Response Rate Percentage?
Hi Rover,
I was wondering why my response rate percentage has dropped from 100% to 80% when I respond to all my inquiries and clients very quickly?
Thank you, Candice
4 Answers
Hi, Candice,
The responses you have received are spot-on. I just wanted to make sure you know this forum is made up of other sitters such a yourself and not Rover corporate employees.
You may wish to ask the company directly.
Good luck!
I have found that response rate includes the TOTAL response rate, which includes responses to Rover's inquiries. I had my response rate drop because one client booked their stays one day at a time and Rover inquired about the stays, and I only contacted the client (about all the stays) using the first date of the stay. (It was drop-ins for 3 days that week). Since I didn't reply for each day, sending separate messages, Rover dropped my response rate to 70%. I think it's BS and told Rover so, but that didn't change anything. I had to wait to get more client contacts to raise my rate back up to 100%. So, according to Rover's philosophy, it's worth the risk of annoying a client to keep your response rate at 100%. Lesson learned!
Always be sure as well to make sure that any time you're engaging in a text conversation with your clients, you always send the last response. If their last text to you is a natural end to a conversation you two were having and you leave the conversation that way, in Rover's eyes their last text is considered something that you didn't respond to; and therefore, it can potentially hurt your response percentage. Make sure you always send the last text in every conversation :)
Comments
Thank you Kathrine, That is exactly what happened to me. I always respond to all request within hours. I would not respond back if there was no question asked to me and the conversation was over, who does? I complained to Rover asking that they fix it and bring me back up to 100%. Ill send a :)
Very old discussion here, but I want to clarify this for anyone new who stumbles upon this question.
I don't know that these existing responses are 100% accurate, though I absolutely could be wrong. However, in a blog post, Rover has stated this:
So how do we come up with your response rate? We look at the percentage of first responses to a request that were within 24 hours. Are you a sitter and want to improve your response rate? Be sure to respond to all inquires in a timely manner. Don’t worry, we only look a few months back so a missed response will eventually fall off your record.
In my experience, it is fine to leave messages unanswered after the initial response, though of course I only do this if the conversation is finished. I've had 3 or 4 unanswered, finished conversations in my inbox and still had 100% response rate.
I'm guessing the confusion comes from late responses (>24 hours after the client first reached out). Even if you respond to those eventually, they count as not responded and could cause that lower response rate you see on your profile.
Comments
Ive responded to every single inquiry, usually within a minute or two. All but one when a lady messages me at 4:30am and I didn't respond until I woke up at 6am. So not sure how to get that to 95% or 100%
Nope, not more than 24 hours, more like a few hours and they drop your response rate. Mine was 100% until someone messaged me at 11pm. I responded when I woke up at 6 and booked the sit. Rover dropped me down to 90% for that. Guess you’re expected to be on call 24 hours to answer people. Ridiculous.
Hi i know this is an old post but id also like to put my word in. I definitely think this policy is outdated. I have a repeat client that likes to message me because we both have iMessage but she sends me a rover message to start as well so it really isn't fair nor does it make sense. thanks
Thank you! It doesn’t make sense to me. The same thing happens with stay photos. Multiple messages from the same client but if you only post a pic to one of those messages, your % will decline.