How I Tore Up My Fiverr Profile To Increase Sales By 60% - Part 1 of 2
A step-by-step case study showing key changes I made to my Fiverr profile, and how this led to a 60% increase in the one metric that matters – sales.
If you’re a freelance writer for hire, or you’re marketing a business, you’ll understand the frustration of trying to figure out ‘the algorithm’. Whether it’s trying to get views on your socials, hits on a blog, or improve your engagement on Fiverr, we all seem to be at the mercy of the invisible enemy Algorithm.
Inspired by a recent podcast featuring YouTuber Mr Beast, who believes results are always quantifiable and measurable, I turned a critical eye to my own Fiverr gig for SEO blog writing services. In this practical case study, I show the exact steps I took to improve my Fiverr gig performance. You can do the same, to increase engagement and sales - it wasn’t that hard.
Change your Fiverr thumbnail to increase engagement
We live in a visual world. This means, that the thumbnail is king - ignore it at your peril. There is a temptation, especially for writers, to believe that it’s all about the quality of your work and that clients will only judge you on this metric. That’s what I thought too, but I overlooked the need to get views and clicks before clients get to see your ability. If clients are met with numerous profiles, all with good reviews, offering the same service, then the thumbnail and the title of the gig are what will differentiate you.
Here is my original ‘starting thumbnail’ FYI:
I’d always had views on my gig, and my thumbnail was fine, but by ruthlessly dissecting my profile, I realised the following:
1. There was too much text on my thumbnail, making it hard to read
Don’t just view your thumbnail full size - view it as it would appear on a page containing other results. I guarantee that your text needs to be bigger than you think.
2. Simplicity is key
Keep it simple – you are trying to grab views on a crowded results page. Don’t over-complicate the images, and don’t make it too busy. Keep the colors simple but bright, and make it as easy as possible for the viewer to get the information they need.
3. Make it clear what service you are offering
Any text on the image should be crisp and clear. Don’t overcomplicate it – state your service simply and concisely. As a writer, this should be the easy part…
So, you can probably see what I did wrong. My thumbnail is fine, but there is too much writing, it is too busy, and it’s too generic. The colours are too muted, and it sinks into the background – I need to grab attention with bolder colours, and simpler, more direct copy.
With these points in mind, I got onto Canva, and started playing around. Here are a few initial drafts for an improved thumbnail:
There’s some progress, but it could still be improved upon. I was sticking too closely to the same template I started with. I started again using bolder colours, larger writing, and just stumbled upon a better all-round look. I also updated the photo from the original, which was a slightly blurry screencap of an older photo. A blurry photo never looks great and adds an element of doubt in the mind of prospective clients. A more recent photo, sans hair, was crisper and better quality, and when made black and white it worked in the colour scheme and made for a high-quality thumbnail. Here’s another collage showing progress as I worked through ideas:
Improving my Fiverr thumbnail with Canva
Taking into account the points above, I ultimately settled on the following thumbnail:
Aside from the aesthetics, a key point here is the change in copy. My original thumbnail described general writing services and was used for two different gigs. Here, the writing was simple and specific to this gig - rewriting AI content. I made it crystal clear what I was offering, with ‘Edit & Rewrite AI-Generated Content’ in a larger font. I made the overall aesthetic black and white, with a few key splashes of yellow for boldness and contrast. Overall, the thumbnail is clean, and the copy is simple and powerful. I updated my thumbnail and waited to see what would happen.
Before we dig into the results, there are some points to remember. Firstly, anytime you update your gig on Fiverr there is a brief period of lag where it beds back in with the algorithm, so I took this into account. I am intending to monitor the results over the next 1 to 3 months to see where we get, and whether things are consistently improving.
I took screencaps showing impressions and engagement before I made the changes (around 3rd March 2023). The tricky part here is measuring the changes in impressions. In part, changes in impressions can be down to Fiverr, and whether they choose to show the gig on the front page, or anywhere.
Clicks are a more reliable metric – this is clients that were ‘exposed’ to my gig, and choose to click based on the thumbnail, title, and pricing. There are other variables – prior to this experiment I had a repeat client who placed an order for blog writing services every 3 days and always left positive feedback. I have no doubt that this constant positive feedback loop probably ‘fed’ the algorithm, improving my ranking. This work has come to an end now, so this would probably see me drop down the rank regardless of changes to my gig. There is also the question of whether or not you have an ‘ongoing order’ – it stands to reason that from the perspective of a client an ongoing order shows ‘social proof’ – ie that others are ordering from you so you must be offering a good service.
Results - projected 60% increase in my Fiverr sales
With all this said, let’s look at my starting impressions and clicks over 30 days from 3rd March 2023:
Impressions on my gig have been in decline following the departure of that reliable client. Next, let’s look at the change in the trajectory of my impressions over 7 days, taken on 6th March:
There is an immediate change in the trajectory of impressions following the edits I made to my thumbnail. This could be related to these changes or other factors, but the timeline fits.
So, let’s compare the numbers – impressions, views, and clicks over the previous 30 days before the changes, compared to the most recent 7 days following the changes.
So, on the face of it, my stats appear to be the same or worse, but let’s dig into it. If I take the 7-day numbers, assume they will stay consistent at this level, and extrapolate 30-day numbers (by just multiplying by 4) then the 30-day impressions would be 12k (down 8k) and the clicks over 30 days would be 176 – also slightly less. The orders over this period though would be 8 – a definite improvement representing a 60% increase in sales.
The figures that jump out at me are clicks and orders, which are comparable or better. In theory, the change to my gig effectively ‘resets’ my position in the ranking, which may take a while to build back up, making these results even better - they are effectively taken while my gig is in a ‘slump’.
What I have noticed is that I am receiving more messages from new prospective clients looking for SEO copywriting services. In the week since the changes, I’ve had 7 messages, and of these, one wanted to place an order but went with another seller because I didn’t reply within an hour, one was put off by my ‘high’ price, but 2 placed orders - one for website copy, and one to edit AI articles on tech. New messages aren’t a metric that Fiverr shows me, but it was clear that my engagement had increased, despite the impressions and clicks staying around the same. Obviously, the main metric that matters is sales, and this is on course to improve by 60% over the month.
Of course, the full picture will become clear over time. Following more positive feedback on gigs and more engagement I believe I will rank higher in searches for AI writing services, and the improved thumbnail will work as part of this funnel to drive sales.
The real takeaway from this process for me is that you need to be constantly changing and improving what you offer. I was guilty of thinking ‘my gig is live, it’s out of my hands now.’ This is not true. You can always be making improvements, whether it’s to your website, with SEO-driven copy, to your Fiverr profile, or to your writing itself. Everything that gets measured, gets managed. We live in a data-rich world – there’s no excuse not to use that information to drive improvements and make your business better.
I will continue to update you on this thumbnail experiment going forward. If you found it helpful, check out Part 2 – I am turning the same critical eye to the content of my gig, including the description and title.
Enjoy the post? Check out some others below. Think I’m wrong? Let me know, and we can argue about it in the comment section until one of us gets bored, and if you’re looking for a writer, get in touch.
