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Show clients you’re available to work right now with the availability badge

hannahskurnik
Community Member

 

We’d like to share that we will be testing out a new availability badge as a beta feature that will be released to a small group of users. Depending on the outcome of the test and feedback we receive, we may expand this more broadly in the coming months. If you are a freelancer that’s frequently invited by clients to apply to jobs, are currently open to more invitations and ready to start work right away, we expect this badge will be a good tool to help you control your workflow and manage your time when you’re ready to take on new clients.

 

What is the availability badge?

 

The availability badge is designed to provide talent with greater control over their invitation flow and ability to more easily communicate to potential clients that you are available for projects right now. You can choose to add an availability badge to your profile using Connects to more accurately signal when you become more or less available for new work.

 

Screen Shot 2021-07-13 at 4.12.10 PM.png

The availability badge helps you to actively advertise your availability and helps clients start projects faster by seeing which pros are ready to take on more work. 



Why is this feature being introduced?

 

The availability badge was created to help talent better communicate their availability and allow clients to quickly see which freelancers have indicated in real-time that they’re ready to take on more work. The goal is to enable everyone on the platform to save time and get projects going faster so everyone can get more work done efficiently. 

 

 

How it works

 

To add the blue availability badge, you’ll use Connects. The goal of charging Connects is to ensure the badge is used only when talent is truly open to taking on new projects and clients. This way, both talent and clients are able to take more control over their workflows. Some key features:

 

  • Turn the badge on and off as needed to better control communication about when you’re ready to take on new projects and clients. 
  • Only pay for the badge as long as you have it turned on. If you turn off the badge, you will no longer be charged Connects. Likewise if your Connects balance runs out, the badge will also turn off.
  • Set the maximum number of Connects per week you’d like to use on the badge. This allows you to take control over when the badge should be turned off automatically by our system. Tell us the maximum number of Connects you’re willing to pay to display the availability badge, and if the market price for the badge exceeds your maximum, our system will automatically turn off your badge. If the badge price drops below your stated maximum and you want to have the badge on, you will need to go back to your profile settings and turn the badge on. 
  • During testing, the price will not change more than once per week.

 

The price of the badge may fluctuate as the feature is more broadly released, based in part on the demand for the badge:

 

  • If more freelancers add the badge, more Connects will be required to turn the badge on and keep it on. If fewer freelancers are using it, fewer Connects will be needed. 
  • The fluctuation is to ensure that market demand drives the cost. While you have the badge on, 1 Connect will be deducted from your balance at a time. Depending on the weekly price of the badge, the frequency of these 1-Connect charges will vary. 
  • If the weekly price of the badge goes above your max price, then the badge will automatically turn off and you will stop being charged. If the weekly price of the badge does not go above your max price, you will be charged the new price until your weekly maximum is reached or you turn off the badge. Visit our Help article for pricing examples.

Screen Shot 2021-07-14 at 2.02.37 PM.png

 

 

How is this different from the existing availability setting?

 

Turning on the availability badge is a way to use your Connects to get more work when you need it. Unlike current availability settings, which only allow talent to set their hours of availability, when you have the availability badge turned on:

 

Clients will see your availability badge in search results, recommendations, and on your profile, and will know you’re ready for new work (see image below). Think of it as a way to help market yourself through search results! 

 

                                          Screen Shot 2021-07-14 at 2.01.48 PM.png  Screen Shot 2021-07-14 at 2.02.00 PM.png

 

While the availability badge will be visible in search results, it will not, however, improve your rank results. Because of this, it is currently recommended for freelancers who are frequently asked by clients to apply to jobs, are currently open to more invitations, and are ready to work right now.



To turn the availability badge on: 

  1. Go to Profile Settings > Edit Profile > Click the icon next to “Availability badge”. 
  2. Set your maximum amount of Connects you want to spend in one week to keep the badge on (if the price changes to exceed this number, we will turn the badge off for you).
  3. Click “Turn on”



For more information, please visit our Help article.

 

Please share your feedback with us as we continue testing so we can understand your experience, expectations, and ideas and help you get more work in the marketplace.

165 Comments
2a05aa63
Community Member

It's a VERY confusing feature. Seems more like a desperation meter for who will bet more to have the badge. And it doesn't really guarantee for the freelancer to be online during that time since it doesn't seem to have adjustable hours.

audrey1111
Community Member

Weird.

 

This kind of gamification makes Upwork seem much less appealing and professional to me as a freelancer. We're not Uber drivers.

 

Also, "available now" is too binary a setting... one could be available for an hour-long immediate project, but not one that would take a week or a month, or vice versa. The current settings of 30+ hours, less than 30 hours, and not available are MUCH more useful.

geri_kol
Community Member

This is such a gimmick. It looks, sounds, and smells like the classical "solution looking for a problem." But what is the "problem" this feature is aiming to fix? That freelancers by and large are too busy to accept new projects and therefore are turning down too many client invitations? Or that freelancers who rarely land any projects are asking for more bells and whistles on their profiles, thinking that having one more random adjustable setting will somehow magically help them get jobs? Who stands to gain anything from this, other than Upwork trying to get desperate FLs to purchase more connects? I don´t get it. 

ceefaeca
Community Member

Unfortunately, I cannot see any option to turn this badge on. For me, there is no "Edit Profile" in the profile settings. 

 

Edit:

Oh, I just noticed it is not open for all! 

lysis10
Community Member

Hi Hannah and Upwork,

 

Any way I can get in on this? I don't appear to be in on the beta and I would like to test this since I get clients unsure if I have time for them.

feed_my_eyes
Community Member

Hannah S wrote:

 

While the availability badge will be visible in search results, it will not, however, improve your rank results. Because of this, it is currently recommended for freelancers who are frequently asked by clients to apply to jobs, are currently open to more invitations, and are ready to work right now.

 


I don't understand. If it won't improve our ranking results, then how will it help us to get more work? (Surely the people who receive the most invitations are the ones who appear on the first few pages of a search, so the ranking results are far more important than having a "ready to work" badge.) And if a freelancer is already receiving frequent invitations, why would they pay for this feature? Or are you saying that if we opt not to pay, our invitations will decline?

 

If this feature is in beta and only select freelancers are allowed to test it, does that mean that the rest of us can expect to see a decline in our invitations until the badge is made available to us?

 

And yes, as somebody already pointed out, saying that I'm ready to work "right now" depends upon the size of a project. I might be ready to work today and tomorrow, but can't accept a big project because I already have bookings for next week and the week after. 

 

2a05aa63
Community Member

Christine A wrote:

Hannah S wrote:

 

While the availability badge will be visible in search results, it will not, however, improve your rank results. Because of this, it is currently recommended for freelancers who are frequently asked by clients to apply to jobs, are currently open to more invitations, and are ready to work right now.

 


I don't understand. If it won't improve our ranking results, then how will it help us to get more work? (Surely the people who receive the most invitations are the ones who appear on the first few pages of a search, so the ranking results are far more important than having a "ready to work" badge.) 


I guess they mean that those people will show up when using the badge filter. As far as I understand thought it won't be enabled by default.

richardrader
Community Member

 

 

 

 

2a05aa63
Community Member

Richard R wrote:

I notice there is an "available now" feature on my profile. I turned it on out of curiosity. Is there an announcement on this feature or a page with further explanation? Or perhaps its in an experimental stage? I see the price to turn it on is dependent on how many freelancers have turned it on. How often does the price change? 

 

 

Capture.PNG

 


yeah, your topic just got merged into it.

aleksej7734
Community Member

This is a useless feature unless you are upwork trying to squeeze connects out of freelancers...