Eoin, my clients all just don´t read any messages I send them either! Also, where I live there´s a lottery draw three times a week!”

Nice article, thanks, I do that sometimes, but probably could work on it.

[eoinfinnegan]

Quote

Nice tip, thanks

At least it is an original tip! Not sure if it has been mentioned on the forum before 😃 

 

On 5/19/2017 at 6:31 AM, miiila said:

my clients all just don´t read any messages I send them either!

Why do you think that is? 

[writer99025]

Man, you do a lot of thinking. If I was a new seller I would get scared by this UPYOUR process. My strategy was simple - do a great job, sell at a low price, talk politely to buyers, and deliver on time as far as possible. Spend the rest of your time worrying about the future of India. That’s it.

[eoinfinnegan]

Man, you do a lot of thinking. If I was a new seller I would get scared by this UPYOUR process. My strategy was simple - do a great job, sell at a low price, talk politely to buyers, and deliver on time as far as possible. Spend the rest of your time worrying about the future of India. That’s it.

you do a lot of thinking. If I was a new seller I would get scared by this UPYOUR process

Yes, I probably over-think things quite a bit too but the reality is that freelancing is not easy but all the blogs, courses, advertisements make it sound like it is just a matter of signing up to make money and that is simply not the case.

For new sellers, unless they are VERY lucky and get a first page rank for a considerable time (like a year+) they are going to struggle if they are financially dependent on Fiverr/other platforms. For some sellers, the ones we hear about in promos etc, they have been fortunate, got in at the right time and/or worked damn hard to get their success but the hard work element is generally mentioned in a throwaway line and the reality of it is not emphasized in the same way that their “6/7-figure-income” is bandied about.

do a great job, sell at a low price, talk politely to buyers, and deliver on time as far as possible

Don’t undersell yourself and your achievements. You work exceptionally hard to maintain your buyers and deliver as much as you do at the price you do. For many, working the hours you do is just not feasible and so other methods and strategies must be implemented. Also, your current income rate probably didn’t start at that 3 years ago and as much as a TRS badge is not a guarantee of continued success, it definitely helps to a point.

I actually find it comforting to know that my success is in my own hands and not reliant on a company I have no real relationship with and so should other/new sellers. They don’t have to just take a ticket and hope for the best, unless that is all they are prepared to do.

[writer99025]

you do a lot of thinking. If I was a new seller I would get scared by this UPYOUR process

Yes, I probably over-think things quite a bit too but the reality is that freelancing is not easy but all the blogs, courses, advertisements make it sound like it is just a matter of signing up to make money and that is simply not the case.

For new sellers, unless they are VERY lucky and get a first page rank for a considerable time (like a year+) they are going to struggle if they are financially dependent on Fiverr/other platforms. For some sellers, the ones we hear about in promos etc, they have been fortunate, got in at the right time and/or worked damn hard to get their success but the hard work element is generally mentioned in a throwaway line and the reality of it is not emphasized in the same way that their “6/7-figure-income” is bandied about.

do a great job, sell at a low price, talk politely to buyers, and deliver on time as far as possible

Don’t undersell yourself and your achievements. You work exceptionally hard to maintain your buyers and deliver as much as you do at the price you do. For many, working the hours you do is just not feasible and so other methods and strategies must be implemented. Also, your current income rate probably didn’t start at that 3 years ago and as much as a TRS badge is not a guarantee of continued success, it definitely helps to a point.

I actually find it comforting to know that my success is in my own hands and not reliant on a company I have no real relationship with and so should other/new sellers. They don’t have to just take a ticket and hope for the best, unless that is all they are prepared to do.

Actually, my earnings were high from the very start; and have remained consistent throughout. I have talked about my story enough here, so will just be repeating things…in my first 2 years, I did over a hundred orders every month…was placed high on search, in the first page itself. For much of my third year, I have been on 4th or 5th pages, relied entirely on repeat orders- bigger orders, higher delivery time. I think there is no one model that works for everyone, all of us have to find our own path to our kind of success. Fiverr gives everyone an equal chance - new, old, TRS, non-TRS, it’s up to the person to take it.

[writer99025]

Anyway, Eoin why don’t you write a book on Fiverr? You have given it a lot of thought, I am sure it will be the best book on Fiverr yet.

[capri2794]

Oh, talking about VALUE, I remember my 3rd order on Fiverr. For it, I had to search 99 images and make a graphic of them… for guess how much? For $5. I underestimated the value of my work and did the work for SUCH A CHEAP rate.

