Jump to content

Client wants a mockup beforehand


crystaldayton

Recommended Posts

No one has asked me personally on this site for that. I have seen Buyer Requests that ask for that.

I was a member of another site where I had to do a “trial image” of jewelry image editing to see if I was good enough to do the work they wanted. I never heard from them again. Neither did any of the other people who responded, I think.

Someone also commissioned a painting from me for an organization, then said the organization couldn’t pay, but they’d offer me a job teaching a few art classes. Never heard from them again either (they still have the painting too).

I would not do that. Discuss ideas, maybe. Not a mockup. The problem is they can easily take that to someone else and tell them to finish it.

Well, I guess it also depends on if this is a repeat client that you feel comfortable with or not. That makes a difference.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not of logos. I’ve been asked to create mockups/rough versions of videos before an order was placed a couple of times - and in the buyer requests section they sometimes request something similar (so they can decide before making an order with a particular seller eg. like to do a small portion of the video - like convert a couple of slides when the order will be for conversion of quite a lot of slides - not that you can actually upload the sample in the offer section of buyer requests - perhaps it would be better if you could).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don’t do it. Most people who want free work aren’t interested in paying later. I people ask for a sample, I usually tell them, very nicely, to review my portfolio. Most of them never respond, a few have become good customers. It’s better not to risk it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don’t do it. Most people who want free work aren’t interested in paying later. I people ask for a sample, I usually tell them, very nicely, to review my portfolio. Most of them never respond, a few have become good customers. It’s better not to risk it.

I second this. Almost every time I have had a customer ask for work ahead of time, it has resulted in a loss for me. I offer to provide examples of past work and I give a guarantee that if they are not satisfied with my work I can cancel the order and they can work with someone else. But I highly recommend not doing any work until the customer has committed with money. I am of course very polite about it, offering something like this:

I’m sorry, but I am not able to provide samples or sketches before the order clock begins. However, I am attaching samples which will attest to the quality of my work. Please feel free to check out my customer reviews as well. My work is 100% satisfaction guaranteed. If you are not happy with the order I will cheerfully refund your purchase so you may work with another seller.

I’ve lost one only potential sale due to this policy, but I can think of at least three examples where attempting to comply with a request for work beforehand resulting in a loss of money and labor hours on my part.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I second this. Almost every time I have had a customer ask for work ahead of time, it has resulted in a loss for me. I offer to provide examples of past work and I give a guarantee that if they are not satisfied with my work I can cancel the order and they can work with someone else. But I highly recommend not doing any work until the customer has committed with money. I am of course very polite about it, offering something like this:

I’m sorry, but I am not able to provide samples or sketches before the order clock begins. However, I am attaching samples which will attest to the quality of my work. Please feel free to check out my customer reviews as well. My work is 100% satisfaction guaranteed. If you are not happy with the order I will cheerfully refund your purchase so you may work with another seller.

I’ve lost one only potential sale due to this policy, but I can think of at least three examples where attempting to comply with a request for work beforehand resulting in a loss of money and labor hours on my part.

If you are not happy with the order I will cheerfully refund your purchase so you may work with another seller.

This is an invitation for someone to pretend to be unhappy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@crystaldayton Last week someone said they had 15 PDFs to be edited, so they would like to see one as a sample.

I replied politely, saying that I would like to offer one to make sure my work would fit what they needed and I started working on it right away. While doing it I received 4 messages from the same person in 15 minutes, asking when it would be ready. That was a red flag.

As soon as I sent exactly what was requested, what I got back was a very rude reply ‘‘This is not what I wanted at all!!! Could you do one more for me to see if you can do it?’’

Immediately, I figured it out. This buyer was contacting everyone who provided that service and getting one or two documents edited for free. He/she would never order, just ask for samples and then be rude and overwhelm you with messages.

What I did was reply back with ‘‘I’m sorry to hear my work did not align with your expectations. However, I cannot offer any more work for free. Please find someone else, as I am convinced there is a seller who will provide the work you need flawlessly.’’

Then, I get called disrespectful, unprofessional and a waste of time.

