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MichaelJ
Community Manager
Community Manager

Boost Your Proposal to the Top of List (March 2022 Update): Questions & Feedback

Today we’re reintroducing the boosted proposals feature with some changes. Read the announcement from James, Director of Product, here and let us know your thoughts about these updates in the comments below.


Cheers,
Mike
ACCEPTED SOLUTION
2c724a5e
Community Member

Hello Everyone,

 

First, we want to acknowledge the ongoing feedback you all are sharing. We appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts, opinions, and concerns with Boosted Proposals and want to ensure you our product teams are listening and reading every comment. 

 

Second, we want to reiterate that part of our mission at Upwork is to connect talent with more opportunities which is why we launched Boosted Proposals in support of that. With that in mind, we know there are lingering questions and we want to take this opportunity to be transparent on the value of Boosted Proposals to freelancers and clients, and also answer a few of the recurring questions/themes. 

 

Why Boosted Proposals? We created Boosted Proposals as an opportunity for freelancers to show a strong interest in jobs they feel they are the best fit for. Additionally, Boosted Proposals increases the chances of getting noticed and receiving their desired rate. 

 

What is the true value for freelancers and clients? Boosted Proposals provides an additional lever for freelancers to pull when submitting a proposal without removing existing features (JSS, Top-rated, etc.)  that signal success. Freelancers with a Boosted Proposal have more control over their outcomes while clients gain insight on who has a strong desire for a job. Additionally, boosting improves a freelancer’s chances of being hired by 43%, this means that a freelancer can use the feature as a way to secure the same amount of work they did before, but lower their proposal volume, saving their time and effort.

 

Based on the test, it appeared there was a lot of negative feedback in the Community, how did you decide to move forward with Boosted Proposals? We collected feedback via multiple channels and methods within our testing, including tracking hire rates and speaking directly with freelancers and clients—this evidence fueled the team to move forward with this feature. 

 

 

We hope this addresses some concerns regarding Boosted Proposals and the Upwork team always encourages feedback as we look to make Upwork The World’s work marketplace. 

 

Best,

 

Christopher

Content Program Manager, Community

 

View solution in original post

485 REPLIES 485


Jamie F wrote:


That people were more likely to be hired for no other reason than they threw more connects at it is a ****ing abomination

 

Maybe logic is next - in pool of similar, equally skilled people there's a need to filter us out in other way. Since each person creates their own advertisement only what Upwork has been left with is to control who gets on a "shelf" on the line with the eyes. As in groceriers shops choices are many for the same thing and what we choose is most often what we see first.

Makes sense, just - since when people don't like to lurk around? Though, to make this harder for them is a bit tiresome. On the other hand, if you force a client to scroll down through seemingly endless number of freelancers they'll probably give up soon and close the tab. 

 

Maybe you should ask clients whether they want to lurk around and spend good portion of time to pick their service provider - or do they want a quick solution? Sometimes you are in a hurry and buy first t-shirt that stands there, and sometimes you can take an hour to choose one.

____________
Don't correct my grammar!

You're right, it depends on the client. And as much as I'd like to believe that the client wants to browse for awhile, there is always a chance they want the first proposal that goes out.

moonraker
Community Member

And what's even the point of putting it into the 'feedback' section when you completely ignored us last time? Posting it under 'feedback' knowing that we're just going to be ignored (again) is treating us with contempt.


Jamie F wrote:

And what's even the point of putting it into the 'feedback' section when you completely ignored us last time? Posting it under 'feedback' knowing that we're just going to be ignored (again) is treating us with contempt.


Where's the proof we all agree (the whole freelance community) with what people are saying here. Who knows? Maybe 80% of people actually do want to pay more to get visible to potential clients. 😜

____________
Don't correct my grammar!


Vesna M wrote:

Jamie F wrote:

And what's even the point of putting it into the 'feedback' section when you completely ignored us last time? Posting it under 'feedback' knowing that we're just going to be ignored (again) is treating us with contempt.


Where's the proof we all agree (the whole freelance community) with what people are saying here.


Now show me where I said we all agree... Do not strawman, it's crass, and you're just plain wrong.

BUT. This is the second time this was released and the overwhelming consensus that first time was that it's an awful idea. Asides from few excpetions - mostly from those that don't understand who Upwork works.


Vesna M wrote:


Maybe 80% of people actually do want to pay more to get visible to potential clients. 😜


Really?

Do you get that impressions from comments in this thread so far?

