Job Success Score - Inactive Client Issue

jonrdunnington · ‎01-21-2020

Hi all, I did take a quick look to see if this issue has been discussed already but nothing seemed to pop up from very recently.

So over the holidays, my JSS dropped from 92% (maybe 94%) to 88% which now puts me below the 90% threshold to secure the better projects. I have been a very active freelancer on Upwork for the last 9-12 months and began to rely on this as my sole income stream.

After talking with Upwork Live Help, it appears that JSS has been pretty badly affected by so many closed contracts with no feedback. It turns out this is from a single period of around a week where I finally ended a bunch of contracts that had been dormant for months and the clients unresponsive.

I would argue, that if Upwork was to look at the contract/client and discover that the clients have not actively logged in to their account since the contract, then part of this blame has to fall on Upwork for their inability to retain a paying client surely? Why is the responsibility entirely on the freelancer for someone deciding they don't want to use Upwork anymore?

I am now left with the daunting thought, that no matter what I do over the coming months, I cannot change the lack of feedback as the clients are not even responding to Upwork reaching out to them which makes me wonder whether to even bother continuing to use the platform if I have an uphill battle trying to get back over 90%?

To put this into perspective, my JSS score dropped to 88% on Jan 5th, during the 2 weeks after, I closed 3 contracts with 5 star feedback. Come Jan 19th, my JSS score STILL remains at 88%, how on earth do I rectify an issue pulling my score down so much when I nor Upwork can contact the past clients?

robin_hyman · ‎01-21-2020

What's done is done. Your only choice is to move on. Clients will still hire you with a JSS < 90%. Maybe you'll have to take some jobs at a price point a bit lower than your current hourly wage. Just keep applying and look forward, not behind.

petra_r · ‎01-21-2020

Jon D wrote:
Hi all, I did take a quick look to see if this issue has been discussed already

Only about 1000 + times

The drop in your JSS ~~is most unlikely anything~~ has nothing to do with the "no feedback" contracts and more likely to do with private feedback. Take a look at your My Stats page and the "clients who would recommend me" percentage. That is your "private JSS"....

Jon D wrote:

After talking with Upwork Live Help, it appears that JSS has been pretty badly affected by so many closed contracts with no feedback. It turns out this is from a single period of around a week where I finally ended a bunch of contracts that had been dormant for months and the clients unresponsive.

There isn't "a bunch" of contracts without any feedback on your profile recently unless you closed contracts where nothing was (EVER) paid. Contracts where nothing was ever paid indeed hurt your JSS.

The earliest (lone/single) contract with no feedback is in September. That would never affect you at all because money was paid, and certainly would not affect you now.

You did close a bunch in May last year, but that would have affected you in May last year, not this January.

Jon D wrote:
To put this into perspective, my JSS score dropped to 88% on Jan 5th, during the 2 weeks after, I closed 3 contracts with 5 star feedback.

The 4.85 escaped your notice?

The JSS is mostly affected (for better or for worse) by private feedback. When you look at your detailed feedback (what aspects clients mark you down on when they do) you'll see what aspects you need to work on. Seems deadlines and communication would benefit from attention.

a_lipsey · ‎01-21-2020

I also had a JSS drop below 90% (how shameful!) due to inactive contracts and one no earnings accidental contract (the client and I adjusted our timeline but forgot to fix the contract, so it timed out and we had to open a new contract but it killed my JSS), anyways, I'm below 90 and still getting invites. So it's not impossible to still be successful, it seems. And with a few more contracts with good feedback, it will bump back up. Managing JSS is a pain but it's just a fact of life if we're going to stay on UW. Oh well.

petra_r · ‎01-21-2020

Amanda L wrote:
I also had a JSS drop below 90% (how shameful!) due to inactive contracts

No.

It did not.

It dropped because of "nothing earned" contracts. Contracts with money paid don't hurt.(unless they make up an insanely high percentage of the overall body of work.

Amanda L wrote:
one no earnings accidental contract (the client and I adjusted our timeline but forgot to fix the contract, so it timed out and we had to open a new contract but it killed my JSS),

Paying a single Dollar as a bonus on the closed contract would have reversed the damage,

a_lipsey · ‎01-21-2020

Petra R wrote:
Amanda L wrote:
I also had a JSS drop below 90% (how shameful!) due to inactive contracts
No.
It did not.
It dropped because of "nothing earned" contracts. Contracts with money paid don't hurt.(unless they make up an insanely high percentage of the overall body of work.

There was a reason there was an "AND" between those two clauses. It means both of them contributed, over time. Please don't take my comment out of context and try and make it wrong.

Amanda L wrote:
one no earnings accidental contract (the client and I adjusted our timeline but forgot to fix the contract, so it timed out and we had to open a new contract but it killed my JSS),
Paying a single Dollar as a bonus on the closed contract would have reversed the damage,
Yes, and I wish I had known that then!