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Boost Your Proposal to the Top of List

kochubei_valeria
Community Member

Update 10/13: Our Boosted Proposals test has ended, for now, so we can study the results and learn. We sincerely appreciate all of the feedback you gave us during this test, and we’re taking time to review our data and plan some improvements with your input in mind. 

We will share more information about our plans for a re-launch of Boosted Proposals. So stay tuned!

 

Open auctions will run their course; however, no new boosts will be available.

Our goal remains to support the best outcomes for Talent and Clients and help you win more. We’re working to make this feature even better as part of that effort!

 



We are testing a new way to help you
make your proposals stand out to clients. We’re dropping the required price of proposals to 1 Connect and allowing talent to bid for a chance to boost their proposal to appear in one of three promoted slots at the top of the client’s proposal manager. With boosting, you can promote yourself to clients by signalling that you are highly interested in their job. You can use your Connects to boost your proposal and increase the chances of being among the first that’s noticed. When clients see “Highly Interested” next to a blue lightning bolt, they’ll know these proposals are from talent who paid to express their interest by investing extra Connects into their proposal.

 

 

How it works 

When you submit a proposal, you can choose to boost it by spending additional Connects — whatever amount you think it’s worth. If you bid high enough relative to the other bidders, we’ll boost your proposal to the top of the stack, so it’s one of the first proposals the client sees.

 

  • Decide. If you really value a job, choose to bid to be eligible to boost your proposal above others. 
  • Bid. Set the number of Connects you’re willing to use to outbid other freelancers. We encourage you to bid the amount you truly think the job is worth.
  • Submit. Your proposal will be boosted to the client if your bid is high enough. If another freelancer bids more than you and your proposal is not boosted, we will refund some of your Connects (if boosting did not result in an engagement with a client). You’ll be notified either way and your proposal will still show up for the client, even if you’re outbid. 
  • The auction will last up to 7 days. It starts when the job is posted, and it is cleared after 7 days, or sooner if the job is closed or a hire has been made. 
  • Using Connects. The value of a job is always up to you, and you never have to worry about wasting Connects if you over or underbid. 

 

  • For example, if a job post allows for 3 boosted proposals, the top 3 bids will win those slots, and the final cost will be set by the lowest of those 3 bids. 

  • So if you spent 7 Connects to boost a proposal, and the lowest of the top 3 bidders spent just 5 — you’re in! Plus, you’ll receive a refund of 2 Connects to match the cost of the lowest qualifying bid.

  • What if you had bid just 3 Connects instead of 5? No worries! Your proposal won’t be boosted, but it will still show up for the client just like a regular proposal, and you’ll be refunded all the additional Connects you spent to boost your proposal.



We know you put a lot of effort into developing quality proposals, especially for projects you’re excited about. That’s one of the reasons we created the option to bid to boost your proposal, so you have an even better chance of being seen by clients for projects you’re really passionate about. We see this as a way to express your level of interest while increasing the odds of being noticed. So, in cases where boosting your proposal results in an engagement with a client, you will be charged - even if you are outbid, since this exposure can often lead to future interactions. An engagement means one or more of the following was done by the client (in other words, the client engaged a freelancer in at least one of these ways): viewed your proposal, messaged you, shortlisted you, sent an offer, and/or archived or declined your proposal. It’s another way to make your Connects work for you!

 

Screenshot from September 8, 2021 9_20 AM.png

 

For more information about boosting your proposals so you’re more likely to land the work you really want, check out our help article.

 

Excited to try this out? We are eager to gather feedback while we’re testing this feature. Let us know your thoughts so we can continue to make the work marketplace even better for you.

629 Comments
shivafernandes
Community Member

This is just bad.
Clients will get flooded with way more spam proposals because everything is 1 connect. One Interview = 10 more spammy/flood proposals.

Thus objectively forcing everyone to "bid", but how much is enough? Should I be bidding 50 connects every job, because there is somebody with a connect farm down the line?


m_terrazas
Community Member

Viacheslav K wrote:

Maria T wrote:


They are showing the customer in first position 3 feelancers (who do not have to be the same from one minute to another depending on the bids), that they do not have to be even remotely the best option for the job. Does that sound like a good idea to you?
We know that customers have a strange way of receiving best matches. If we add this to that, how difficult will it be for them to see your proposal that fits well with their work and is supported by a good profile?
How long will it take for clients to get fed up with seeing 3 freelancers popping up and disappearing from the top positions?
How long will it take for customers to find another site?

