🐈
» 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
eishwarsana
Community Member

I have a question.  The option is available for all freelancer profiles? kindly, let me know your opinion. Valeria K

m_terrazas
Community Member

Eishwar c wrote:

I have a question.  The option is available for all freelancer profiles? kindly, let me know your opinion. Valeria K


It is available for all profiles, but only for some jobs. For now it is a test.

antonlyu
Community Member

Great idea! Can I be a tester?

VladimirG
Community Manager

Smita D wrote:

Hello Valeria K

I have a question. Currently this new rule has been applied for few job posting only. When it will be applied for all job posting ? can you give me a timeline about it ? 


Hi Smita,

 

Thanks for the question. We hope to expand testing soon and we'll keep you updated. Stay tuned!

VladimirG
Community Manager

Hi Anton,

Thanks for the interest! Note that we're testing this option on select jobs at the moment. Feel free to use if you come across a job that includes the option to boost your proposal and let us know your feedback!

feed_my_eyes
Community Member


Claudia Z wrote:



That spam bidding term is something freelancers keep repeating when there is any change about connects. When you keep repeating something it becomes the usual talk.

 



I'm not sure how you can say that something is just trivial gossip when it came straight from the mouth of Upwork's president and CEO? The bottom line for me is that Upwork should listen if CLIENTS say that too many bids from unqualified people are causing difficulties for them. If this was true two years ago, I was interested in learning why it's no longer true - and preferably from Upwork, not you. **Edited for Community Guidelines**

 

And yes, I know that some other websites have an even bigger problem with spam bidding. I call those websites, "Websites that I don't use."

barada00
Community Member

Please answer me this:

A, B, and C “bid” connects:

A=10

B=8

C=3

The client “interacted” with all three. Then hired someone after interacting with all three. (It doesn’t matter who, it can be one of those under or one of the bidders)

Will A, B, and C be charged only 3 connects (because that was the lowest bid), or will A lose 10 while B loses 8 connects because the client “interacted” with their offers?

 

Edit: PS: Do you think the client will not open all the proposals that are top 3? To open a proposal should not be considered interaction. As always you are insulting freelancers' intelligence.

kochubei_valeria
Community Member

Baris A wrote:

Please answer me this:

A, B, and C “bid” connects:

A=10

B=8

C=3

The client “interacted” with all three. Then hired someone after interacting with all three. (It doesn’t matter who, it can be one of those under or one of the bidders)

Will A, B, and C be charged only 3 connects (because that was the lowest bid), or will A lose 10 while B loses 8 connects because the client “interacted” with their offers?


Hi Baris,

 

In your example, it would be the former. A, B, C will all pay 3 Connects to have their proposals promoted and refunded the extra Connects they bid.

dd63c576
Community Member

I believe good clients like you look at the structure of proposals that make them respond to the freelancer. I, myself got many times interviewed which I am sure was solely because of the proposal's great structure. 

katzedernacht
Community Member

I happen to like the idea, for some projects I'd definitely want to use more connects, then again, I try and bid only on jobs I really, really want to get. So, writing out a good proposal and trying to boost it, wouldn't that show the client one is really interested? They can always choose the best person regardless of how much they boosted right?

 

I don't understand why are people upset, I just tried it on this one job and will see how it goes. I am delighted and I believe this is cool and will benefit us in the long run.