We’re in the middle of some bigger projects and on the cusp of a few launches, so we haven’t had quite as much to post about. But here’s a brief update on a couple of new features, as well as a few things we have in the works.
In this product update:
Calendar syncing
Everyone has their own preferred calendar to use when scheduling bookings and tracking availability. It can be tedious to manage multiple calendars, adding the same things over and over again in different places.
Well, now you can sync external calendars to your GigSalad account! This way, when you add new items to your primary calendar, those things will be automatically added to your GigSalad calendar as well. At this time, you can sync from Google and iCloud calendars.
When you sync to an external calendar, we’ll use your default lead blocking preference to determine whether or not to send you leads for events that overlap with times on your calendar. If needed, you can adjust that setting per event by editing the synced entry in your GigSalad calendar.
New badges and linking graphics
If you have your own website, we have a bunch of new badges and improved graphics you can use to link to your GigSalad profile. Show off your bookings, reviews, and other accomplishments to encourage potential clients to hire you for their events.
We have multiple color options and sizes to choose from. Just pick your favorite, select a size, click Copy, and then paste the code into the HTML of your website.
Websites are all about self-promotion. But when you can tout your achievements from a third-party site it will instill trust and give your clients more confidence in your service.
Coming soon…
We’ve got a lot of exciting things in the works that we can’t wait to share with you. Here’s a sneak preview!
Fewer price shoppers
We know it can be frustrating to get leads from clients who have no idea what to expect to pay for your service. It’s often no fault of theirs, they are simply uninformed.
In order to help with this, we’re launching a test soon that will display some average prices and general information at the start of the quote request process, depending on the client’s level of interest. If they are just shopping for prices or doing research, then hopefully, the information we provide will deter those not serious about booking so you get more legitimate leads.
Improved profile design
We spent a few days conducting one-on-one interviews with potential clients in our most common demographic. From these interviews, we got a better feel for how they perceive our site, including search results and vendor profiles. We learned a lot and have some really great ideas we can’t wait to try out.
In the coming months, we’ll be testing various profile changes both big and small to see how they impact the number of incoming leads and resulting bookings.
More client payment options
A couple of years ago, we switched to a new booking payment model in which we collect full payments from clients upfront. Doing this increased bookings a great deal, but we know it’s still not the perfect fit for every situation. We surveyed many of our existing event planners and learned another popular preference would be to split the payment into two separate charges.
While we still want to keep all payments on the site, we are working on offering a “deferred payment” option that would allow us to collect the balance closer to the event, rather than at the time of booking. We’ll introduce this as a test to start, as we do with most major changes. And we’ll definitely keep our members informed once something is in place.
In addition to the more obvious changes to the site, there are numerous things we are always doing behind the scenes. Server updates to keep GigSalad running smoothly, internal upgrades to keep existing features functioning, and other small but important improvements. Just because you may not see it all, doesn’t mean it’s not being worked on each and every day!
If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to comment below or send us a message. We always love hearing from you. ❤
Heather is the Content Manager and a GigSalad veteran of 15+ years. She loves helping event planners create unforgettable celebrations and talent make a living doing what they love. When not at work, she enjoys reading romance and fantasy books, bingeing TV shows, playing board games, and spending time with friends.
Put your phone number in more places on the website – just read all this and it sounds exciting. Looking forward to it all. Keep up the great work. Love you guys!!!
I have people that work for me as independent subs. It would be helpful if they could have their own login to GigSalad, that links to my account so they can see information about gigs that have been booked. This would allow me to use GigSalad to manage personnel as well as my gigs. I imagine that other people would find this useful too.
Hi Oliver, thank you for the suggestion! We will certainly take that into consideration and add that to our list of requests for features.
I like not stopping quote requests for taken time frames because many people will change their party plans to an open date.
Good work team!
One thing I would love to see, and being a retired IT Director I know it’s a simple addition, would be that when someone books a gig, the dollar amount they booked at would show up on the INBOX of all performers who sent a quote for that event.
It would be very beneficial for performers who did not get booked to see what price point the gig was actually booked at. It would let us know if we are consistantly quoting too high and help us adapt to the market.
My clients can not afford the increased fees I have to charge to cover your booking fees as well as the added cost they must pay. We have so many tire kickers just looking for the cheapest price- it seems that’s all they care about. It really helps when I can speak to my customers to answer their many questions
Yes Todd Moyer of Fair Warning
I also think you should have more ways for the Artist and venues and promoters to Book you world wide or have something in their location of where and travel to
Also I dont mind paying you a % if we have different booking options for the Artist, i do however like the new features that are being in place
Yes their are clients that dont know and waiting my time when they say yes and then no or fees, so on
Also may be have style of the music they are booking
Or they can ask us more details so we can better Acominate them better
Ok hopefully we can put this information into Action
Love the Google calendar sync and badges idea!
I would love to see you using more payout options, such as Venmo, Cashapp, ect. That would be very helpfull here.
Thanks