Conclusion? Do not offer free work to anyone, unless you have a long-term relationship with that buyer. Clients who are really interested in paying for the job start with a $5 trial order, not free.

(Just my opinion)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you are not happy with the order I will cheerfully refund your purchase so you may work with another seller.

This is an invitation for someone to pretend to be unhappy.

In over eight hundred orders, that has never happened to me once, and if you do any research into sales copywriting, you’ll find that an unconditional refund is a solid tactic that results in higher-value sales.

The few times that I have received refund requests, it was on an order that we both very quickly realized we didn’t work well together. Also, if a customer gets a refund from an order, they get Fiverr credit, not their cash back, so that money just goes back into the Fiverr ecosystem. They must place an order with someone else eventually.

Further evidence that humans are good people - more than once I have had someone decide that it wasn’t going to work out, ask to end the order, but still pay me in full with a tip and a five star review. And I don’t mean on little five dollar sales, either.

When a customer feels safe giving me their money, it’s that much easier to get the yes, especially on big money sales. And once they give you their money, they’re very unlikely to take it back, especially since customer service kicks in and they start to enjoy the process of making something awesome 😃

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In over eight hundred orders, that has never happened to me once, and if you do any research into sales copywriting, you’ll find that an unconditional refund is a solid tactic that results in higher-value sales.

The few times that I have received refund requests, it was on an order that we both very quickly realized we didn’t work well together. Also, if a customer gets a refund from an order, they get Fiverr credit, not their cash back, so that money just goes back into the Fiverr ecosystem. They must place an order with someone else eventually.

Further evidence that humans are good people - more than once I have had someone decide that it wasn’t going to work out, ask to end the order, but still pay me in full with a tip and a five star review. And I don’t mean on little five dollar sales, either.

When a customer feels safe giving me their money, it’s that much easier to get the yes, especially on big money sales. And once they give you their money, they’re very unlikely to take it back, especially since customer service kicks in and they start to enjoy the process of making something awesome 😃

and if you do any research into sales copywriting, you’ll find that an unconditional refund is a solid tactic that results in higher-value sales.

I am well aware of that, but for most people here on Fiverr it appears to backfire. It is surprising to me, given the stories I read all the time on the forum, that you’ve received so little requests for refunds. I know TRS around here that receive a refund request at least once a month.

I have looked at your gigs and I have the impression that you are very good at explaining your approach and what people can expect when they buy your gigs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

and if you do any research into sales copywriting, you’ll find that an unconditional refund is a solid tactic that results in higher-value sales.

I am well aware of that, but for most people here on Fiverr it appears to backfire. It is surprising to me, given the stories I read all the time on the forum, that you’ve received so little requests for refunds. I know TRS around here that receive a refund request at least once a month.

I have looked at your gigs and I have the impression that you are very good at explaining your approach and what people can expect when they buy your gigs.

I have looked at your gigs and I have the impression that you are very good at explaining your approach and what people can expect when they buy your gigs.

Thanks. I revise my copy almost every time I either have a customer who is confused or anytime I end up doing extra work because I didn’t make my expectations clear. I’ve learned a lot of things the hard way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In over eight hundred orders, that has never happened to me once, and if you do any research into sales copywriting, you’ll find that an unconditional refund is a solid tactic that results in higher-value sales.

The few times that I have received refund requests, it was on an order that we both very quickly realized we didn’t work well together. Also, if a customer gets a refund from an order, they get Fiverr credit, not their cash back, so that money just goes back into the Fiverr ecosystem. They must place an order with someone else eventually.

Further evidence that humans are good people - more than once I have had someone decide that it wasn’t going to work out, ask to end the order, but still pay me in full with a tip and a five star review. And I don’t mean on little five dollar sales, either.

When a customer feels safe giving me their money, it’s that much easier to get the yes, especially on big money sales. And once they give you their money, they’re very unlikely to take it back, especially since customer service kicks in and they start to enjoy the process of making something awesome 😃

When a customer feels safe giving me their money, it’s that much easier to get the yes, especially on big money sales.

Doesn’t quite gel with what you said on the other post about relationships to my mind.

