Optimizing the job-posting journey

A service that takes a transaction fee can be involved in payment, acceptance of the work and dispute resolution. A service that sells professionals access to jobs usually stays outside the transaction. Altprof uses the second model.

A professional pays to send a response, not to win the job. They need to understand the scope and estimate the cost quickly. If key details are missing, they either send a vague offer or skip the job entirely.

Documents, tax registration numbers, licenses, photos of completed work and reviews tied to specific jobs tell customers more than claims like “verified professionals.”

Instead of just “fast” or “easy,” services promise “responses in 30 minutes,” “post a job in 3–4 minutes” or “over 3 million professionals.”

Prices, timelines and other terms are buried in separate cards. To compare offers, customers have to open each one and remember the details.

Customers can see that no one has responded, but not why or what they could change to attract offers.

Customers do not always know the terminology or required specifications. Professionals cannot estimate scope and cost without them. The form could neither read like a technical questionnaire nor be entirely free-form.

A “viewed” status helps professionals but creates an expectation of a reply. I needed to give one side more visibility without creating extra obligations for the other.

Direct contact helps professionals discuss the job sooner. For customers, sharing a phone number early risks unwanted calls. The timing could not be based on only one side’s interests.

• Search was the main entry point, but search works when people already know what they need.
• A product catalog on the same page took users into a separate flow.
• “Over 3.179 professionals” conveyed the platform’s size, but not how it could help with a specific project.
• The homepage did not answer two common interview questions: roughly how much will this cost, and what happens to my contact details after I post?

In the next version, I tested two ways into the product.

• A directory is familiar, but it asks customers to choose a professional using criteria they often do not yet have.
• Posting a job requires no such expertise: customers can describe the problem and receive offers from suitable professionals.
• I made job posting the primary flow and kept the directory as an alternative.

In the third version, the entire homepage is organized around the customer’s task.

• The first screen invites customers to describe the work and receive prices and timelines from professionals.
• Completed jobs with real prices and timelines replace the count of registered companies.
• Before the form, a new section shows price ranges based on completed jobs.
• The page explains who will receive the customer’s contact details and when.
• Separate category pages show relevant examples, prices and content without overloading the main homepage.

Most customers arrive without a ready-made solution or professional selection criteria. The main flow should let them explain what needs doing, rather than ask them to find a specialist themselves.

Cost uncertainty starts before customers begin posting. Ranges based on real jobs give them an early reference point and lower that barrier.

Real projects, prices, timelines and a clear explanation of what happens to contact details answer customers’ questions better than company counts or generic promises.

Search, the product catalog and job posting competed for attention. In the new version, posting a job became the main action, with other ways to find a professional kept as secondary options.

In the first version, customers worked through five steps in sequence.

The job was then sent for moderation.

The issue was not just the number of steps. From the outset, we asked customers to make decisions without enough information: choose a precise category, set a budget and describe the work using the platform’s terminology.

My next hypothesis was to reduce the number of screens, taking inspiration from Avito’s form.

Customers chose a category in the first step. In the second, they entered the description, location, timing, budget and other details on one page.

The form looked shorter, but the work for the customer barely changed. The same questions remained, now on a single screen. The expected conversion increase did not materialize.

This showed that the number of steps alone was not the problem.

Building a separate form for every category was too expensive. I defined category-specific flows for the main services and wrote the requirements for a Marquiz integration.

Instead of a universal set of fields, customers answered a few questions relevant to their project. Renovation and furniture jobs, for example, required different details.

I drew on the approaches used by Profi.ru and YouDo but deliberately kept the questionnaire shorter. The aim was to collect only what a professional needed for an initial estimate.

We stopped expecting customers to understand how the work was categorized and instead guided them through simpler questions.

Moving from five screens to two did not solve the problem because customers still faced the same difficult questions.

It is easier to give a room’s size, the type of work or the desired outcome than to work out which details a professional needs.

More detail makes quoting easier for professionals, but increases the customer’s workload and the risk of abandonment. We kept only the details that materially affected the initial estimate.

Customers describe the problem as they understand it. The product needs to turn that description into enough structured information for a professional to assess the work.

Customers received responses but did not always know where to return or how to continue. I brought jobs, responses, statuses and communication into a more coherent flow.

Customers need consistently presented details to compare: price, terms, professional information and response status. I standardized the cards and added filtering.

After the first offer, customers need a reason to return and a clear next step. I added notifications, new-response states and a way to contact the professional directly.

Instead of a dead end, customers can update their job with details professionals may need to provide an estimate.