Just because your feedback was listened to, doesn't mean that it was thought to be a great idea. I imagine at the core of Upwork they need to balance making money with providing a good product. There is no doubt that "connects" are a form of monetization, but they provide other functions as well. The problem is that more likely there are people gaming the system by answering all the scam projects.and getting free connects and using them in order to boost legitimate projects. The good news is that if there are a lot of scam boosters out there, this will encourage clients by word of mouth to ignore boosts in favor of scrolling down to "unadvertised" responses.

m_terrazas
Community Member

Well, once again Upwork ignores the comments.
By the way, back in the day I complained about this because clients could tend to hire whoever had the badge since the others, possibly more prepared, with better skills, more experience, etc., would be relegated. And, what a surprise, you have confirmed it for me.
Between "available now" and "boosted proposal", those of us who are not in the business of activating it will remain in the proposal queue.
Disaster once again.

The boist has gotten ridiculous and is the product of greed!   Connects vanish and you never know if you are connecting with a client or not.   I have reason to believe that Upwork must reward clients for the highest boost that can be achieved.  I would advise Upwork to fix this or lose a ton of freelancers!

tqw_top_quality
Community Member

I have been part of this freelance community since 2007, when it was still Elance. Every couple of years, I noticed how the company made 'changes' it advertised were for the 'betterment of the community,' when in fact it was and has been ONLY about money. 

 

Money. Money. Money.

 

Hey. look where Upwork is now. A major company. Kudos to you. However, Sprint was a major company, too, and then decided on monetization ahead of all thought of customer service. What happened? They crashed. Hard. Nearly to the point of total collapse.

 

There's a moment in every company's history when they can 'jump the shark' and begin their slow and inevitable descent into oblivion. Congratulations, Upwork, this is your moment.

 

There are plenty of other options out there for quality freelancers. When you look at the global footprint, seeing how many jobs are posted annually coupled with the number of freelancers in the world ... Upwork has truly become the bottom feeder when it could have been an upper-echelon platform.

 

It's been a slow, sad progression, but one I've seen since the very beginning. Sometimes you can grow too big for your own good. Now you're putting your bottom-line profits ahead of ANY concern for the freelancers who serve your interests. Shame.

roberty1y
Community Member

Even if you accept that Upwork should put profits ahead of everything else, this move is probably the most deluded and myopic it has ever made. It will make more money on connects (although freelancers can game the system to obtain free connects), but most of its revenue comes from commission on freelancers' fees. To maintain this income, it needs a system whereby clients are offered the best possible system of getting the best match for the jobs they post. Proposal-boosting is the opposite of that.

Yup.

**edited for Community Guidelines** but it's far from the worst thing about it for me.

The more happy clients on the platform the better for all of us, yet Upwork seem happy to risk upsetting clients for short-term gains. Myopic indeed.

marc_compte
Community Member

When all it takes to get a job is spending money, and one's history and talent gets devaluated like this, then the account of a talented freelancer who has invested years in Upwork will be worth less than before.

 

I hope you did not expect a thank you from your users. If you did, you should go see a doctor.

 

If you keep devaluating your talent pool like this, eventually the ToS will loose all its meaning. You cannot threaten your users with banning them for life if an account of a talented freelancer is worth **bleep**.

I got an option to boost my proposal, does this feature is back? 

Yes, they've revived it, unfortunately, with a few minor modifications.

Awesome!

I haven't seen this yet. Probably not available to everyone 

So, I got this new feature to boost a proposal using connects.

My question is, do clients see on their end that the freelancer boosted their proposal?

Something like in Amazon or Etsy if you have paid to appear first in results, it says "sponsored".

That is obviously paying for to be on top in search results and this is not in search results, but I am sure you get what I mean.

I would sure use this when it comes to some really interesting projects, but if clients see my proposal is "sponsored" to appear on the top, I am not so sure...

Yes, clients can see when a freelancer boosts his/her proposal.

 

The more connects you use to boost your proposal, the higher your proposal appears to the client. More connects = More interest in the job. 

 

Also, this terrible feature is not new and was implemented last year as well (as a test). For some reason, even after the significant backlash it received, Upwork has decided to implement it again.

 

Thank you, Sushant. 

I didn't know it was introduced last year. I was away for months after having covid with severe issues twice.

It appeared to me yesterday. 

What does it say to the client to be exact?

What kind of backlash?

I am not sure if I want to look desperate to the client by "sponsoring" my proposal...


Anneli K wrote:

What does it say to the client to be exact?


Basically, the client sees your proposal marked as "Boosted" if it's in the first three spots. The more connects you use to boost your proposal means the more you're interested in the job.

 


Anneli K wrote:

What kind of backlash?

I am not sure if I want to look desperate to the client by "sponsoring" my proposal...


Most people (including me) hated this feature because they cited it as a cash grab attempt by Upwork.  Before this feature, the proposals were inlined based on the freelancer's expertise and experience, but now, they will be inlined based on how much connects one spends to boost their proposal.


