Job Success Score (JSS) tanked overnight

amycadams · ‎12-28-2021

Hi fellow freelancers,

I'd greatly appreciate feedback regarding my JSS, as I am doubtful that CS will help provide insight. I was on UW 3+ years ago, hired for a few jobs, then left the platform for a full time position. I recently joined back in July and was hired for 5 jobs, 4 closed and 1 currently open.

Since July, my open feedback has been positive with 4.45-5 star reviews, good client communication, and (what I think) is high quality work product. My JSS sat around the 90s for the past several months but recently tanked to 68%. My only conclusion is that I recently ended a long term contract (which carries a higher weight on feedback, I believe) and while she gave a 5* review, she may have given a poor private review?

I honestly can't sort it out and this JSS score is such a bummer, as I don't think it reflects the work I've delivered or my interpretation of how clients view that work.

I would greatly appreciate a quick look at my profile and audit if anyone has solid feedback.

Thanks so much,

Amy

a_lipsey · ‎12-28-2021

Hi Amy,

While you have a long history, there is a big break from 2017 to 2021, and only the last few contracts are actually included in your JSS window, because the longest window is 2 years. So in your current window, you have two less than 5 star contracts out of 4, so half of your contracts were less than perfect, and you can assume that those two clients left less than perfect private feedback. That explains why your JSS has tanked.

Solution: You have one job in progress, make sure you complete that with great outcomes for your client and get good feedback on that contract (don't bug the client or anything just do a good job and have the client close the contract as soon as complete so you can have it integrated into your current JSS, which updates every two weeks). From then on, you need to have good outcomes on contracts so they factor in and start to outweigh the two contracts that weren't perfect.

amycadams · ‎12-28-2021

Thank you, Amanda. This is very helpful.

I reached out to the 4.45 star feedback, simply so I could understand. But, haven't heard back. This work was returned within 36 hours and stellar quality, which was published to a law firm's landing page with zero edits (from me to the client (a content writing agency) to the law firm.

Regarding the longstanding client, I believe she may have felt slighted since I was unable to continue with the 1-2 year contract that she had originally anticipated, however, there were portions of the job description that never came to fruition. While I would like to be introspective and think that they are because I didn't meet her standard, I've worked for many law firm clients and the disorganization was part of the reason for my departure. It's a common issue, where many solo practitioners have difficulty communicating what's in their head in order to outsource the work. Ultimately, I blame myself for taking on this client.

petra_r · ‎12-28-2021

Amy A wrote:
My JSS sat around the 90s for the past several months but recently tanked to 68%. My only conclusion is that I recently ended a long term contract (which carries a higher weight on feedback, I believe) and while she gave a 5* review, she may have given a poor private review? .

Can you (if you are really honest with yourself) think of a reason why that client may have left less enthusiastic private feedback? She also didn't leave 5 stars as public feedback, she knocked one star off for quality. I know that sounds petty, but considering that clients tend to leave 5 stars by default even if they really didn't like the work (and often even then), it hints at the client not having been entirely thrilled. It's also telling that you didn't leave any written feedback... If all had been going great, why wouldn't you after 3 months of working with a client?

amycadams · ‎12-28-2021

Thank you so much, Petra. I think my reply to Amanda will help answer your question. And I agree with your questions and feedback.

roberty1y · ‎12-28-2021

Just make the most of the contract you're working on. When you're finished, ask the client to close it, so they'll have to leave feedback (assuming you're pretty sure the feedback will be good). You could also see if the same client has more work you could do, to further boost your job success score. Getting jobs from new clients isn't easy with a 68 percent JSS.

a_lipsey · ‎12-28-2021

Robert Y wrote:
Just make the most of the contract you're working on. When you're finished, ask the client to close it, so they'll have to leave feedback (assuming you're pretty sure the feedback will be good). You could also see if the same client has more work you could do, to further boost your job success score. Getting jobs from new clients isn't easy with a 68 percent JSS.

The good news is that she has so few contracts in her JSS window that one good review will help push her up quite a bit. Not over 90%, but especially if it's bigger, it will be weighted more too.

amycadams · ‎12-28-2021

I feel as though more experienced freelances understand how to leverage the system to work best in their favor, such as portioning longer-term contracts into shorter ones, etc. I appreciate your advice, Amanda.

amycadams · ‎12-28-2021

To follow up, here is my reply from Upwork Support:

**Edited for community guidelines**