Direct message before hiring

[lenaellis]

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.

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

 

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.

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.

[wendy_writes]

I know we do, Ravindra.  🙂

[cartrellgeneral]

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

I like the fact that we can decline. At this time, I have made my profile private. I just can't take on any more work but when it's open I decline more than I accept.

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[kfarnell]

How is the process affected by the availability setting? For example, if someone tries to send a message and you're marked unavailable, do they receive an auto message saying something-or-other? Or does that only apply if you've set up auto messages? Or are they blocked from messaging someone who's marked as unavailable?

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Kim, 

This works in a similar way as invites. When a freelancer sets their profile as unavailable, they aren't shown in search, so clients are unlikely to discover them and invite/message them. 

[arulk8smx]

This came out of the blue. Was surprised to see "I'm Reaching Out" messages.

It is nice that Upwork wants freelancers to convert clients sitting on the fence to actually commit. More jobs for everyone.

It also opens the door for freelancers to upsell other services. Freelancers should be happy.

I would be more happy if Upwork rewards freelancers who convert well with lower service fees

I would also like a feature added to this where the freelancer can create an offer(invoice) for the job and the client can just approve it. So we can get cracking with the job instead of client struggling with creating an offer.

Good move overall.

[AleksandarD]

Hi Arul,

Thanks for sharing your suggestion with us. I will make sure to send it to our team for consideration.

Thank you!

[blackmail1819]

Yesterday I got a direct message from an unknown Upwork Plus client and my first impression was like what?!🤔 How come an unknown client directly message me without posting any job?!🙄 [I didn't know a feature like direct messaging exists]

Well! We're discussing about the project details!😎 Let's see how it turns out!😉

Thank you Upwork!😍 Make this feature permanent!🙂

[emily_z]

I have received a direct message yesterday, however, I'm not able to see any information about the client and there is no email sent to me regarding the client as mentioned in this post. This is really frustrating, as we freelancers have no clue about the client and the project before we can decide if we are interested in it or would like to spend time to talk.

Therefore, I have following suggestions:

1. Please provide freelancers with the access to the client's public profile page as well. I think this is fair and more transparent on both sides. This is not just for this beta function but as a basic feature for everyone.

2. Please set a few "required" fields when the client wants to contact the freelancers via direct message, for example, project description, budget, etc. This helps the client have a quality conversation with the freelancers. The message I received with a subject of checking my avaliabilies, but there is only one sentence in the message asking my nationalitiy. I was confused and I also couldn't see any information on this client but a name.

3. For any test or beta feature, could you please send out notifications to the freelancers in the future? I believe most freelancers don't come to community frequently like me, unless there are questions about the account. 

I experienced too many surprises (most are not good surprises) when I looked through Upwork before. Most recent surprise was my Top-rated badge was gone without any clue, it turned out your calcuation on profile completion has changed without a notice, then "My Feed" mysteriously doesn't provide the job feed of my skills listed but some other jobs. I also found my "12-month earnings" hasn't been changing for a long time, but my JSS dropped and stayed as that for over a month.

My point is, Freelancers are as important as the client to Upwork and we would like more transparency and right-to-knows.

Thanks.

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Pei,

Thanks for sharing your experience with the feature and feedback about it with us. I'm going to forward it to the team. Additionally, we are going to check why you didn't receive the email notification about the message. It should contain the information about the client that you would see on a job posting. 

Also, I checked your stats and wasn't able to see any issues with your 12-months earnings. Are you still experiencing issues with that stat and with your Job Feed?

ETA: Pei, we checked and it looks like you have email notificatios for unread messages turned off on your account. That's the reason why you didn't receive the notification about this message. Feel free to re-configure the setting if you'd like to receive them.

[emily_z]

Hi Valeria,

Thank you for your attention.

I turned off that setting becuase I prefer not receiving the every unread message email. I use Upwork app, so I don't need the email to remind me everytime if I don't check the message in time. There will be a lot of emails. Is that possible to include client's info in the message box when they send DM?

Btw, my 12-months earnings has slight change today.

Thanks,

Pei