We Spoke & The Knot Listened!

High fives to everyone who read my last article (“Stand Up Against The Knot’s Proposed Price Quote System”) and copied and pasted the enclosed email to their sales reps!

Just a few days after my article went live, I received an email from Kate Ngo, Director of Product for The Knot. She wanted to talk!

Before I get to my one hour conversation with Ms. Ngo, let me share some other interesting news—The Knot purchased GigMasters, a price quote website for weddings and events, back in October of 2015. This could very well explain The Knot’s desire to fix a wheel that’s not broken and add a Gigmasters-style price quote system to their existing wedding vendor listings.

On the phone, Ms. Ngo was all ears and obviously taking notes. The conversation was very fruitful on both sides it seems.

Now, I truly believe The Knot is eager to hear what we have to say, so I’m going to tell you what I told Ms. Ngo, but I also want to hear your feedback in the comments below in case you have any other ideas or there is something important I missed.

My Suggestions For The Knot

Here are the comments, ideas, and suggestions I passed along to Ms. Ngo:

• The Knot should put more attention on our niches (such as languages spoken, years of experience, special skills, etc.Right now, other than our profile blurbs, they list our price range and, for DJs, the types of music we have–which I told her was irrelevant because today everybody can have any song within 2 minutes.
• Include a space for DJs on our profiles to display our Mixcloud or Soundcloud links since photos don’t really show what we do.
• Include years of experience in our profiles and whether we are full-time or part-time wedding professionals.
• Make a built-in autoreply feature via their current lead delivery system or via the new quote system. This is based on my own success using an autoresponder to reply to leads from The Knot.
• Have a “vendor matching system” instead of a “quote delivery system” so, yes, price is a matching factor, but so are years of experience, number of stars from past reviews, whether we are full time or part time, languages spoken, whether we offer uplighting, engagement shoots, vegan desserts, etc.
• Display a link to a small pop-up window with average pricing stats next to the price search filter or on our profiles where our price range is listed. That window would show the national average price in our field according to The Knot’s most recent research, as well as how our specific area may be higher (metro areas) or lower (rural areas) than the national average.
• Take a cue from CostOfWedding.com and next to the average price, list the cost for a well-experienced pro.Something like, “Want a better than average coordinator? Expect to pay $1,200-$1,800 for a well-experienced, top-ranking professional.” (Assuming the average was, say, $1,000.)

• Don’t offer a button in the first price quote response saying, “To get more quotes, click here.” That would keep the bride or groom driving in circles around the “research cul-de-sac,” too overwhelmed to make a decision.
• Link to a quick video explaining how to interview the photographer they have just received a quote from. The link might say, “Take the next step and interview this vendor…here’s what to ask.”Help the bride or groom move forward and educate him or her about how to do it–don’t overwhelm them with more quotes to sort through.

What suggestions do you have for improving The Knot? What feedback do you have on The Knot creating a price quote system? Leave your comments below.