I often have more than one order in queue, but I don’t want my customers to think that they are only a number in line!

That in itself is just marketing sing-song, and it’s pretty blatant; don’t drink the marketing sing-song kool aid!

Unconditional refunds might be a common marketing trick, but I tend to associate them with poor quality, scammy buyers on here (I’m not suggesting that you are) who do shoddy work, hope for the best and cancel when the buyer expresses horror at the crap that’s landed in their inbox. Fiverr is currently phasing this behavior out, which does mean for the time being that having a 100% satisfaction or your money back! isn’t great. I also associate them with poor quality internet marketing offers, which typically come with a 30-day period.

Secondly, as a marketing tactic, I don’t see the point in offering it with everything: it devalues your gigs. If it’s a $3k product, then yeah, you need everything you have to get the consumer over the hump, but for smaller amounts, such as what most writers are getting on Fiverr? Nah. It might be a sound tactic when your new and don’t have a lot of reviews, but once you have 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000 etc, you have social proof that you work successfully with a variety of clients on a variety of projects. If someone wants custom samples, cheap prices AND a money back guarantee, I’m going to hit the pass button, a red flag fiesta has just taken place.

As @mjakkerman says, you’re opening yourself up to a lot of abuse of the system, and that’s kind of evidenced by your last statement.

Thanks. I revise my copy almost every time I either have a customer who is confused or anytime I end up doing extra work because I didn’t make my expectations clear. I’ve learned a lot of things the hard way.

Personally, I only offer cancellation before starting work, and it’s usually because the buyer hasn’t read the gig description at all and made an oopsie. Post work? Tough shit. I offer one free revision, the rest cost $20 a pop. My job is to fulfill the original brief–and that’s supported by TOS. All extra work due to client confusion should be paid and purchased for. I get very few revision requests, fwiw.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When a customer feels safe giving me their money, it’s that much easier to get the yes, especially on big money sales.

Doesn’t quite gel with what you said on the other post about relationships to my mind.

I often have more than one order in queue, but I don’t want my customers to think that they are only a number in line!

That in itself is just marketing sing-song, and it’s pretty blatant; don’t drink the marketing sing-song kool aid!

Unconditional refunds might be a common marketing trick, but I tend to associate them with poor quality, scammy buyers on here (I’m not suggesting that you are) who do shoddy work, hope for the best and cancel when the buyer expresses horror at the crap that’s landed in their inbox. Fiverr is currently phasing this behavior out, which does mean for the time being that having a 100% satisfaction or your money back! isn’t great. I also associate them with poor quality internet marketing offers, which typically come with a 30-day period.

Secondly, as a marketing tactic, I don’t see the point in offering it with everything: it devalues your gigs. If it’s a $3k product, then yeah, you need everything you have to get the consumer over the hump, but for smaller amounts, such as what most writers are getting on Fiverr? Nah. It might be a sound tactic when your new and don’t have a lot of reviews, but once you have 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000 etc, you have social proof that you work successfully with a variety of clients on a variety of projects. If someone wants custom samples, cheap prices AND a money back guarantee, I’m going to hit the pass button, a red flag fiesta has just taken place.

As @mjakkerman says, you’re opening yourself up to a lot of abuse of the system, and that’s kind of evidenced by your last statement.

Thanks. I revise my copy almost every time I either have a customer who is confused or anytime I end up doing extra work because I didn’t make my expectations clear. I’ve learned a lot of things the hard way.

Personally, I only offer cancellation before starting work, and it’s usually because the buyer hasn’t read the gig description at all and made an oopsie. Post work? Tough shit. I offer one free revision, the rest cost $20 a pop. My job is to fulfill the original brief–and that’s supported by TOS. All extra work due to client confusion should be paid and purchased for. I get very few revision requests, fwiw.

Personally, I only offer cancellation before starting work, and it’s usually because the buyer hasn’t read the gig description at all and made an oopsie. Post work? Tough shit. I offer one free revision, the rest cost $20 a pop. My job is to fulfill the original brief–and that’s supported by TOS. All extra work due to client confusion should be paid and purchased for. I get very few revision requests, fwiw.

