The difference is mechanical, and it comes down to three things: who else gets the lead, how much the customer already trusts you, and when the money leaves your account. Lead marketplaces such as Angi, Thumbtack and HomeAdvisor typically sell an enquiry to several businesses at once, so you are competing on response speed and price against companies the customer has never met either, and you generally pay per lead whether or not it turns into work. A referral is exclusive to you, arrives already trusted because someone the customer knows sent them, and on Revvin costs you nothing until the job actually closes. Neither model is dishonest; they simply price different things.
The defining feature of the lead marketplace category is shared distribution. The same enquiry commonly goes to multiple contractors, which is what makes the marketplace worth using for the homeowner: they get several quotes without making several calls. For the contractor it means the first minutes matter more than the quality of the work, because the customer is comparing whoever answers. A referral is not distributed. It comes to you, named, and no one else is racing you for it.
A marketplace lead starts cold. You are one of several names on a screen and the customer has no reason to prefer you until you give them one. A referred customer starts the conversation already leaning your way, because a person they know has vouched for you with their own reputation. That changes what the first call is about. You spend it on the job rather than on establishing that you are legitimate.
In the marketplace model you generally pay for the enquiry itself, which means your cost is fixed at the top of the funnel and your return depends entirely on your close rate. In a referral program the cost sits at the bottom: you set a reward and it is only owed when the referral becomes paid work. That inverts the risk. A quiet month costs you nothing in rewards, and a good month costs you more only because you earned more.
Lead marketplaces solve a real problem: they produce volume on demand, from strangers, without you having any existing audience. If you need work next week and have no list, that is a legitimate thing to buy. A referral program does not produce volume on demand. It compounds slowly off the customers you have already served, and it needs you to ask. The two are not mutually exclusive, and plenty of businesses run both while the second one grows.
You publish a branded referral page on your own link, free, with a QR code and a print pack for signage and paperwork. Referrals land in one lead inbox with status tracking and one-tap call or text back. You set the reward, you confirm the close, and you pay your referrer directly when it happens. Revvin takes no cut of the reward and never sends messages on your behalf. Revvin Pro, at $49/month USD, adds importing your past-customer list, sending your ask in bulk from your own email app, ROI reporting and custom page branding.
They do different jobs. Buying leads produces volume from strangers on demand and costs you per enquiry regardless of outcome. A referral program produces fewer, exclusive, pre-trusted leads and costs you only when a job closes, but it grows off customers you already have and requires you to ask. Many businesses run both.
That is generally how the category works: the homeowner submits one enquiry and receives several quotes, which is the value to them. The consequence for contractors is that speed of response and price carry more weight than reputation, because the customer is comparing businesses none of whom they know.
Not on Revvin. The reward you set is only owed when you confirm the referral turned into paid work. Referrals that go nowhere cost you nothing, because Revvin charges no per-lead fee and takes no cut of the reward.
Yes. Revvin does not replace any lead source and does not require exclusivity. It runs off your own past customers and your own link, so it sits alongside whatever else brings you work.
Publishing your referral page on Revvin is free, with no per-lead fee and no cut of the reward. Revvin Pro is $49/month USD for list import, bulk asking from your own email app, ROI reporting and custom branding. The referral rewards themselves are set by you and paid by you, directly to your referrer.