🐈
» Support » Product Release Notes » Boost Your Proposal to the Top of List
Page options

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
feed_my_eyes
Community Member

Claudia Z wrote:

Christine A wrote:


Okaaaay, except that Upwork themselves said that spam bidding was a problem on their website; that's why they implemented paid connects in the first place (we used to get 60 free connects per month). I'm just interested in knowing how they came to the conclusion that this is no longer a problem. 


Where did they say that? I'm not reading the forum on a regular basis, I'm not saying they didn't say it but that would be mind blowing, it's like shooting oneself in the foot.

 

I found this comment from Upwork "Experienced freelancers have noted that newer or inexperienced freelancers saturate or spam clients with irrelevant proposals, which creates unnecessary friction." ... this doesn't mean Upwork said ... it just means they listened to feedback.


I guess you missed the very next sentence in that paragraph, which was, "Clients have also told us they are often overwhelmed with the number of proposals they receive, especially when many of the freelancers may not meet their project requirements. This can lead to a frustrating and unproductive experience for all parties."

 

You can also watch Hayden Brown explaining in this video about how clients "struggle" to go through all the bids to find the right talent:

 

https://community.upwork.com/t5/Announcements/Upcoming-Changes-to-Connects/td-p/580451

 

VladimirG
Community Manager

Martina P wrote:
...

Yeah except when you're not in the top 3, you will be ranked by time of receipt of proposal, which was not the case before. It seems to be a common misconception that proposals were ranked that way before, because they were not. That is new.

Hi Martina,

 

I'd like to clarify that proposals aren't ranked by time of receipt and no changes have been made in this respect.


Maria T wrote:

I have reread the help article on this.
Apart from further doubts, there are two things that I would like an explanation about.
- Proposals will be ranked organically. Can anyone tell me what this means? (With simple words if possible.)
- Proposals that are withdrawn from the top three positions because someone bid (as I hate this word) more, what "organic" position will they have? Will they be the first after the proposals promoted? Or will they reposition themselves on the list of non-bidders?


Hi Maria,

Regarding both questions you raised, unboosted proposals will continue to be ranked in the same way they have been ranked before. The ranking system for unboosted proposals hasn't changed.

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


Will new clients (and older ones for that matter) be clearly apprised that what they are seeing is a test of the program you just described, and will the way it deviates from the way Upwork has been presenting applicant lists up to now be clearly explained? Essentially, will Upwork ensure that clients understand the meaning of the candidate list order they are seeing? Honestly, I think you should at least provide them with the list you just gave Wes. 

If Upwork is going to gamify this in the way you are suggesting, it seems appropriate that everyone involved should get a fair shot at understanding the new rules, clients included. 

kelleymalone
Community Member
This is an awful idea. Auctioning projects for talent to get to the top of the list? Does this take into account whether the freelancer “bidding” is a match for the job for at all?

On the client side there it is already difficult to wade through unqualified candidates. Boosting non-qualified candidates because they bid more will reduce client trust in the UPwork system.
m_terrazas
Community Member

Vladimir G wrote:

Martina P wrote:
...

Yeah except when you're not in the top 3, you will be ranked by time of receipt of proposal, which was not the case before. It seems to be a common misconception that proposals were ranked that way before, because they were not. That is new.

Hi Martina,

 

I'd like to clarify that proposals aren't ranked by time of receipt and no changes have been made in this respect.


Maria T wrote:

I have reread the help article on this.
Apart from further doubts, there are two things that I would like an explanation about.
- Proposals will be ranked organically. Can anyone tell me what this means? (With simple words if possible.)
- Proposals that are withdrawn from the top three positions because someone bid (as I hate this word) more, what "organic" position will they have? Will they be the first after the proposals promoted? Or will they reposition themselves on the list of non-bidders?


Hi Maria,

Regarding both questions you raised, unboosted proposals will continue to be ranked in the same way they have been ranked before. The ranking system for unboosted proposals hasn't changed.


Thanks Vlad, but I still don't know what is "ranked organically". Would you please explain it to me?
Since my English is not very good, maybe I am missing something.

 

And, the proposals that are no longer in the first three positions are distributed among the other proposals "organically" (if I get to know what this is), right?

lizablau
Community Member

This is horrific on so many levels.  

7ba0c500
Community Member
??????? What kind of answer is this?? The video that promotes that feature
said nothing remotely similar to wht you re saying!!

There is NO mention of 20 -50-100 Connects!!! Thats $15+ you re speaking of
to get a boost!

Then that feature is..... i can't even find the word 🙄
grimesr
Community Member

I haven't read all 10 pages of comments, so this may have been said.

 

I believe this idea is discrementory.

 

The value of a connect to me in the  US is nowhere equivalent to someone in other countries.

 

For someone who struggles to pay for a few connects, they are discrimated against being able to compete with someone who is able to easily buy a large number of connects.

a_lipsey
Community Member

I have two questions:

 

1. How does this impact how invited proposals are shown to clients? Do I have to now boost my proposal that was invited and not supposed to cost me any connects?

 

2. Companies with federal contracts post jobs on Upwork. How will this impact what is supposed to be a fair and transparent RFP process? Are you aware that you may be driving clients off the site because of these practices that do not meet the procurement requirements of the OMB? 

grimesr
Community Member

Martina P wrote:

Marisa Y wrote:

Hi I thought you added that amazing feature to boost connects WNY is this still locked in  to 6 Connects?


It's not rolled out to all areas.


What areas are not affected?