Virtual Estimate: homeowner photos & video
Virtual Estimate is an optional extra step after the price reveal, where a homeowner can send you photos and video of their trees before you ever drive out.
What it is, and why it helps
Section titled “What it is, and why it helps”Once a homeowner sees their price range, they can be offered a short, guided walkthrough: a few photos of each tree, and optionally a measurement around the trunk. None of it changes the range they already saw — the point is giving you, or whoever prepares for the visit, a head start before you’re standing in the yard.
Turning it on
Section titled “Turning it on”It’s off by default. Turn it on under Settings → Integrations, where you can also set the button text shown on the reveal screen (25 characters, defaulting to something like “Get a Virtual Estimate”) and the calls to action shown on the thank-you screen once they finish — a phone number, your website, or anything else you’d like them to see.
There’s a separate, stronger setting — “Homepage: virtual estimate only” — that replaces your estimator’s priced flow entirely: visitors to your main link go straight to the photo-and-video request instead of getting a price. Turning that on is a bigger decision than turning on Virtual Estimate itself, since it affects every visitor, not only the ones who already got a range.
What the homeowner is asked for
Section titled “What the homeowner is asked for”For each tree, they’re asked for a few photos, and optionally a video and a measurement around the trunk — every part of it is skippable. Nothing about it changes their price range, and the flow tells them so up front.
Resuming where they left off
Section titled “Resuming where they left off”If a homeowner leaves partway through, coming back to the same link picks up where they stopped rather than starting over — it’s worked out from what’s already been uploaded, so it survives even if they switch from a phone to a different device. There’s also a Start over option on the reveal screen if they’d rather abandon the request and start fresh from their address.
The QR handoff on desktop
Section titled “The QR handoff on desktop”Photos and video need a camera, so a homeowner viewing their reveal on a desktop or laptop is shown a QR code instead of a button — scanning it continues the same request on their phone. This only triggers for an actual mouse-and-keyboard device; anything with a touchscreen, tablets included, gets the regular inline flow.
What’s been verified
Section titled “What’s been verified”Virtual Estimate has been verified working on iPhone, including photo and video uploads over a cellular connection. It hasn’t been tested on Android yet.
What to watch out for
Section titled “What to watch out for”“Homepage: virtual estimate only” is worth thinking through before you flip it, not after — see the caution above. In short: turning it on quietly turns off two other settings and saves them that way, and turning it back off does not restore them on its own.