Job Board in a Box:
Some Important Differences Between White-label Job Board Providers
If you’re currently choosing a whitelabel job board provider for your business, you’ll know that there’s a wide range of offerings out there – the differences between them can be bewildering. No two providers are the same, and your choice can have a huge impact on the success of your business. So, here are ten important questions that will help you through the decision-making process:
Revenue share or flat fee?
Some providers offer a revenue share model, which can be attractive in the short term but can easily reach a tipping point where you end up paying much more than with a flat fee provider. The job board market is fiercely competitive with over 50,000 job boards in the US. It can be a daunting challenge initially to try and successfully compete against the huge variety and diversity of job boards already in the market.
A revenue share agreement has the benefits of initial low costs and reduces barriers to entry however over time this can drastically limit your revenue generation potential. What could seem like a favorable split of profits based on a small volume of sales looks attractive but do the numbers stack up once your business grows over time?
A flat fee model will allow you to keep 100% of your revenues and help you to plan your technology spend more accurately. In some cases the initial costs may be higher than a revenue sharing agreement however your potential for increased profits is far higher. Both options have advantages and disadvantages that are dependent on your own set of circumstances. If you have limited financial resources then a revenue sharing option is more appealing due to the low set up and ongoing costs. For businesses that are prepared to make a more substantial investment in technology they will reap the rewards by using a flat fee software provider.
Ownership of content?
Contractually, who will own your job ads and user profile databases? Some providers require you to sign over ownership of everything to them, which limits your opportunities and means you get left with nothing if you ever want to migrate to another provider. When thinking about the best model for your job board business it is crucial to carefully consider what will differentiate you from other job boards in your market. Opting to use a network solution will give you access to a broad range of jobs and potential jobseekers, however this job content is accessible via other channels and jobseekers may not see value in registering on your site.
The ultimate success factor for your business will be determined by employers having access to a pool of relevant candidates and providing online tools that meet their recruitment needs. In many cases network models will not enable jobseekers to apply directly through your site limiting your ability to build a solid candidate database. Another problem here is that your valuable traffic will be directed to the network site, again with little engagement while using your site. These issues combined will make it difficult to build your job board business, reduce your revenues and potentially leave you with a smaller number of registered users.
ROI modeling and presales consultancy?
Will the provider help you produce an ROI model to ascertain what kind of sales you need to be making in order to turn a profit? Is the ROI model detailed enough to encompass the true costs of running a job board business?
A new provider will most likely have a different set of revenue generating tools that will enable you to drive on and offline sales. To help plan your ROI effectively conduct in-depth analysis to give accurate figures on potential revenues from a new provider. Take into consideration the technology costs, increase in sales inventory and your operational costs.
Hidden transactional fees?
Some providers charge you per-transaction for certain things, which can increase the total cost of ownership. This is another reason why you’ll need a realistic ROI model to compare platforms.
Make sure that any transactional charges are clearly understood by both parties and think about whether they are scalable as your business grows. Don’t be afraid to negotiate on fees that could negatively impact your potential revenue growth.
Enhancements included?
Some providers will sell you a single version of their software, and then expect you to pay additional fees if you want upgrades and enhancements. Other providers include periodical enhancements as part of the bundled service, to improve the user experience and conversion rates of your site. If you find they do include enhancements, it’s always wise to ask to see the roadmap for the last 12 months and 12 months in the future, to get a feel for the value you’d be getting.
Technology in online recruitment moves at a rapid pace so ensuring you are at the cutting edge of technology is vitally important. Within a relatively short space of time new developments in technology can dramatically impact your performance. The right provider should help to future-proof your business by offering ongoing innovation, new features and enhancements to their job board technology.
Breadth of commercial inventory?
A range of upsells will allow you to make the most out of employers who have money to spend, particularly when you can tell them the average application rate uplift that an upsell can bring.
A simple comparison exercise should help illustrate which provider offers the widest range of relevant sales inventory. This information can also be factored into your ROI modeling to demonstrate the potential increases in revenues you should expect to see. Check that significant analytics and end-to-end reporting are available to help create a data led sales story for use with new and existing advertisers.
It’s important to remember that job posting is only one element of your revenue potential and that upsells e.g. resume monetization, employer profiles or featured campaigns can enhance sales and client relationship strategies, broaden your recruitment offerings and increase your revenues.
Feature lists or feature quality?
When looking at a feature list, don’t focus in on the number of bullet points. A well-designed job board platform provides you a revenue stream and great conversion rates through ease of use, not through a myriad of features.
Always ask to see case studies and uplift statistics that other customers have had when moving onto the platform in question. From the outside feature lists can give a false impression of how they perform in reality. Gaining access to real life examples is a crucial yardstick to fully assess their performance.
Ongoing User Experience research?
User experience is of paramount importance for any online business and is especially relevant to job boards. Your job board should make it as easy as possible for jobseekers and employers to have a meaningful and engaging experience on your site. Common tasks such as the registration and application process, job alert creation and managing profiles should be a simple process.
Most job boards have three top-level user groups – job board staff/owners, jobseekers and employers. Each individual group of users has very different sets of requirements that need to be catered for at every step of their user journey. A leading job board provider should be undertaking ongoing user testing and research, AB testing and accessibility audits.
A solid user experience strategy is about improving the experience of technology and enhancing productivity to create a more successful online recruitment business. This in turn leads to improved conversion rates and increasing ROI.
Inbuilt Search Engine Optimization?
Search engine optimization plays a vital role in driving relevant traffic to your job board. On average 33% of jobseekers start the search for their next position using search engines so ensuring you have a broad set of SEO tools and automation is essential. Most job board platforms provide some kind of SEO functionality that allows you to create landing pages and campaigns. However, most platforms require a lot of administrative “busywork”, while others automate the bulk of the hard work, providing real cost savings.
The key to SEO is to ensure that the various content elements that are indexed by search engines (“meta” information, H1, H2 etc.) are as accurate and relevant to the page content as possible. The site then needs to be built in such a way as to enable search engines to locate as much of that content as possible. Failing to have a coherent and continually evolving approach to SEO will result in reduced levels of traffic and ultimately reduced revenues.
Not all job board software comes with comprehensive built-in SEO tools and functionality as standard. SEO is not an exact science and each technology provider has a different approach when it comes to optimizing their technology for search engines. Conducting your own research to see where certain sites rank for their chosen keywords can help give an indication of their suitability. It is also worth pointing out that in some cases you may be required to purchase a bolt-on SEO service on top of your software costs increasing your investment.
Mobile optimized?
Mobile is a key channel for driving relevant traffic to your job board because the number of people using mobile devices is increasing rapidly. When thinking about your mobile strategy you need to consider whether a job board provider includes mobile solutions out the box or whether they are an additional cost?
Mobile is having a dramatic effect on how jobseekers engage with job boards and highlights the importance of ensuring your online recruitment business is fully mobile optimized. Failing to ignore mobile will have a detrimental effect on your brand, recruitment revenues and crucially jobseeker engagement.
In order to maintain a completive advantage you should at the very least have a mobile optimized job board that can also be additionally complemented with stand alone native Apple IOS and Android apps. If you don’t have a coherent mobile experience you are missing out on a huge audience and falling behind the competition.
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