How To Fix The Services Marketplace!

I've been in my sick bed all week so I wasn't able to put together a full episode but this video is a quick summary of what I cover in episode 450 on the Informed podcast.

Thanks to Natasha Jones for suggesting I add a short video to these newsletters. What do you think of this video intro' feature, should I keep doing it?

That's all I was able to muster up the energy to cover this week! Apart from a brilliantly creative post of the week.

Informed is a weekly podcast which you can listen to and subscribe to for free on any podcast app. These notes are merely brief overview of what I covered in the podcast so do listen to the full show on Spotify below or simply search for 'Informed podcast' on your podcast app of choice.

Services

As mentioned, this topic was inspired by an article I read in TechCrunch this week

Now credit where credit is due, that is SOME PR spin!

Anyone can add services to their profile and I'm pretty sure that the majority of those 10 million people are only doing it to enhance their profile. Unlike the people you find on Fiverr and Upwork who are actually there to create business/work opportunities!

To be fair, Ryan Roslansky did elaborate and provide better statistics in this post

Click on the post above and have a quick read of the comments section.

I do wonder if some people are describing the same thing, either that or they are being unbelievably positive about a feature I once described as 'Clearly built by a half-interested intern'! I can only imagine that some of this positive feedback is merely an attempt to seek favour with the CEO of LinkedIn??.

Fortunately others take a more realistic view;

OK enough of this negativity, let's take a more constructive look at services and think about what could be done to improve it.

1. A Dedicated Services page.

There is a Services marketplace page hidden under the 'For Business' menu but it seems to be a remnant of the now defunct ProFinder feature which was only available in the US. The nature of many services these days is that they can be provided virtually so only being able to search in the US is completely irrelevant and this page needs deleting.

Instead I would design a new, interactive keyword search page similar to the Fiverr landing page below

Note the option to search by keyword or pick a popular category to start a search.

2. Sub-categories

As things stand there are hundreds of categories and although they appear to be listed as main and sub-categories, this is not how it works, they are no sub-categories.

When searching I should be able to filter as follows;

Main category → HR consultancy

Sub-category → Performance management

Industry → Financial services

Location → London

Rating → ????????+

3. Search Results

As things stand, searching for service providers delivers the results in connection tier order which seems illogical to me. The primary factor should be how many assignments have been delivered, closely followed by review ranking or even better, let the person search determine how they would like to see the search result ordered.

An active freelancer, who has delivered similar assignments recently, with good reviews should come high in a search result. How close they are to you in your network is not especially important.

4. Services Pages

I would completely redesign service provider pages to include;

• Number of projects successfully delivered and a title for each one to provide more context.
• 'Request services' button renamed 'Make contact', the former feels like too much of a commitment for an initial enquiry. The message button is hidden under 'More' in the current services page. In addition a pop-up box encouraging the viewer to reach out would be helpful. Currently submitting a request for proposal is the primary option which involves completing a form and this is feels like an unnecessary friction for the buyer.
• Average response time should be by the hour. Currently the best you can see is 'Usually responds within 24 hours'. This is not quick enough, I'm more likely to message someone if I felt they would respond very soon. In addition adding the green 'currently active' dot or circle would be helpful (it only shows on the search result, not the service page). Given the prevalence of remote work, a 'current time for this person' would also be helpful.
• More granular information of services offered with different levels. Fiverr use a 3 tier basic, standard and premium system. Something like this, with associated pricing could be suitable for some types of work (such as website design/build)
• Reviews. These needs to be very specific to an assignment, I see far too many reviews that generically state what a great person someone is or how they enjoy their podcast, blog etc. Allowing people to request reviews from previous clients allows this kind of abuse of its intended use. I understand why it was implemented this way initially but now reviews need to be for assignments only booked through the services marketplace. Also allow the provider to add supporting evidence to a review, for instance a link to the clients website for a review on a website build.

6. Company pages.

Companies should be able to create a services page and this should appear in search results alongside individuals. This would require an extra search filter allowing the option to exclude companies if required but sometimes a consideration might need to be made to either appoint a freelancer or an agency. This should not be possible for companies with less than five employees.

7. Premium

This is more controversial! Far too many people are casually adding services to enhance their profile. A services page should not be a free facility. Only premium users should have access to a services page

Conclusion

This feature has great potential and could eventually lead to a direct revenue stream for LinkedIn. The problem is that LinkedIn just don't understand small business, they are a business that has always focussed it's attention of large corporates and that blind spot causes then real issues with features like this.

That's my take anyway.

I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below;

• Which of the above do you disagree with and why?
• What else would you add?

Post of the week

Brilliantly creative and highly relevant and valuable advice. I love this video from Jason Vana

The engagement levels are excellent and Jason is 8really on the ball with responding.

All round great work and a deserving winner.

OK that's all I can manage, I'm exhausted and I'm going back to bed!

I'm sure I will back and fighting fit soon. In the meantime, take care.