Vacation Mode vs Extending Gig™ Duration

[ryancaldarone]

Hello Everyone!

I’ve been debating this in my head the past few weeks, and thought I’d bounce some ideas off of the seller community…

About to go on a vacation for a week or so (out of the country), I wanted to make sure I nursed my business here of Fiverr® in the best way. While I’d be able to keep in constant contact with my clients through the mobile app or from the web app, I’d prefer not to get distracted by working on my vacation; I don’t take many of them, after all.

Side Note: I’m happy to say that this travel break wouldn’t be possible without the tremendous support and experiences I’ve shared with my clients here on Fiverr® 😃

As far as I’m aware “Vacation Mode” pauses all active Gigs™, lets clients know the seller is on vacation (preset duration), and conversations via orders & inbox with existing clients are still allowed. New orders are allowed to process, however the standard delivery turnover is added to the remainder of the preset duration of the vacation.

I’ve used “Vacation Mode” once before, as a level one seller when I had a three day absence for urgent matters. It worked okay, as it described… but I definitely noticed a lull in my incoming order volume for a couple of weeks after coming back from “Vacation Mode”. What I’m trying to avoid this time (since this will be a 10 day period), is having a month or so a building up my inertia.

What I was thinking of doing instead of “Vacation Mode” was letting all of my regular/recent clients know when I’d be away, assure them I’d still be able to answer their questions or briefly communicate, add 10 days lead time to all of my Gigs™ (only have three, and standard delivery is 48 hrs), and mention the dates I’d be on vacation in my Profile Summary. I’d also respond and address new messages and orders as normal, mentioning when I’d be back in the working chair.

My hope is that by doing this I wouldn’t miss out on any orders I’d normally reach by having active Gigs™. I’m not worried about coming home to a large queue of orders, as I’ve taken an additional day off from my other duties and employment to specifically devote to working on backlogged orders.

What do you all do when vacationing? I could seriously use some peer insight here 😃 Many thanks for any input!

[sujit1717]

Extending Gig duration is much safer than Vacation mode…

[justmarketing00]

I was On vacation a few days ago. I used the Extended time Duration but that was also Worse for me. I was getting 5-10 Orders a day and after i was back. I was merely getting 1-3 order and some day zero. But i have now started to build up and Hopefully i will Recover soon so i don’t think any of the Feature is good for you. Vacation mood or Extended time duration or Pausing your gig manually. Your sales will Drop and they will.

[orcatek]

I’ve always just extended time and but a large comment at the top of the description stating when deliveries would start. As my trip goes on I update the gig times, so by the time I am back, everything is back to normal. The first few days orders slow a bit, but they are back to normal by the end.

[jamesbulls]

I use vacation mode to take 1 or 2 days off every week, and haven’t had any problems. As much as I understand it, Vacation Mode only makes it so that your gig doesn’t appear in search results, but it can still be accessed via your seller profile or direct link with the caveat that there’s a button buyers can click to request to be notified when you return. Pausing your gigs, however, removes them from search results, hides them on your seller profile, and they can’t be visited by direct link.

Everything I’ve seen is that pausing your gig only really matters when it comes to your gig’s Google search ranking, but everything I’ve seen is that Fiverr gigs are buried somewhere on the 623rd page of search results, so it really doesn’t matter.

If you don’t come back from vacation mode within the duration you set when you turned it on, you’re taken from vacation mode to having your gigs paused. This has happened to me several times, and it’s not a big deal.

Maybe another sellers has had different results, but I don’t recommend adjusting your delivery times unless you plan to be working during your vacation. If you just set a long delivery time and let work pile up, this is going to create a lot of irritated buyers (especially when they see the delivery time drop back down when you return), and it’s also going to have a big impact on you Fiverr search ranking. What I’ve learned from tinkering with my gig and comparing it to other sellers in my category is that Fiverr’s search / ranking algorithm adores fast delivery time. If you increase delivery time just to keep getting orders but not completing them, this will absolutely affect your Fiverr ranking.

My advice is to do what I do: just hit that button that says “vacation mode,” and enjoy your time off. If your impressions, clicks, and sales dropped after the first time you used vacation mode, then this is a sign that you’re relying too heavily on Fiverr to bring the clients to you, and you need to make more effort to recruit your own clients.

Again, speaking for myself, I use vacation mode for at least 24 hours every week and I’m present the 4th ranked seller in my sub-category. Sometimes I’m the 2nd or the 3rd - it fluctuates a bit - but my point is that vacation mode hasn’t hurt me in the slightest. If you’re just cranking up delivery time so you can keep getting orders but not complete them while you eat flakies and loaf around, it will impact your search ranking.

[magellon]

I do travel a lot, in Australia, all over Europe, etc…, I have never used the vacation mode. What I do when planning a trip, I untick the Express Deliver boxes of all of my Gigs and extend my delivery periods to approximately what I think I would need, while being safe. Nowadays we can always find an Internet connection about everywhere we go, even on camp grounds. Between 2 flights at the airports, I can do a couple of deliveries. So I never miss any business, even on holidays! 😉

[esthernyambura]

Extend your delivery time rather than using vacation mode.

[ryancaldarone]

@jamesbulls Absolutely Astounding response! I’m glad to know that you regularly use the Vacation Mode feature, and it works for you… proof that the developers put it there for a reason. I hadn’t thought of delivery time fluctuation impacting the Gig™ metrics.

You’re correct in that I rely too heavily on internal traffic for orders; having only been selling for seven months, I’ve kind of been testing things out… waiting for some kind of plateau (while also building a portfolio and mass of reviews) before I start cross promotion outside the Fiverr® platform. Currently I have a steady 5% conversion rate, so I’m going to hit the promotion heavy once I get back from vacation… now that I have a workflow established, and understand my target demo.

Thanks again, you’ve solidified my intention to embrace “Vacation Mode”.

Cheers 😃

[akmgfx]

for me vacation mode is safe, I tried many times during past year and have no problem till now, extending gig means you give client option to order your gig and honestly speaking everyone expect over delivery and if we extend the gig then we can’t stand on it.

I believe quality over quantity

[jenniferjason]

nice!!! keenly following…

pls everyone am Jennifer and am new to Fiverr…show me some love with orders…I can convert your pictures or any picture to an organic painting…a trial will convince… you can view my gigs.