Your lead preferences tell Bark exactly what work you're looking for and where you're looking. Get these right, and you'll only be matched with customers who are the right fit for your business, no irrelevant leads, no wasted credits.
| This is the detailed guide for Step 1 of the Setting up for Success series. If you haven't read that guide yet, it's a good place to start. |
Set your location and coverage area
You can define your coverage area in three ways — choose whichever works best for how your business operates:
- Radius from a postcode — Enter a postcode and set the distance you're willing to travel.
- Travel time from a postcode — Set a maximum journey time (for example, 30 minutes by car).
- Draw your area on a map — Manually outline exactly where you cover.
To update your location:
1. Go to Settings > Lead Preferences and scroll to the Locations section
2. Click Edit location
3. Choose your preferred method and follow the onscreen instructions
4. Save your changes
You can add multiple locations if you cover more than one area — for example, if you work from two bases or travel to specific cities.
Add and manage your services
Services are the foundation of your lead preferences. Bark uses them to match you with customers who need what you offer.
1. Go to Settings > Lead Preferences (or visit bark.com/settings/leads/my_services/)
2. Under My Services, click Add a service
3. Search for or select each service you provide
4. Repeat until all your services are listed
5. To remove a service, click the X next to it
You can add as many services as you like, and each one can have its own filter settings — covered below.
Get specific with Filter Questions
Filter Questions let you go beyond service type and location. You can filter leads based on how a customer answered specific questions when they submitted their request.
For example: if you only want leads from customers with a certain budget, or who need a specific type of job, Filter Questions let you set exactly that. It's one of the most effective ways to make sure every lead you see is worth your time.
To set up Filter Questions:
1. Go to Settings > Lead Preferences
2. Find the service you want to filter and click Filter Questions next to it
3. Review the available questions and select the answers you want to match
4. Save your preferences
Filter Questions are set per service, so you can have completely different filters for different types of work.
Lead preferences vs lead filters — what's the difference?
This trips a lot of professionals up, so it's worth being clear:
- Lead preferences (services, locations, Filter Questions) — saved permanently. They define your long-term lead pool and stay in place until you change them.
- Lead filters (applied from the leads page) — temporary. They let you quickly sort your current view, but reset when you leave the page.
| Think of it this way: lead preferences are your standing instructions to Bark. Lead filters are a temporary way to sort what you're already seeing. |
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