I’m glad you have a way of doing business that is working for you. Mine is obviously a little different but I’m not taking any abuse from my customers. I do appreciate your warning though and I will take it to heart. In the beginning of running my gigs I would do anything and everything a customer asked. As I’ve gotten better at it, I’ve become more clear about what is included in my packages and what is not. But I am never going to be a “tough shit” kind of business person, and I’ve personally run into very few customers that would need to hear it.

Doesn’t quite gel with what you said on the other post about relationships to my mind.

How so?

Fiverr is currently phasing this behavior out,

Also how so?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Personally, I only offer cancellation before starting work, and it’s usually because the buyer hasn’t read the gig description at all and made an oopsie. Post work? Tough shit. I offer one free revision, the rest cost $20 a pop. My job is to fulfill the original brief–and that’s supported by TOS. All extra work due to client confusion should be paid and purchased for. I get very few revision requests, fwiw.

I’m glad you have a way of doing business that is working for you. Mine is obviously a little different but I’m not taking any abuse from my customers. I do appreciate your warning though and I will take it to heart. In the beginning of running my gigs I would do anything and everything a customer asked. As I’ve gotten better at it, I’ve become more clear about what is included in my packages and what is not. But I am never going to be a “tough shit” kind of business person, and I’ve personally run into very few customers that would need to hear it.

Doesn’t quite gel with what you said on the other post about relationships to my mind.

How so?

Fiverr is currently phasing this behavior out,

Also how so?

Well, it’s the old numbers in a line v leveraging the satisfaction guarantee to get more numbers in a line conundrum. Personally, I make it clear to buyers that they are numbers in a line, but they will get my best work when their turn at the top of queue comes. Otherwise, I have to fence chit-chat forever with multiple people seeking a relationship, consultation and in-depth other stuff that I simply don’t offer at this price tag–and few are willing to pay the premium I ask. This is, after all, Fiverr, where you buy gigs off the shelf.

I don’t tell my customer tough shit, of course–but I am the person in control of this relationship–many Fiverr sellers aren’t.

Fiverr is making very clear moves towards discouraging cancellations: The new, revamped resolution center and sales dashboard both give a lot of prominence to not cancelling, as does the change to the cancellation metric, which used to only count towards gigs cancelled after delivery–not before. There’s also the feedback retention when cancelling after an order, removing one of the key reasons that many sellers canceled prior to that–to retain a 5-star rating that may have not accurately reflected their true skill at delivering what they offer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, it’s the old numbers in a line v leveraging the satisfaction guarantee to get more numbers in a line conundrum. Personally, I make it clear to buyers that they are numbers in a line, but they will get my best work when their turn at the top of queue comes. Otherwise, I have to fence chit-chat forever with multiple people seeking a relationship, consultation and in-depth other stuff that I simply don’t offer at this price tag–and few are willing to pay the premium I ask. This is, after all, Fiverr, where you buy gigs off the shelf.

I don’t tell my customer tough shit, of course–but I am the person in control of this relationship–many Fiverr sellers aren’t.

Fiverr is making very clear moves towards discouraging cancellations: The new, revamped resolution center and sales dashboard both give a lot of prominence to not cancelling, as does the change to the cancellation metric, which used to only count towards gigs cancelled after delivery–not before. There’s also the feedback retention when cancelling after an order, removing one of the key reasons that many sellers canceled prior to that–to retain a 5-star rating that may have not accurately reflected their true skill at delivering what they offer.

I understand what you are saying. Thanks for the clarifications 🙂 I’m mostly selling projects that are a lot more than a single $5 gig, so I’m not offering a money back guarantee to try and sell to as many people as possible, but rather build trust with people who are looking to buy a bigger package from me. And like I said, I’ve had more experiences with people who paid me for something they’ll never use than with people demanding a refund from something they had no reason not to like. The watermark system helps with that, too, I think. But I’m still taking everything you said to heart and will learn from it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@crystaldayton Last week someone said they had 15 PDFs to be edited, so they would like to see one as a sample.

