No feedback contracts no longer impact Job Success Score (JSS)

mitchell-jason · ‎10-21-2020

I am excited to announce a new change to the Job Success Score (JSS). We know that JSS is a hot topic. This post aims to provide transparency into the changes and answer any questions you might have.

On November 8th, 2020, we updated the JSS calculation process to exclude contracts that ended without feedback. Before, if a freelancer or agency had a large number of contracts that ended without feedback, those contracts could have negatively impacted their JSS.

What is JSS?

Your JSS measures and reflects your Upwork clients’ satisfaction with the projects you complete for them. You can view your score on your My Stats page and learn more about JSS here.

What does this mean?

We removed projects where clients didn't leave feedback from consideration in the JSS calculation in November. This means that it will no longer negatively impact your JSS if a client does not leave feedback at the end of a project. Note that, as a result of this change, a small set of professionals no longer had enough outcomes with different clients to earn a JSS. To minimize this impact, we reduced the minimum number of distinct clients required to earn a JSS from 3 to 2.

What’s the problem with including contracts that end without feedback in the JSS calculation?

Picture a contract where a professional and a client work together, and at the end of it, the client does not leave feedback. Before the change, if the professional already had a high percentage of completed contracts without feedback, the professional’s JSS could have been negatively affected.

The original design was based on a study that found clients who had negative experiences would often avoid filling out the feedback form altogether instead of giving negative reviews. More recent analysis suggests this may no longer be true. As a result, we are changing the calculation to reflect today’s reality.

How does this change affect you?

If you had contracts before the change where a client did not leave feedback counting against your JSS, you may notice a boost in your score from this change.
If you do not have sufficient outcomes from at least 2 distinct clients, you may no longer meet the threshold for JSS, and you may see your JSS go away. Getting more jobs can help minimize this impact.

What’s next?

This is just one of several changes we’re planning to implement in the coming months, so stay tuned!

This post itself is in response to your feedback that you want to be informed when changes are made. Thanks to everyone who has offered feedback on JSS communication through our customer surveys and social media, through the Upwork Community, and directly to our team. Be on the lookout for more changes to JSS and other aspects of the Upwork experience in the near future.

We are all looking forward to this next chapter together!

robin-luminous · ‎11-09-2020

I hear you, have had similar issues!

vivienka · ‎11-09-2020

Finally, thank you! Also it's not really "if you had many" it's more like "if you had ANY" clients like that, when you don't have a crazy turnover.

fleurkin · ‎11-09-2020

Thank you for this information. Is there something that can also be done to encourage/remind clients to leave feedback? I have had 5-star positive experiences where the client simply forgets or gets too busy to do more than leave feedback. It would be greatly appreciated if more tactics are implemented that would ensure a review as well as the star system. Thank you.

avosim · ‎11-09-2020

Thank you Upwork team, great update!

My question is: since this update is retroactive and applies to previous contracts, and removes the damage it made on JSS, why not also remove the damage it made on the Top Rated Eligible Weeks?

My experience: Around 4 weeks ago I had 16/16 Top Rated Eligible Weeks. Then because the last two contracts were without feedback, I went to 89% JSS. I contacted my last two clients, and one of them responded and left me feedback. JSS went back to 100% and I got my badge back, however, the damage was done on the Top Rated Eligible Weeks, which became 14/16 and this won't be improved for the next three months (since it counts the LAST 16 weeks).

Although this update removes the negative feedback on your JSS from contracts without feedback, I don't think it applies to the Top Rated Eligible Weeks, at least not in my case. Why is it so? Thanks!

jesusc · ‎11-09-2020

1000x YES can't stress how many times I had to explain to clients that if they didn't end a contract and leave feedback it would impact my score negatively.

The next phase should be to spam a client with "Is this job complete?" So that they end the contract when it finishes instead of leaving it open and then only realizing it never ended when you look at your tanked jss, ending the contract, then waiting however many days it takes to recalculate it up, potentially losing projects during that time.

kochubei_valeria · ‎11-09-2020

Hi Fleur,

Thanks for your feedback. Currently, if the client is closing a contract, they are prompted to provide feedback on it. If a contract is closed by the freelancer, an email is sent to the client to notify them about it and to encourage them to leave feedback. With this change, even if they don't leave feedback, it will not affect the freelancer's JSS negatively.

kochubei_valeria · ‎11-09-2020

Hi Aleksandar,

Thanks for your feedback and suggestion. I'll be happy to forward it to the team.

maxzym · ‎11-09-2020

this is amazing! i am at 94 % success rate due to custmers that ahve not kept their promises ( leave a positive feedback ). Can't wait to reach 100% again! Thank you!

filip_knezevic · ‎11-09-2020

Boris R wrote:
This update was great but to me my rating dropped this week since the new update.

I think your score dropped because of the contract closed on 1st Nobember, with bad public and probably bad private feedback as well.

chadgravallese · ‎11-09-2020

That's fantastic. I have found that so many clients don't leave feedback because they simply don't have the time or don't know how, even though they had a positive experience. Clients with a negative experience almost always leave a negative review.