Whatever you need. Done.

When we launched Redbeacon, we suspected that service providers would want to ask consumers some questions about their service requests. That’s because we’re trying enable something that’s never been achieved before: Showing customers the actual price a service provider will charge them before they book the appointment online. To provide an accurate price quote, we figured service providers would naturally want to ask some additional questions that would help them provide a more accurate price quote. We’re happy to see that the Q&A feature is used quite often. Service providers ask questions and consumers answer them (well, most of the time…you slackers know who you are!).

What we didn’t anticipate was that consumers would also have questions they’d want to ask service providers before selecting them to do their job. We began to hear from our users that communicating with the service provider before selecting them was important to them. Why? They might want to clarify what the price quote included, suggest a new job start time, or just learn more about the service provider’s qualifications and experience as it pertained to their particular need.

To address this problem, we’re excited to launch a new Private Conversations feature on Redbeacon.  When a service provider quotes a price for a job, the consumer can click on “Ask Question about Quote” to initiate a conversation with the service provider. The conversation feature is not a live chat (since service providers are out working – not hanging out on Redbeacon!). It’s more like an internal email system – you send the service provider a message and they respond as soon as they see it.  Try it out the next time you request a service on Redbeacon.  We’d love to hear your feedback!