Silent clients

[Guest dmc_art]

I'm getting much of this strange behavior, when a client talks with me and makes an order, it's all good...

... and then, complete silence. Not responding on messages nor delivery. 

Just curious, what's the catch with it? It's like going to the market, giving the money on the cashier and asking for bread - and when the cashier asks "what kind of bread would you like?" there's complete silence. 

How should I react on this? I mean, if there's no reply it would be pointless to react, but seriously, what's the point of such behavior?

Anyone has clients like this?

[vickieito]

On 11/21/2022 at 2:47 AM, dmc_art said:

Anyone has clients like this?

Hi @dmc_art, This happens all the time! It's been happening to me a lot the last couple of months, even on orders that are $200 or more. You would think they would care about their money and orders, but I'm okay with it as long as I get paid for my work.

On 11/21/2022 at 2:47 AM, dmc_art said:

How should I react on this?

I have fun chatting to myself on the order about what I'm doing and how I'm taking their order requirements into consideration. I try to anticipate their needs and If I don't have everything I need, I reach out to Customer Support and they can usually get a non-responsive buyer to respond to me.

If I end up delivering to a non-responsive buyer, I just reiterate in the order delivery how I've taken all their order requirements into consideration and I look forward to their feedback (with a reminder that they have three free revisions on the order that they can take advantage of). 

On 11/21/2022 at 2:47 AM, dmc_art said:

but seriously, what's the point of such behavior?

Who knows? 🤷‍♀️I have a good imagination and can think up some fun stories. 🤔

Sometimes I have some of these clients come back 4 week later apologizing that they just got busy and they loved the order. Some never come back. So I just assume that life happens and things just got really busy.

[Guest dmc_art]

2 minutes ago, vickieito said:

Hi @dmc_art, This happens all the time! It's been happening to me a lot the last couple of months, even on orders that are $200 or more. You would think they would care about their money and orders, but I'm okay with it as long as I get paid for my work.

I have fun chatting to myself on the order about what I'm doing and how I'm taking their order requirements into consideration. I try to anticipate their needs and If I don't have everything I need, I reach out to Customer Support and they can usually get a non-responsive buyer to respond to me.

If I end up delivering to a non-responsive buyer, I just reiterate in the order delivery how I've taken all their order requirements into consideration and I look forward to their feedback (with a reminder that they have three free revisions on the order that they can take advantage of). 

Who knows? 🤷‍♀️I have a good imagination and can think up some fun stories. 🤔 

Sometimes I have some of these clients come back 4 week later apologizing that they just got busy and they loved the order. Some never come back. So I just assume that life happens and things just got really busy.

"I have fun chatting to myself on the order about what I'm doing" - thanks for making me laugh xD

"I have a good imagination and can think up some fun stories" - well, in some cases the buyer made the same or similar order with another seller and won't respond as they're waiting the other seller. If one seller falls to deliver what the buyer wants, they reply. But again, the behavior is childish.

Thanks for the reply and the laughter, Vickie. I feel relieved I'm not the only one xD

[sunboatrecords]

Since Fiverr gave me 'Request to Order' this has been incredibly rare. Not sure if it has happened at all.

Even not getting a review is rare after this change.

That is because I have the chance to vet the clients and, If I see any red flags, I do not hesitate to reject them.

Always go with your gut. The last time that I rejected a client (very politely and professionally), they started cussing me right after.

Talking about the importance of gut feeling.

Now, for the times that this had happened, I behaved like Vickie. I write them order updates and, I send an auto-completion reminder 2 days after the delivery. When I was a new seller, I had gone along with this behavior a couple of times and I regretted it afterwards. That is because, some clients expect you to take them by the hand. So, better to be safe than sorry.

My 2 cents, amigos!

[viktor_penev]

At least you are getting an order. I have many clients asking me if i can do some edits and when i say yes and ask for more details they ignore me hah

[Alex.M]

On 11/20/2022 at 7:47 PM, dmc_art said:

there's complete silence. 

it happens very often to others as well, not all clients are willing to communicate... that's not the issue though, wait and see when they write back after a year or so and start complaining about the previous order 😄

[vickieito]

54 minutes ago, viktor_penev said:

I have many clients asking me if i can do some edits and when i say yes and ask for more details they ignore me hah

That's another type of "silent buyer"! The one that disappears mid-chat (and in the weirdest places in conversation). I get a lot of those, too.

I had one of those that disappeared right after she asked a question (which I answered, then asked her one of my own) ...and then 5 months later she comes back, acting like nothing had happened. She answered my question and asked for a quote. I gave her the quote and she disappeared again. I look forward to our next conversation, most likely after the holidays. 😊 Most of these disappearing buyers in my inbox never come back, so it's fun when they do. So far, I only have 3 disappearing buyers who keep coming back every few months or so. We are on first-name basis now.

[vickieito]

1 hour ago, viktor_penev said:

At least you are getting an order. I have many clients asking me if i can do some edits and when i say yes and ask for more details they ignore me hah

@viktor_penev, I didn't mean to offend you or make you sad!

It looks like you are doing well! You have fun gigs that are in demand, so you have a stream of orders and some repeat clients, too. Why get sad when some clients disappear on you? You have happy customers to attend to, and it's better to not worry too much about buyers who aren't ready to make the purchase.

[viktor_penev]

5 minutes ago, vickieito said:

@viktor_penev, I didn't mean to offend you or make you sad!

It looks like you are doing well! You have fun gigs that are in demand, so you have a stream of orders and some repeat clients, too. Why get sad when some clients disappear on you? You have happy customers to attend to, and it's better to not worry too much about buyers who aren't ready to make the purchase.

Sorry, i reacted sad for your story with your client.

[strategist_ceo]

3 hours ago, vickieito said:

On 11/21/2022 at 1:47 AM, dmc_art said:

but seriously, what's the point of such behavior?

Who knows? 🤷‍♀️I have a good imagination and can think up some fun stories. 🤔

Sometimes I have some of these clients come back 4 week later apologizing that they just got busy and they loved the order. Some never come back. So I just assume that life happens and things just got really busy.

I had a client who once ordered and then went silent for a while. It turned out that his account had been banned (he was using a VPN and thought it might be because of that).

You can either deliver what you can and ask them to use the revision (if they accept it), or initiate a cancellation at the very last hour.

[sunboatrecords]

4 hours ago, strategist_ceo said:

(he was using a VPN and thought it might be because of that).

I do not believe that using a VPN is a bannable offence as long as you are not trying to fake your location or any form of deception.

I had some correspondence with customer support a few months ago and they told me that using a VPN is discouraged but not against ToS. However, they informed me that the site can malfunction when the VPN is on.