I replied politely, saying that I would like to offer one to make sure my work would fit what they needed and I started working on it right away. While doing it I received 4 messages from the same person in 15 minutes, asking when it would be ready. That was a red flag.

As soon as I sent exactly what was requested, what I got back was a very rude reply ‘‘This is not what I wanted at all!!! Could you do one more for me to see if you can do it?’’

Immediately, I figured it out. This buyer was contacting everyone who provided that service and getting one or two documents edited for free. He/she would never order, just ask for samples and then be rude and overwhelm you with messages.

What I did was reply back with ‘‘I’m sorry to hear my work did not align with your expectations. However, I cannot offer any more work for free. Please find someone else, as I am convinced there is a seller who will provide the work you need flawlessly.’’

Then, I get called disrespectful, unprofessional and a waste of time.

Conclusion? Do not offer free work to anyone, unless you have a long-term relationship with that buyer. Clients who are really interested in paying for the job start with a $5 trial order, not free.

(Just my opinion)

Conclusion? Do not offer free work to anyone, unless you have a long-term relationship with that buyer. Clients who are really interested in paying for the job start with a $5 trial order, not free.

You are exactly right! Not just your option. Talk to any of us who have been around a while, and you’ll get the same thing.

Assuming you already have a track record (decent portfolio, a review history, time on the site, background education, etc.) it makes little sense to do a free sample.

Build your portfolio, and generic samples to the point where they either can see you can do the work, or they can’t. Providing free samples is just giving away work for nothing in 90% of the cases. (Repeat clients or established relationships are different, but they rarely ask unless there is a real legit reason.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When a customer feels safe giving me their money, it’s that much easier to get the yes, especially on big money sales.

Doesn’t quite gel with what you said on the other post about relationships to my mind.

I often have more than one order in queue, but I don’t want my customers to think that they are only a number in line!

That in itself is just marketing sing-song, and it’s pretty blatant; don’t drink the marketing sing-song kool aid!

Unconditional refunds might be a common marketing trick, but I tend to associate them with poor quality, scammy buyers on here (I’m not suggesting that you are) who do shoddy work, hope for the best and cancel when the buyer expresses horror at the crap that’s landed in their inbox. Fiverr is currently phasing this behavior out, which does mean for the time being that having a 100% satisfaction or your money back! isn’t great. I also associate them with poor quality internet marketing offers, which typically come with a 30-day period.

Secondly, as a marketing tactic, I don’t see the point in offering it with everything: it devalues your gigs. If it’s a $3k product, then yeah, you need everything you have to get the consumer over the hump, but for smaller amounts, such as what most writers are getting on Fiverr? Nah. It might be a sound tactic when your new and don’t have a lot of reviews, but once you have 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000 etc, you have social proof that you work successfully with a variety of clients on a variety of projects. If someone wants custom samples, cheap prices AND a money back guarantee, I’m going to hit the pass button, a red flag fiesta has just taken place.

As @mjakkerman says, you’re opening yourself up to a lot of abuse of the system, and that’s kind of evidenced by your last statement.

Thanks. I revise my copy almost every time I either have a customer who is confused or anytime I end up doing extra work because I didn’t make my expectations clear. I’ve learned a lot of things the hard way.

Personally, I only offer cancellation before starting work, and it’s usually because the buyer hasn’t read the gig description at all and made an oopsie. Post work? Tough shit. I offer one free revision, the rest cost $20 a pop. My job is to fulfill the original brief–and that’s supported by TOS. All extra work due to client confusion should be paid and purchased for. I get very few revision requests, fwiw.

It might be a sound tactic when your new and don’t have a lot of reviews, but once you have 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000 etc,

I never had to wait to get to that. I’m sure of my work and strongly believe it’d never be bad enough to warrant a cancellation request. Ultimately, I found the platform filled with sellers offering “money back guarantee.” To beat that I simply included a question in my FAQ that said I might, but you wouldn’t need it.

Never, ever do free work! It might seem like a loss when someone contacts you for that, but it isn’t. You haven’t lost anything until an order is placed, and funds move from potential to near-certainty.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...