Sushant B wrote:
Basically, the client sees your proposal marked as "Boosted" and by what number of connects. .

Not true. The client does not see by how many connects it has been boosted.


Sushant B wrote:

The more connects you use to boost your proposal, the higher your proposal appears to the client. More connects = More interest in the job. 


Not true. Only the highest 3 appear in the first 3 spots and marked as "boosted". The rest are sorted as before.

Okay, Thank You.

m1mehta
Community Member

What happens when I boosted with a couple of connects and I did not get the top 3 slots? Will my connects be refunded or how does that work? 

 

I am seeing no response, in spite of boosting several proposals with more connects. Getting absolutely a dry run for a week when it comes to open jobs.

Hi Manish,

 

If during the auction you are outbid, your proposal will no longer be shown as boosted (it will still be visible, just lower on the list). Also, if you are outbid and your boosted proposal didn’t lead to an eligible interaction, we’ll only charge you the standard number of Connects required to submit a proposal. If it led to an eligible interaction with the client while you were boosted, you will be charged the Connects you bid.

 

Eligible interactions include:

 

  • The client opens your proposal
  • The client sends an offer to you
  • The client shortlists your proposal
  • The client messages you
  • The client archives your proposal
  • The client declines your proposal

 

~Andrea
Upwork
m1mehta
Community Member

Thank you, Andrea. When do upwork refund us the additional connect? What's the duration?

Manish, we will initially charge the amount of Connects that you bid plus the amount listed on the job post. Once the auction is closed (after seven days or after the first hire), we will issue any eligible refunds. Please allow 24 hours for refunds to appear in your Connects History. 

 

~Andrea
Upwork
2c724a5e
Community Member

Manish,

 

The refund for boosting your proposal will happen when the client makes their first hire or 7 days after the job is posted. Whichever event happens first will determine the duration. 

 

-Christopher

3e85fbc6
Community Member

Has anyone else noticed they've had a dry spell since Upwork instituted boosting?  I realize I am still pretty much a newbie freelancer and haven't had many jobs (and there will be periods of dry spells naturally), but I at least had a few "nibbles" once in a while from potential clients prior to this feature.

 

I was also wondering if anyone has some advice regarding art-related proposals.  I'm trying to get into illustrating books, and a lot of the job listings I see ask me to describe my previous experiences.  Is there a general rule of thumb to tell if the person wants me to describe what I did or just mention if it went well or not?  I've been making sure to restrict myself to entry-level jobs recently, but everyone seems to want someone who knows the racetrack inside and out.

 

Maybe these are stupid questions, but I'm a little lost at the moment.  I'm probably overthinking things, but my proposals are definitely not attracting any interest lately.

I've seen numerous people commenting that they've been struggling lately, but that's not necesarilly anything to do with the connects.


Elizabeth G wrote:

HIs there a general rule of thumb to tell if the person wants me to describe what I did or just mention if it went well or not? 


I'd say both. What the client's really asking is "show me you can do what I need"


Elizabeth G wrote:

I've been making sure to restrict myself to entry-level jobs recently, but everyone seems to want someone who knows the racetrack inside and out.

 


This is probabkly not the best approach. Competition is much higher lower down, you may even benefit from raising your prices.

Oh no, this nightmare is back? Upwork, do you never listen to your experienced freelancers who hated it with a passion and all with good reasons? Upwork, do you never learn?

Sometimes even rhetorical questions are good to ask. The boost thing is stupid.

Boost your proposal option is not letting me submit the bidBoost your proposal option is not letting me submit the bidJob require 2 connects and I have 2 connects left.Job require 2 connects and I have 2 connects left.

Hi, seems the job requires 2 Connects and you have only 2 Connects left.

 

You cannot boost your proposal as you have no more Connects.

I never use the ''boost your proposal'' feature

 

All I wanted was to submit a proposal with 2 connects but the new feature didn't let me apply for that job. 

 

This feature is unbearable 

I faced this same problem!

They already answered you, but you shouldn't have seen it.
You only have 2 connects left, so you can't boost it.
The actual number of connects needed to send the proposal is indicated by the arrow, so when you don't want to "boost" your proposal, you must click on the button below.

m_terrazas_0-1648470054606.png

 

 

t_um
Community Member

But when I "click on the button below", error messages in red show up and I cannot submit my bid. Something's not right somewhere.

m_terrazas
Community Member


Tom U wrote:

But when I "click on the button below", error messages in red show up and I cannot submit my bid. Something's not right somewhere.


If you show us a screenshot of what's happening to you, someone might be able to help you.

Petra to the rescue!😀

Yes, I understood how they work. It possibly being a cash crab is not so much of an issue to me. I understand those who feel otherwise. 

I would like to know how the clients feel seeing that "boosted" there. That question may remain unanswered.

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