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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
nav_designer
Community Member

Hi, Iam not agreed with this new feature it should work based on freelancer qualifications, rating, job score, and earing.

it should work like freelancer.com works most qualified freelancers automatically appear on the front. I am a top-rated plus freelancer who earned up to 400k did more than 4000 hours done but still struggling. 😞 

 

b9d414ca
Community Member

Hi Phyllis

reneestahl
Community Member

This is a bad idea.

I have always felt like Upwork focuses too much on the freelancers and not enough balance in focusing on the people looking to hire. Freelancers take all the risks.

With the old method and now this new method I have to pay/ration my connects. If a potential client interacts with my proposal then I don't get any connects back... not a single freelancer will get anything back if the potential client reads them all.

Upwork keeps that money (connects) whether the potential hiring client hires or NOT.

Read that again if you didn't see the flaw in that statement the first time!

In other words... all this bidding can happen, proposals sent, time on behalf of the freelancer to write a proposal, decide on how many connects to spend, wondering if they will get picked, or even have a chance at landing the project, and so on.

And none of this process GUARANTEES that the person looking to hire will go through with hiring because there is NO RISK to them to put up a listing and simply see what happens, only to decide not to use Upwork and hire someone else from another platform (Fiverr, Craigslist, neighborhood newsletter, babysitters club, etc).

Instead of Upwork always focusing on how to get more money out of the freelancers... why not focus on where the real black hole or flaw is in the system? The hiring party! Make them more accountable for their listings.

 

Now I am not suggesting attack the hiring party exclusively! But a balance needs to be found and accountability on both parties through the hiring process. The freelancer pays the commission to Upwork once hired... but currently, the freelancer is also taking on ALL the BURDEN and RISK through the hiring process and the person who posted the job may not even hire ANYONE!

 

Thanks for listening!

softwizinfotech
Community Member

It would be helpful in some ways. If one finds a job where more than 50 proposals are already sent and one is confident enough that he/ she can do it then boost your bid with the maximum connects and get to the top of the list. The downside is that you have to spend more on connects.

a46af376
Community Member
Do you know there are over 100 jobs where there is 50+ proposals and no single interview talk more of hire and the jobs have passed 15days?. Some clients come to post a gig to gauge the price range and jet out. We freelancers suffer to pay.
tomliuwhite
Community Member

I noticed there is new feature in UpWork: boosting proposal with connects. https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/4406395531795-Boost-Your-Proposal

Here is my question:

What is the good way to boost?

If it is too low, the clients may not notice your proposal and may think you are not interested in this job.

If if is too high, I may have the risk of losing the job(Even if you are the highest bidder, there is no guarantee that the clients will hire you) and connects.

Any suggestion on it? Thanks.

m_terrazas
Community Member

JIAN L wrote:

I noticed there is new feature in UpWork: boosting proposal with connects. https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/4406395531795-Boost-Your-Proposal

Here is my question:

What is the good way to boost?

If it is too low, the clients may not notice your proposal and may think you are not interested in this job.

If if is too high, I may have the risk of losing the job(Even if you are the highest bidder, there is no guarantee that the clients will hire you) and connects.

Any suggestion on it? Thanks. 


There's not much to explain.
If you are interested in bidding, you will have to risk the amount of connects you think is necessary to be in the top three.
They will not tell you how much others have bid, so you decide.
But keep in mind also that, if the client interacts with your proposal, you will lose the connects that you have bet.

kmkay
Community Member

I am so, so disappointed with this change. It cheapens freelancers and turns the whole system into "e-bay" for jobs. Did any freelancers ask for this? Did any clients ask for it? Has Upwork received any positive feedback about it at all?

 

Like every other good freelancer out there, I already only submit proposals for jobs that I am highly interested in. That's because most of the time I'm busy working, and I don't want to waste my time submitting proposals for jobs that I don't think I'm a good fit for or have reservations about for any other reason.

 

The current system works well, where freelancers pay more connects for a job that would be likely to result in more work, and get those connects back if the client closes the job without hiring anyone. Freelancers who are offered interviews are then given bonus connects, which rewards them for sending proposals effectively. I feel that Upwork gets more than enough of my earnings in the 10% or 20% it charges me. Why should I also be compelled to spend money on jumping up and down shouting "pick me, pick me!" to potential clients, when I actually want them to respect me as a professional in my field?

 

If Upwork wants to make more money out of connects, they could end the policy of handing out free connects every month, so that the freelancers who are using a lot will need to buy more. Going back to the system of only receiving connects where you are offered an interview, rather than being given them for free every month, will encourage carefully crafted and directed proposals to a sensible number of job adverts. It will increase quality all round. Having to be careful with my connects when I joined Upwork a year ago meant that I learnt to choose jobs well and write proposals effectively. The connects weren't so expensive that I couldn't afford to buy a few when I needed to, but that only ever happened to me once. Now that I have a list of successfully completed jobs on my profile, all with good feedback (except for those clients who left the contract open and then disappeared... but that's another thread), I get work on a high enough percentage of my proposals that I have no shortage of connects and don't really need the free ones that are being handed out every month.

 

All I can ask is, who wants this new system? And who will it benefit?

 

bookcoverdesign
Community Member

Katherine K wrote:

I am so, so disappointed with this change. It cheapens freelancers and turns the whole system into "e-bay" for jobs. Did any freelancers ask for this? Did any clients ask for it? Has Upwork received any positive feedback about it at all?

 

Like every other good freelancer out there, I already only submit proposals for jobs that I am highly interested in. That's because most of the time I'm busy working, and I don't want to waste my time submitting proposals for jobs that I don't think I'm a good fit for or have reservations about for any other reason.

 

The current system works well, where freelancers pay more connects for a job that would be likely to result in more work, and get those connects back if the client closes the job without hiring anyone. Freelancers who are offered interviews are then given bonus connects, which rewards them for sending proposals effectively. I feel that Upwork gets more than enough of my earnings in the 10% or 20% it charges me. Why should I also be compelled to spend money on jumping up and down shouting "pick me, pick me!" to potential clients, when I actually want them to respect me as a professional in my field?

 

If Upwork wants to make more money out of connects, they could end the policy of handing out free connects every month, so that the freelancers who are using a lot will need to buy more. Going back to the system of only receiving connects where you are offered an interview, rather than being given them for free every month, will encourage carefully crafted and directed proposals to a sensible number of job adverts. It will increase quality all round. Having to be careful with my connects when I joined Upwork a year ago meant that I learnt to choose jobs well and write proposals effectively. The connects weren't so expensive that I couldn't afford to buy a few when I needed to, but that only ever happened to me once. Now that I have a list of successfully completed jobs on my profile, all with good feedback (except for those clients who left the contract open and then disappeared... but that's another thread), I get work on a high enough percentage of my proposals that I have no shortage of connects and don't really need the free ones that are being handed out every month.

 

All I can ask is, who wants this new system? And who will it benefit?

 


The answer to your closing question (judging by the comments in this and related threads) is that the vast majority of freelancers are adamantly opposed to this boost idea. Who will benefit? Neither the freelancers nor the clients. To most of us, that much is blatantly clear. So, if the freelancers don't benefit and the clients don't benefit, who's left? UpWork, that's who.

 

I suggest all the freelancers who are opposed to the boost idea should ignore the boost concept and only use the 1-connect option for all job proposals. Maybe then UpWork will trash the whole concept and go back to the way it was.

pebravos
Community Member

What do you mean by "handing free connects every month"? They're paid as part of the membership. The free account only gets 10 connects per month which is clearly not enough.