Order

[jannatulasha]

Hello, This is jannatul Asha. I have a question. Recently The order flow is very low. Is this for everyone or just me? It's the end of the year, the client is on vacation so this is happening?

[vickieito]

It's natural to have slow periods in business. My slow months were in the summer when my customers were on summer break.

I'm getting a lot of inquiries right now but I'm turning customers away because I'm on vacation.

[williambryan392]

1 hour ago, vickieito said:

It's natural to have slow periods in business

100%. Ups and downs are part of the freelancing life. Busy when you want to relax, and quiet when you want to be busy lol!

It was thanksgiving in the US last week, and the holiday season can be a weird time. When orders are slow you should look to launch new gigs, improve your profile and potentially even build your income in other ways.

  

1 hour ago, vickieito said:

I'm getting a lot of inquiries right now but I'm turning customers away because I'm on vacation

Are you not using OOO mode / unavailable?

 

Edited December 7, 2022 by williambryan392

[vickieito]

2 minutes ago, williambryan392 said:

Are you not using OOO mode / unavailable?

No, I'm just using my Request to Order feature and Quick Responses. It's the same thing except it doesn't take my gigs off the marketplace.

Edited December 7, 2022 by vickieito

[williambryan392]

7 minutes ago, vickieito said:

No, I'm just using my Request to Order feature. It's the same thing except it doesn't take my gigs off the marketplace.

I doubt there's much cause for concern, it will be fine, but aren't you more concerned about the impact to conversion?

Also don't you want some peace from the messages lol if you're on vacation? That was the biggest relief for me, not having to tap away on my phone regularly! I didn't realise how much I was always on it until my GF at the time was like wow, you're not on your phone 🤣

Your positioning should bounce back after unavailable, so long as it's not long than a month. I didn't go unavailable for over a year when I started, I was super worried, now I've done it 5 times for 6 weeks total this year and it hasn't impacted. Fiverr changed how much it impacts so if you are worried and avoiding it, you probably shouldn't be because you have a really strong profile already. 

And my word do I want the request to order feature so badly!!

Edited December 7, 2022 by williambryan392

[lawan21]

8 hours ago, jannatulasha said:

order flow is very low

This is like a twitter news post.

The title is very positive

Content is very depressive. 

8 hours ago, jannatulasha said:

It's the end of the year, the client is on vacation so this is happening?

My case is curious because I've got many orders because of the vacation.🤣

[vickieito]

22 minutes ago, williambryan392 said:

Also don't you want some peace from the messages lol if you're on vacation?

The last time (only time) I used OOO, I got a ton of messages, all from existing clients. So, I don't really see a benefit from using this feature if I'm already using Request to Order. New buyers are much easier to turn away with a QR. Existing clients require a lot more interaction.

Also, my vacation is for 6 weeks (and I've never taken more than a day off at a time). This is a big step for me. I don't know if I can step away from Fiverr for that long. 😂 I have several subscription orders and long-term orders to work on during the holidays, so I'll see how this goes.

Edited December 7, 2022 by vickieito

[williambryan392]

Just now, vickieito said:

The last time (only time) I used OOS, I got a ton of messages, all from existing clients. So, I don't really see a benefit from using this feature if I'm already using Request to Order. New buyers are much easier to turn away with a QR. Existing clients require a lot more interaction.

Great point well made. That makes a lot of sense. I do feel unavailable should come with the option to block prior buyers (not active orders) from also messaging. Once you've been here a while it means messages are daily. Which is obviously a good problem to have, but dang it, putting down and ignoring the phone for a day is such sweet relief!

[melanielm]

12 hours ago, vickieito said:

I'm just using my Request to Order feature and Quick Responses.

Oh, how I wish I had that feature already! I'm about to go OoO for an end of the year vacation myself. It would be wonderful to choose the same method you do, Vickie.

To answer the original question, yes. I usually see a bit of a downturn near the end of the year. I think businesses might be busy wrapping up projects and goal tracking and planning for the new year. Freelancing is certainly a career where long-term thinking and financial planning matters.

[manjula87]

Same here

[jannatulasha]

Thank you so much for @all