Well, the buyer ended up saying: This is not what I wanted and I don’t think you will be able to do what I want.

Thankfully, had gone through the forum by then and asked the buyer to cancel the order instead of giving a negative review (it was my 3rd order and could have badly influenced my overall ratings).

I learned the hard way about the value of my work. And this forum really helps a great deal in this regard.

Also, three cheers for Eoin. You are doing a superb job helping us.

[akgillustration]

Hi Eoin,

I’ve been reading all your lovely advice and thank you!
I’m a definite newbie on here, and I have a LOT to work on for my gig (as I’m finding out), at first Fiverr is pretty overwhelming, so thank god for these forums. The people on here, especially your stuff Eoin, have been so helpful and inspiring. It’s always hard starting from the ground up somewhere, but you guys make it a lot easier!!

[john_isaac]

Charging what you are worth is essential. It is not being greedy. 

Whenever you charge your worth, you find yourself motivated to do a great job and to deliver on time. In fact, you tend to be happier.

Do you have any bad experience with charging peanuts? Please share.

[grayprogrammerz]

For an expert, work becomes too easy. So they finish in some minutes without any headche.

But note they took years of taking tensions to be called experts. So they are entitled for big charges.

 

Between I'm not sure about "charging peanuts" ?

[mariashtelle1]

Worth adding that bait and click is not allowed on fiverr. 
if you put 5$ on your gig you have to charge 5$ and you can’t change your price after client placed an order 

[leannelrivers]

On 2/26/2023 at 8:03 PM, john_isaac said:

Do you have any bad experience with charging peanuts?

Clients who expect work for peanuts and only offer peanuts can tend to be some of the most difficult and unreasonable people to work with. 

[williambryan392]

1 hour ago, leannelrivers said:

tend to be some of the most difficult and unreasonable people to work with. 

100%

A recent message I received...

'I'll pay you $20 for a 1 hour call but only if the advice makes my business profitable. If it is profitable in 6 months I will pay you $20. Do you guarantee it?'

🤦‍♂️

[donnovan86]

1 hour ago, leannelrivers said:

Clients who expect work for peanuts and only offer peanuts can tend to be some of the most difficult and unreasonable people to work with. 

I agree. And there are even worse poeple than that, those who offer peanuts and ask for a discount. That's a special breed 😄

[katakatica]

3 hours ago, grayprogrammerz said:

For an expert, work becomes too easy. So they finish in some minutes without any headche.

 

This does depend on what you do, I think. Writing still takes roughly the same (if not more time with editing/etc.) for me than before. Have I improved? Absolutely. But I wouldn't say my work is 'too easy'. 

11 minutes ago, donnovan86 said:

I agree. And there are even worse poeple than that, those who offer peanuts and ask for a discount. That's a special breed 😄

Some people can't help it... they mistake sellers for elephants 😛
(jokes aside, raising my prices helped this to SOME extent, but not... fully. I often wish I could take on fun projects that would pay me less, but it just wouldn't be profitable for me, so I end up having to say no)

[grayprogrammerz]

1 hour ago, katakatica said:

This does depend on what you do, I think. Writing still takes roughly the same (if not more time with editing/etc.) for me than before. Have I improved? Absolutely. But I wouldn't say my work is 'too easy'.

May be every time you get completely new situation or article to write ?

For me, most of my work is bit similar to what I been doing previous 4 years.

Yeah its hard at first. But when it become daily routine it keeps on easing level: hardest > hard > easy > too easy...

Rest I refrain from experiments, specially if outcomes are small. 😄

[cr7siuuu]

For years I believed that the most successful freelancers were smarter than everyone else.

After meetings with hundreds of successful freelancers and freelance coaches, I can tell you that they’re not smarter.

They’re just good at selling themselves.👍

[visualstudios]

8 minutes ago, cr7siuuu said:

They’re just good at selling themselves.👍

Yeah, I call that being smart.

[mabelma]

On 2/28/2023 at 6:42 AM, leannelrivers said:

Clients who expect work for peanuts and only offer peanuts can tend to be some of the most difficult and unreasonable people to work with. 

Agreed! Whereas clients that spend a reasonable amount of money and don't nickle and dime you are always grateful and most of the time very easy to work with. It's better to charge what you are worth and not less than that. If you don't value your work then no one else will value it either.