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hidemi-takagi
Community Member

🤔 Non-Upwork Client Testimonials

This topic is meant to be sent to other freelancers but if anyone from Upwork has an opinion - I would love to hear it.

I received a top-rated freelancer status about 3 years ago and managed to keep it for the past few years since and today I received Upwork "Strengthen your profile with non-Upwork client testimonials" mail which I assume quite a lot of freelancers gets now as the feature rolls out and you can see this option in your profile.

I have mixed feelings about it and wanted to hear what other freelancers think about this feature.

 

On the good side, I totally agree that it is a cool feature to have on your profile as I work very hard to help my clients get Google feedbacks to their businesses and I know the value of such feedbacks but the difference here is that I have to "ask" one of my clients to create a feedback via email invitation (which of course, I can soften the issue with a chat with the client prior to that mail to let them know about it) but I do feel a bit strange to "ask" clients to do such a thing from one important issue which is my client privacy since I have no ideas what do Upwork will request from my client to "verify" -- since the mail states "The testimonial will display on your profile once it’s verified by Upwork."

 

Besides the fact that it might be a bit troublesome to a client to write a feedback -- but that might not be too hard to do, I am worried that Upwork process of "verification" of that feedback might invade my client privacy or maybe they will be requested to "prove" something which will also might invade their personal or business privacy.

Does anyone know in detail what kind of information Upwork will require from a non-upwork client for the verification process and what kind of "hoops" the client has to go through in terms of back and forth communication with Upwork verification team?  

I deal with my clients always with care about their feelings and pay a lot of attention to make sure their privacy is well kept, and I never before asked a client for  "assistance" to help me in my career - therefore, before I do any move such as request them to enroll in some verification process, I want to make sure it will not be "painful" or even bothersome in any way and most of all, will not invade their privacy (personal or business).  

Any thoughts about this or did anyone went through the process and know what did their client has to go through to get that testimonial process complete?

lastly - I am wondering if anyone knows if this is now a "mandatory" requirement to keep a top-rated status or it is just an extra feature and a top-rated status is relying solely on Upwork clients feedbacks?


 

 

335 REPLIES 335
asim_hammad1999
Community Member

Hello!
For the past three months i have been getting a notification regarding 'Add testimonials to your profile'. I have requested it from 2 my clients but they didn't bothered to answer it and rest of my clients never share their email addresses. 
So what the actual problem is that this notification keeps on being popped up at my profile's 'header' which sort of now disturbing me. So i want it to be removed. 
Can you please help me by letting me know how to remove it?
I am sharing the attachment so you get an idea regarding it. 
Thanks.

 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

Hi Hammad,

 

Thanks for reaching out to us. For now, there is no option to stop the notification from showing on your profile. However, I will share the feedback with our product team for consideration.

 

Thank you

~ Aleksandar
Upwork

Hi Aleksandr!

How long each request should be in “Pending”? 2 days past one of testimonials is still on hold. Does it mean being rejected? Thanks!

Hi Irina,

 

Unfortunately, due to the high number of testimonials we receive, we cannot expedite your request. While the quoted review time is within 10 days, please know in most cases we complete our review within 5 days. We truly appreciate your patience through this process!

 

~ Nikola
Upwork
jenores
Community Member

Hi Nikola,

 

I send a testimonial request to a client last 24th of February and the client recieved and completed the testimonial 25th of February.  5 days past and testimonial is still pending. Does it mean it is being rejected? Thanks!

Hi Jennifer,

 

Please allow 10 business days for your request to be reviewed. We apologize for the delay, but please know we are still testing and optimizing this beta feature.

 

Thank you.

~ Aleksandar
Upwork

Hi Aleksander,

I sent by mistake a request of testimonials initially aimed to a former non Upwork client to my own email address.
Would it be possible to correct the email and send it back again to my client ?

Thanks
BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Michael,

 

We'll have one of our agents reach out to you via a support ticket to assist you with your request. 

 

Thank you for reaching out to us. 

~ Bojan
Upwork

Hello, I wanted to ask about testimonials. In the section, it is a must to fill the client's LinkedIn account. What am I supposed to do if they don't have LinkedIn account? Isn't the Google account's information enough?

#Admins please make this issue clear, thanks.

Hi Afrah,

 

Yes, they will need to have a LinkedIn profile. Thank you.

~ Goran
Upwork

Why does it need to be a LinkedIn profile? Many of my clients don't have one and never will. They're SMBs with no desire to have one. What about a link to their company page where they DO have a profile?

BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Gregg,

 

Currently, this feature is only available to clients who have a LinkedIn account. 

~ Bojan
Upwork
cd3cd107
Community Member

Hi Bojan,

Understood and thanks. Then perhaps it should be a feature request. 🙂


G

Hello!

Could you please inform when Linkedin profile will not be required for non upwork testimonials?

I have five years of projects with the university, and university President is ready to give a testimonial. 

He is at the university site, he has a corporate e-mail, he is active on facebok, but he is not on Linkedin

 

Thank you

Hi Kateryna,

 

We don't have information when or whether LinkedIn profile will be removed as a requirement, but for now, I can confirm that clients need to have a LinkedIn profile. I'll share your feedback with the team for review.

 

Thank you.

~ Aleksandar
Upwork

Hi sir.I have sent testimonial requests to my clients but they have not yet received the e-mails.What could be the problem?

BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Charles,

 

Could you please click on my name and send me a PM with more information about the request you're referring to? I'll check that for you and assist you accordingly.

 

Thank you!

~ Bojan
Upwork

Hi Hammad,

 

As a follow-up to Aleksandar's post, I wanted to confirm that we took notice of your feedback and our team is working on improvements to the banner that you found somewhat intrusive. We appreciate the experience you've shared with us in the Community.

