Quote from: Lady_Lust_XXX on 03 July 2013, 02:39:30 pm

I was forgetting you would get the figures from the 070 records.  I was thinking about the views we get on our ads and forgot about the other way of collating figures.

You are right.

Ive got to admit to being one that loathes the 070 numbers UNLESS I'm the one getting the 50p per minute per call and then I would talk to them for hours. 

Thanks for reminding me Peter and its nice to actually get a name behind the posts and not just "The vivastreet team" .... welcome to SAAFE.


Linzi x

Hi Linzi, thanks for the feedback. There are lots of regulation around the use of the 070 numbers and we take advice from the company that provides them. The end user does pay ?0.51 per min however a large share goes to the technical provider and BT, Vivastreet does not get the full amount just to make that clear.

Thank you (and thanks Saafe) its good to be involved in the forum, we have learnt so much from you guys so far and hopefully we can implement some of the items to make your lives easier and provide a better service.

Thanks,

The Vivastreet Team - Peter 

Yes a lot of people don't realise the providers of the numbers take the biggest cut, even with premium 090 numbers the telcoms only take a small amount yet everyone blames their service provider when they get the bill.

Quote from: Strawberry on 03 July 2013, 04:08:46 pm

Quote from: Vivastreet on 03 July 2013, 01:44:22 pm

Quote from: Lady_Lust_XXX on 03 July 2013, 10:15:43 am

Quote from: Vivastreet on 02 July 2013, 10:50:01 am

....... We know that in this category we can send around 200-400 contacts average per month (depending on ad type), we understand that some of these are going to be 'time wasters' or asking for further information.

Where I think your team may be failing in quoting the right figure of people that contact us is  if they are looking at the number of views we have per ad or the number of guys who check out our numbers.

As many guys who visit vivastreet are only browsing, it is only a fraction of guys who look at our ads that call us and even then many may not turn into clients.

I may be totally off with these thoughts but I wanted to put it out there anyway.

Hi Lady Lust, thanks for your comments. Firstly I know VivaProtect (070) isn't popular with some people, however it does give VivaStreet and the escorts using it some useful insights, on top of the additional features. I can say from running a report on users with VivaProtect in the escort section that 68 ads last month had over 200 calls and another 84 had between 100 & 199 calls. What we don't know is how many turn into 'bookings' for you as you rightly say and also time wasters.

Obviously a lot of things can effect the number of calls an ad poster gets on the site such as price, location, pictures, ad description and so on and from looking at the stats there is a huge variance between different ads. There is obviously a similar correlation in all our categories.

I am hoping with the test group we have, we can share the results and feedback on the site experiences / stats once its completed, we will obviously keep any people taking part confidential (unless they want to say they took part) but with there permission it would be good to share 'overall average' figures with the group?

Thank you,

The Vivastreet Team

The 200 calls, were they individual discrete enquiries, or possibly a series of calls from each potential client, including calls setting up, confirming, and phoning when on way calls?

Hi Strawberry, again a very valid point! I certainly hadn't thought about it that way, but hopefully if there are repeat calls these are more likely to go on to book. I guess we will hopefully find more from the trial if the people taking part wish to anonymously share the average data.

Thank you,

The Vivastreet Team - Peter

Err, NO no necessarily. Have you ever sat for a day observing the calls a sex worker receives, or even read some of the posts this forum?

Common complaint is guys phoning whilst she's with a client, phone on silent, voicemail says "I'm busy call back later" yet he phones back ten times in ten minutes.

Some guys phone repeatedly to ask the same questions.

Some guys phone to ask a question, then another, then another. We can sometimes field calls and enquiries for 12 months from one guy before one side gives up, or he finally makes a booking.

Many genuine guys only need phone once or twice to check details, make a simple booking, make another call or text to confirm and receive directions, then turn up.

I once had a guy phone from a withheld number every week for two years, never made a booking, always denied previous contact and must have thought I was too stupid to recognise his voice. Only stopped when I got a withheld number blocker, and probably still tries even now.

