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

hannahskurnik · ‎07-19-2021

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.

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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.

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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!

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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:

Go to Profile Settings > Edit Profile > Click the icon next to “Availability badge”.
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).
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.

colettelewis · ‎07-22-2021

Upwork aims to "improve", but this is certainly not the best way to go about it. This "improvement" is more like cheap housing developers, who buy up more and more reclaimed land; who use matierials they don't understand, and who don't much care what happens to the people who payto live in their pack-of-cards constructions.

amt17 · ‎07-22-2021

Valeria K wrote:

A common problem we’re trying to address for clients is sending invites to talent who are not available to receive invites at that particular time.

If that is the problem you want to solve, then add a calendar where we can show availability.

It is hardly a competitive parameter to be "available now" (one could wonder how sought after you actually are if you're instantly available 24/7).

I assume that a lot of us plan our work weeks or at least days in advance to avoid non-earning gaps.

amt17 · ‎07-22-2021

Valeria K wrote:
Thanks for taking time to share your questions and feedback, Amanda.

How often the Connects are deducted will depend on the cost of the badge at the time. For example:

If the badge costs 7 Connects, 1 Connect will be deducted from your balance every 24 hours.
If the badge costs 3 Connects, 1 Connect will be deducted from your balance every 56 hours.
If the badge costs 3 Connects per week but the price changes to 7 Connects (within your maximum) 2 hours later, you will be charged 1 Connect when you first turned on the badge and then charged an additional 1 Connect in 22 hours.
The Connects are deducted automatically when the price changes, but never more than the maximum the freelancer set.

Words fail me

feed_my_eyes · ‎07-22-2021

Petra R wrote:
I also have a very hard time believing that the motivation for charging connects for that badge is to "help freelancers" (or clients). Surely the motivation is to create revenue, which is fine, but this is not a great way to do it and spinning it as something that's done out of the goodness of Upwork's heart to do us freelancers a favour feels disingenuous.

Yes, freelancers who get a lot of invitations currently purchase few (if any) connects, so this is a way to open up that revenue stream. I think it would be better for Upwork to get rid of giving out free connects for interviews instead - especially since it's been widely abused and has resulted in fake job posts - but what do I know?

If this feature does get rolled out (which it inevitably will - when does Upwork ever change course on these ideas, regardless of the feedback they get?) I think clients should be clearly told that badge holders have PAID to appear first in the results when clients search based on availability, much in the way that Google or Amazon have to disclose that those who appear first in their search results are paid advertisers.

feed_my_eyes · ‎07-22-2021

Adi N wrote:
I think I found the better and free solution

LOL! Nice one. But if you're on page 120 of the search results because you haven't paid for a badge, it's unlikely that clients will see your profile title.

feed_my_eyes · ‎07-22-2021

Valeria K wrote:
Thanks for taking time to share your questions and feedback, Amanda.

How often the Connects are deducted will depend on the cost of the badge at the time. For example:

If the badge costs 7 Connects, 1 Connect will be deducted from your balance every 24 hours.
If the badge costs 3 Connects, 1 Connect will be deducted from your balance every 56 hours.
If the badge costs 3 Connects per week but the price changes to 7 Connects (within your maximum) 2 hours later, you will be charged 1 Connect when you first turned on the badge and then charged an additional 1 Connect in 22 hours.
The Connects are deducted automatically when the price changes, but never more than the maximum the freelancer set.

So is 7 connects going to be the maximum? And I'm still not clear on how "market demand" drives the cost. Do you mean demand by clients, or demand by freelancers? If it's the latter, then I expect that the badge will always cost the maximum for data entry freelancers, virtual assistants and logo designers in particular. I guess it's one way to drive low-charging freelancers out of the marketplace, because they won't be able to afford this.

Wouldn't it make more sense if the badge cost were based on demand by clients, rather than demand by freelancers? Then at least freelancers would know that there's a surge in demand, therefore might be willing to pay more for the badge.

2a05aa63 · ‎07-22-2021

Christine A wrote:
So is 7 connects going to be the maximum? And I'm still not clear on how "market demand" drives the cost. Do you mean demand by clients, or demand by freelancers? If it's the latter, then I expect that the badge will always cost the maximum for data entry freelancers, virtual assistants and logo designers in particular. I guess it's one way to drive low-charging freelancers out of the marketplace, because they won't be able to afford this.

Wouldn't it make more sense if the badge cost were based on demand by clients, rather than demand by freelancers? Then at least freelancers would know that there's a surge in demand, therefore might be willing to pay more for the badge.

The clients don't have any demant for the badge. It's the freelancers who want to be seen. I don't think there will be a "max" for the price. It will go as high as freelancers are willing to pay.

petra_r · ‎07-22-2021

Christine A wrote:
The Connects are deducted automatically when the price changes, but never more than the maximum the freelancer set.
So is 7 connects going to be the maximum? .

No, there is no maximum, but they "think" that it will somehow regulate itself. Apparently. According to the help article.

That help article, however, also claims that clients will know that freelancers paid for the badge because of some lightening bolt symbol that allegedly tells clients that it's an advertisement. The whole thing is, in my humble opinion, utterly bizarre.

lightening bolt.png

The other problem with "Available Now" is that it means RIGHT NOW THIS MINUTE.

Meaning clients will expect an instant response even in the middle of the night.

2a05aa63 · ‎07-22-2021

Petra R wrote:
That help article, however, also claims that clients will know that freelancers paid for the badge because of some lightening bolt symbol that allegedly tells clients that it's an advertisement. The whole thing is, in my humble opinion, utterly bizarre.

People rarely read the expanations. The badge is just missleading.

emonuzzamanmd · ‎07-22-2021

I dont see any seetings there. How do I get this?