 

Upwork, make free connects and connects returns disappear and everyone has to buy them. This way you will get the earnings for connects that it seems you are looking for.
But not like this, please.


Upwork can't really guess the "best" fit for the project. In 5 years I got only 1 job from Upwork talent specialist.

It was as random before and it is now, it just gives 3 people the option to "show off" if they pay. It's still the client's decision.

Weren't the top freelancers before random too (order of proposal) ? Might be a bit annoying but I don't see it being a big deal.

Out of all the possible ways to do  "boost proposals" features, I think they did a good job. I don't see things changing much. 

Paying with limited resources makes things more variable. I doubt people will spend a lot on connects for all the jobs. The point is to spend more for jobs you are more interested in.

The client doesn't get any benefits from hiring the top freelancers like freelancers do from applying to featured job. That would be unfair. Imagine if they would get a discount or smth. But it's just 3 people that will most likely not be chosen anyway. The profile picture, history and rate do more for hiring than the position in the list of proposals. 


Then?

2a05aa63
Community Member

Jamie F wrote:


I think the refunds possibly make it even worse. What's stopping people from bidding 100 connects if they think they'll get their money back if they're not successful? It'll become an exercise in who is willing and able to buy themselves the biggest bank of connects.



There's no guarantee they will get anything back. This tactic just needs 2 more people for it to be useless. As far as I understand, you don't see the highest bid number. 

2a05aa63
Community Member

Maria T wrote:

The client doesn't get any benefits from hiring the top freelancers like freelancers do from applying to featured job. That would be unfair. Imagine if they would get a discount or smth. But it's just 3 people that will most likely not be chosen anyway. The profile picture, history and rate do more for hiring than the position in the list of proposals. 

Then?


It doesn't matter how much you want the job. It matters how much the client wants to give you the job.

If there's 50+ proposals I see a reason to bid to be in the top. Otherwise it's useless, since the client will look at least 10-20 people. 

feed_my_eyes
Community Member

Questions for Upwork - If a freelancer is considered a "best match" for a particular job, and then they also pay to boost their bid, do they get a lightening bolt AND a "best match" next to their names? Or will it just be one or the other?

 

And when you say that unsuccessful bid boosters will get "some" of their connects back, how exactly does that work? Will you be adding a lot more customer service reps to handle all the freelancers who will complain about not getting their connects back every time they're unsucessful? 

 

gilbert-phyllis
Community Member

How UW can make more money on connects without torturing clients or devaluing the platform

 

1. Create a meaningful readiness test for new FLs. Continue letting anybody and everybody sign up give each new account 30 free connects. The ones who pass the new readiness test receive an additional 60 free connects.

 

2. No monthly connects and no awards for scoring interviews. Refund connects spent on job posts taken down by UW and those closed by the client without hiring. Otherwise, nada.

 

3. Sell connects for 50 cents each in batches of 10 with a 5% discount if you buy 100 or more (100/$47.50) and 10% if you buy 300 or more (300/$135). 

 

4. Let clients determine how many connects to charge for their own job posts. 

 

renata101
Community Member

Vladimir G wrote:

Thanks for the follow-up, Wes.

Yes, that's the correct sequence of events but I'd like to note that additional Connects will be refunded to freelancer "C" from your example only if their proposal didn’t lead to an eligible interaction while it was boosted. We’ll only charge them one Connect in that case.

Eligible interactions include:

  • The client opens your proposal

  • The client sends an offer to you

  • The client shortlists your proposal

  • The client messages you

  • The client archives your proposal

  • The client declines your proposal


Hi Vlad, 

Is there an option for clients to view the non-boosted results if they want to look at an "unadulterated" applicant list? 

qqsolutions
Community Member

I appreciate the idea !!

roberty1y
Community Member

I wonder how many people are reading this, compared to threads posted in the main forum. I think putting it under the Announcements heading will mean not many people see it and get a chance to air their views.

m_terrazas
Community Member

Robert Y wrote:

I wonder how many people are reading this, compared to threads posted in the main forum. I think putting it under the Announcements heading will mean not many people see it and get a chance to air their views.


You can do something. Create a text explaining the topic and post a thread on "New" and "Clients" and link to this thread Smiley Wink
So we may have more opinions.