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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
VladimirG
Community Manager

Hi Oleksandra,

 

Thanks for posting these questions, I'll check with the team and follow-up with more information soon.

VladimirG
Community Manager

Hi Catherine,

 

Thanks for your question. At this time, you can’t opt out of this test. I'll share your feedback with the team.

kbadeau
Community Member

Rene K wrote:

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.

 

 


I understand the problem with allowing freelancers to reach out to clients without connects, but there are SO many jobs listed which don't answer all the questions. I don't know if Upwork could have some kind of feature like you might see on REI or amazon where users can ask questions about the product right on the job description page? ( I imagine many of us would have the same question, like, when you say "ebook" do you actually mean epub/mobi (for an ereader like Kindle or iBooks), or do you just want a PDF you can post on your website?" ("How many words is your book?" "Is it a text-based nonfiction book or do you need callout quotes, infographics, images/photos, and tables created?")

 

I don't want to spend 6 connects to have my question answered, so instead I just ignore the job, and the client loses a lot of potentially qualified applicants.

 

Or maybe top rated freelancers could be allowed 1 or 2 DMs per month. Or give clients more than 3 invites per job since we can basically ask questions for "free" if we've been invited to submit a proposal.

prestonhunter
Community Member

Abinadab: I think you're right.

 

Being able to opt out of receiving messages from clients... It's such an obvious feature for this plan that I assumed it was part of it. But I think you're right that it isn't.

VladimirG
Community Manager

Hi Oleksandra,

 

Following up on the questions you posted earlier today:

 

Does Upwork add Agency owner to the "1:1" chat as for invites?

1. Yes - the agency owner is added into the chat
 
Does Freelancer have an ability to add Business Manager to the 1:1 chat with the client? 
2. Not at the moment, the ability to add a business manager is on our roadmap but we don't have an ETA for it.
wendy_writes
Community Member

I like the concept as it saves buyers the headache of dealing with nonsensical bids ... but the same issues of poorly articulated needs remain.  For FL to respond to these DMs we need project details and reasonable dollar rates.

 

I understand U can't force proper job specs and the verbiage here now is a start ... but needs to be expanded. These buyers are paying for the feature; it only makes sense to tweak it so it has a better chance of working to their benefit.  

 

Buyers should NEVER be forced to do something ... but presenting them with rudimentary guidelines can make the process  less onerous.

 

I also suggest putting a $100 minimum charge on projects utilizing the feature - that way everyone takes it seriously.

ravi_iitian
Community Member

Lena wrote:

“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.

 

“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.”

 

This does not in any way imply that freelancers can send direct messages without the client initiating the conversation.

 

I think it is a great idea.

 

And how is it worse than a client sending me a direct offer without my bidding for the job?

 

wendy_writes
Community Member

Adding to Ravindra's words "And how is it worse than a client sending me a direct offer without my bidding for the job?."

 

I have never accepted a job or without a fairly extensive discussion first.  IMHO, if a buyer is to too lazy to write a job description and to dense to possess the common sense to get a feel for the person he/she is entrusting their job to ... they don't really care.  And that alone is reason not to work with them.

 

i.e., if this helps eliminate the blind job offers - HOORAY!

wescowley
Community Member

Thank you - this is a much better way for a client to initiate a direct conversation than the "request a quote" method Upwork recently tried..

ravi_iitian
Community Member

Wendy C wrote:

Adding to Ravindra's words "And how is it worse than a client sending me a direct offer without my bidding for the job?."

 

I have never accepted a job or without a fairly extensive discussion first.  IMHO, if a buyer is to too lazy to write a job description and to dense to possess the common sense to get a feel for the person he/she is entrusting their job to ... they don't really care.  And that alone is reason not to work with them.

 

i.e., if this helps eliminate the blind job offers - HOORAY!


Well, I did express my surprise at getting a direct job offer from an unknown client.

 

She did then clarify that I had been highly recommended by an ex-client of mine.

 

We did discuss the job, and I took the job at the price I wanted (higher than her initial offer).

 

Even if we get a direct offer from a completely unknown person, we do have the option of declining the offer.