Just want to ask - its just an idea but can you display 2 phone numbers with the ad? one for the escort calls, one for phone sex with the 070 number?

because i often take bookings via sms so i would not need vivaprotect at all for this reason. for anyone want to waste my time they can do if they call the 070 number and if i can get some earnings through that, like vivastreet gives me credits and which i can use for ads it would be nice.

Quote from: Strawberry on 03 July 2013, 05:20:24 pm

Err, NO no necessarily. Have you ever sat for a day observing the calls a sex worker receives, or even read some of the posts this forum?

Common complaint is guys phoning whilst she's with a client, phone on silent, voicemail says "I'm busy call back later" yet he phones back ten times in ten minutes.

Some guys phone repeatedly to ask the same questions.

Some guys phone to ask a question, then another, then another. We can sometimes field calls and enquiries for 12 months from one guy before one side gives up, or he finally makes a booking.

Many genuine guys only need phone once or twice to check details, make a simple booking, make another call or text to confirm and receive directions, then turn up.

I once had a guy phone from a withheld number every week for two years, never made a booking, always denied previous contact and must have thought I was too stupid to recognise his voice. Only stopped when I got a withheld number blocker, and probably still tries even now.

Hi Strawberry, thanks for the feedback. I have certainly read some of the forum, but as for experience of the calls escorts receive, I haven't to be honest - hence the engagement and trials with you all, we are here to learn and hopefully improve the site for all advertisers.
To hear just your experiences of the phone calls you get is really enlightening and just shows me that you cant have your 'normal hat' on when looking at the escort category, as it really isn't like the others (which is a point you have all made!).

Thank you,

The Vivastreet Team - Peter





_{[Giant multiple quote redacted.]}

Yes this is a common error a lot of people make when setting up directories, and other services for sex workers including some agencies too. People think they know a bit about business, so they can apply this knowledge to sex industry. Many 'business' ideas will work but equally many do not. How many staff at Vivastreet have actually advertised some sort of trade on the internet?Or have they only ever been on the selling ads side of things?

Whenever I've mentioned stuff to other self-employed workers they've actually also said they get people who phone for quotes with no intention of actually hiring them - so it's nothing exclusive to the sex industry however I think it's possibly a lot more common because of the nature of the business. In other words because it's a socially unacceptable occupation, and some people think it's illegal,  that the person they deal with won't or can't report abuses, plus it's a bit more entertaining phoning a sex worker than say a plumber.

I was  thinking like on aw you can tick the box you provide chat as well and another number is provided for that. Of course guys will try the normal number and i can refer them for the premium one if they call that i will listen to them and can have a long chat. Normal number calls i often hang up on guys when i sense they just want a chat and no inrention of booking.

IF you could be recompensed for calls to the 070 number it would only be something like 20p per minute maximum if it was indeed that much after deductions.  You are best just to tick that box on AW and get paid from them.

Yes this is a common error a lot of people make when setting up directories, and other services for sex workers including some agencies too. People think they know a bit about business, so they can apply this knowledge to sex industry. Many 'business' ideas will work but equally many do not. How many staff at Vivastreet have actually advertised some sort of trade on the internet?Or have they only ever been on the selling ads side of things?

Whenever I've mentioned stuff to other self-employed workers they've actually also said they get people who phone for quotes with no intention of actually hiring them - so it's nothing exclusive to the sex industry however I think it's possibly a lot more common because of the nature of the business. In other words because it's a socially unacceptable occupation, and some people think it's illegal,  that the person they deal with won't or can't report abuses, plus it's a bit more entertaining phoning a sex worker than say a plumber.

Hi Strawberry, this all makes sense to me - actually nobody in the business ( to my knowledge) has worked in the escort industry. Just to mention Vivastreet is potentially a little different in the fact that we were not set up as an 'escort' business, the escort part of the website has just grown organically over the years and been left to itself so to speak.
We work really hard and invest on optimising the other categories on site and working with the users and posters to improve there experience on site - I really now want to spend some time on this category and see what we can do together.

Thanks,

The Vivastreet Team - Peter

Like I have said before, we can sort out own 070 numbers out if we want that feature.

I think the offices are only open from 8 - 5 pm Strawberry.  Don't know if anyone there to sort out at this time.