~ Vladimir
Upwork

Dear Upwork Representative,

Thank you so much for acknowledging.

Hello, I have the same problem that Hammad had. I've requested testimonial from a client but he didn't bothered to answer it too 

I want to remove that notification and please don't send more notification e-mails to my client requesting for a  testimonial.

AveryO
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Dayana, 


I'm sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you. As Vladimir has advised Hammad, we have shared this information with the team. However, I'll make a follow up on this feedback so that it can be considered. 

As for your client, could you please confirm if they are continuously receiving emails from Upwork? 


~ Avery
Upwork
hidemi-takagi
Community Member

anybody home.jpg

g_vasilevski
Retired Team Member
Retired Team Member

Hi Hidemi,

 

I`m sorry about the delay with this.
Just to confirm that I`ve escalated your concern once we (Moderators) have more details, we will post an update here. Thank you.

~ Goran
Upwork

Thank you, Goran!

Thanks for your patience, Hidemi. 

We do have tools and a system in place to review and check the validity of the testimonials. To better ensure the integrity of our review, we do not share the details of our process. Thanks for your understanding.

 

You can also check out this thread where other freelancers shared their experience and feedback about Testimonials feature. 

~ Valeria
Upwork

Hi Valeria,

 

Thank you for your reply.

If the process is not shared and I am not aware of what will be asked from the client to provide in terms of their private or business information, don't you think it will cause any freelancer great hesitation to do go through the process as it might create an uncomfortable situation to their clients?

 You surely aware that when a freelancer work with clients, both on Upwork and outside of our platform, we handle the client with a pair of the softest and cushy gloves we have to make sure they always feel comfortable, never put them in any uncomfortable situation, and most of all, never share or invade their personal and business privacy.  

By not knowing what the client will go through to get validated, how can I feel comfortable asking a client to go through the process as it might hurt our business relationship if without me knowing, they will be put in such position where I asked them to help me in the cost of their privacy as the client has no idea that I have no idea what they have to do to get verified and might think I approve such method of validation.

Do you see what I mean?

Thanks for sharing your feedback, Hidemi.

 

I understand that you have privacy concerns with your client's information being shared with Upwork. Please note that any information you submit to Upwork is processed by Upwork in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

~ Valeria
Upwork

Hi Valeria,

 

I have no doubt Upwork Privacy Policy is solid. This is not what I meant.

I know my good clients intimately in terms of how they run their business and what kind of information they like or not like to share.  Throwing a client "into the fire" of some kind of formal validation by the biggest freelancing platform on the planet without knowing the fire temperature - might cause serious burns and I will never risk such infliction of pain on a client of mine.

If I would understand what the client needs to go through to get validated and think "oh... no problem -- it's just a minor simple validation without any worry to their privacy - I would not hesitate to contact a few clients but otherwise, it is a bit risky.  

Not sure how to resolve such issue.

Hi Hidemi,

 

We understand your concern but we won't be able to disclose more information about the validation process in order to preserve its integrity.

~ Vladimir
Upwork

Hi Vladimir and thank you for your reply.

While I totally understand why Upwork feels that disclosing more information might hurt the process integrity, I feel a bit different from the "other side" - where transparency of such process which involves not Upwork clients, but my own clients - it at upmost importance.  

 

While any verification process of Upwork clients we share here on the platform is absolutely understandable in terms of what do Upwork require to approve a linked project in our profile showcase section, when it comes to clients which Upwork has no connection with - I think a slightly more transparency on the process might encourage freelancer to use the feature and will not hurt its integrity. Upwork cans till verify anything they wish while the freelancer will be assured there is no invasion of privacy to their own clients.

Working in Upwork for a few years now, I know that Upwork always do the right thing, always improves processes in the fairest and most convenient way to both freelancers and employers which is so different than any other freelancing platforms - and I am sure this process can be fine-tuned in a slightly less secretive way to ensure freelancers that they are not putting their clients in any form of uncomfortable situation where they are both want to help the freelancer in their personal profile on Upwork platform but to do so, they might feel their privacy is been invaded.

 

just food for thoughts, I guess.

The ethical issue is very important. Thank you very much for starting this topic, Hidemi!

How will the testimonial of your previous client affect your stats in upwork?

Hi Augustus,

 

We know many freelancers have worked with clients outside of Upwork and we want to give them an opportunity to showcase that on Upwork by getting testimonials from these clients. These Testimonials don't impact your Job Success score.

 

Thank you!

~ Bojan
Upwork

how can I get a testimonial from my non-Upwork client? I already send the request to my client. but when he click the endorse button from his Gmail, it's redirected to the Upwork homepage. how can he endorse me?

Hi Sourav,


I would like to clarify that clients do not have the option to endorse you. They will need to follow the instructions on their end and fill out the testimonial request. Once your testimonial is approved, it will be listed on your profile. Thank you.

~ Goran
Upwork

My client gets this email from Upwork when I send the request for a testimonial. Check the screenshots. let me know.

Thank you

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

Hi Sourav,

 

Sorry about the confusion, I thought you're referring to endorsing on skills. Your client will simply need to click on the green button on their end and follow the instructions listed there. Once they have filled out the request our team will review it and will reach out to you with the results. Thank you.

~ Goran
Upwork

when my client clicks on the green button, it goes to the Upwork login page. I want to know that is there any need to open the client's Upwork account?

Hi Sourav,

 

I'm sorry about the delay in responding back. I would like to confirm that your client has already filled out the request and our team will review your testimonial as soon as possible. Thank you.

~ Goran
Upwork
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