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Direct message before hiring

lenaellis
Community Member

This week, we will begin beta testing a Direct Message tool that allows Plus clients to reach out directly to freelancers they want to work with before they post a job. 

 

With the experience today, clients have to post a job before they can start a conversation with a freelancer, even if they have already found someone who might be a good fit through doing a search and reviewing their profiles. With the new beta Direct Messages, clients can start a conversation with a freelancer about their project’s scope, budget, timeline, and their availability without having to post a job first. 

 

Here’s how it will work:

(See example images below which are mockups or taken from the Enterprise experience.)

 

Plus clients will see a new “Send Message” button next to freelancers’ info.

 

direct message mockup4.png

 

 

When clients click on “Send Message”, they will see the Send Message form.

 

 direct message mockup2.png

 

Once a Plus client sends a Direct Message, a 1:1 Messages room with that freelancer will be created, and clients and freelancers can access that room by going to Messages. An email will also be sent notifying freelancers that a client wants to chat about their project. In the email, freelancers will be shown the client's number of jobs posted, star review rating and total spend. See example images below taken from the Enterprise experience.

 

Direct message mockup3.png

 

If a freelancer is not interested in speaking with the client about the project, they can ignore the Direct Message or can block the client in Messages. Ignoring a Direct Message will not affect the freelancer’s JSS/ responsiveness score or ability to be invited to jobs in the future. Blocking a client will prevent a freelancer from receiving messages and invites from the client in the future.

 

There is a limit on how many conversations a client can send. Plus clients are able to start 40 conversations within a billing period. This feature is already available for Enterprise and Business clients, they will continue to have unlimited access.

 

75 Comments
rafsun_ug
Community Member

WOW! That's lovely! Good decision. I think it will be good for the client.

If we, Freelancers also could get a little bit of this kind of lovely announcement..."Hello, Freelancers, From now, you also can send a message to a client before or after submitting a proposal!" - Oops! Sorry! Daydream! But anyway, I think, this will be good for a client and also for the freelancer. And as a Freelancer, it would be greater than the greatest, if Upwork could think a little bit about the Freelancers to give this kind of love!  

versailles
Community Member

Rafsun S wrote:

 

If we, Freelancers also could get a little bit of this kind of lovely announcement..."Hello, Freelancers, From now, you also can send a message to a client before or after submitting a proposal!" 


Yeah, basically a way to submit a proposal without spending connects. I mean what would be the point of trying to reduce the amount of proposals sent to clients by charging for connects if you let people send them messages directly, completely circumventing the proposal?

Can you imagine the number of please respected Sir / maam hire me that clients would get?

 

It's not gonna to happen.

 

 

prestonhunter
Community Member

Free reign for freelancers to pester clients?

 

It's definitely not going to happen.

 

There is no equivalency between:

"freelancers messaging clients directly"

and

"plus/enterprise clients are able to message freelancers who opt in to allowing that to happen"

abinadab-agbo
Community Member

Quite a bummer the Team has decided to give too much of an advantage to the Plus clients over the Basic clients. wrt which many have told you they don't want to join Plus.

Can the Basic clients have at least some free DMs?

 

prestonhunter
Community Member

re" "Quite a bummer the Team has decided to give too much of an advantage to the Plus clients over the Basic clients. wrt which many have told you they don't want to join Plus."

 

This is not a game or a sport. It's not a matter of "one side having an advantage."

 

Clients pay freelancers.

 

Freelancers receive money from clients.


Not the same thing.

abinadab-agbo
Community Member

Preston H wrote:

 

"plus/enterprise clients are able to message freelancers who opt in to allowing that to happen"


While I appreciate that allowing freelancers to DM clients before submitting a proposal would be disastrous, please note that, as per Lena's post, freelancers are not able to technically "opt in" to receiving private DM's from clients. There is no such button, yet.

gilbert-phyllis
Community Member

Preston H wrote:

re" "Quite a bummer the Team has decided to give too much of an advantage to the Plus clients over the Basic clients. wrt which many have told you they don't want to join Plus."

 

This is not a game or a sport. It's not a matter of "one side having an advantage."

 

Clients pay freelancers.

 

Freelancers receive money from clients.


Not the same thing.


I don't read Abinadab's message as implying this is a game. And I agree with him it's a shame Basic plan clients seem to be cut out of the DM opportunity. Not surprising, as UW needs to bolster the perceived value of the premium plans. But personally, a lot of my clients come to UW for a specific project with no expecatation of doing a lot of hiring here or doing it with any frequency. So they are not likely to plump for a premium plan, at least initially. At the same time, the nature of custom research means that client and FL really do need to have a preliminary chat before either one invests in the first steps of posting a job or subimtting a proposal. Most clients need a little input in order to determine their project scope so they can write a decent description. From the FL side, I need to know what ballpark they are in (budget, complexity, time) to know if I might be a good fit for their needs. Which is the long way of saying that I wish Basic clients could have a few free DMs.

dzadza
Community Member

you can't be serious....

just imagine a torrent of useless messages clients will get? I suspect  most clients will run for the hills (well, the ones that stayed after upwork raised prices on their plans)

michelle-trevino
Community Member

Instead of messaging me, I'd rather the client be required to provide additional information on a job posting. Job sites require more information than what I"ve seen on the postings here. For example, I've seen simple postings like: "I want new branding and a website." Nothing more than that. Also, I'd rather my messages be tied to a job posting because it's better for negotiating the details of a contract later on. With this method, you really have no idea how many freelancers the client is interviewing. I have enough proposals where the client doesn't hire anyone so I don't need messages that never turn into job postings. 

amt17
Community Member


Michelle T wrote:

Instead of messaging me, I'd rather the client be required to provide additional information on a job posting. Job sites require more information than what I"ve seen on the postings here. For example, I've seen simple postings like: "I want new branding and a website." Nothing more than that. Also, I'd rather my messages be tied to a job posting because it's better for negotiating the details of a contract later on. With this method, you really have no idea how many freelancers the client is interviewing. I have enough proposals where the client doesn't hire anyone so I don't need messages that never turn into job postings. 


Also add a mandatory "willing to pay XX" on the client side + an option for freelancers to opt out of receiving messages from potential clients who is not prepared to pay the freelancer's fee.