Partial Solution: Proposals

[smkiger]

I wonder if UpWork added a feature where the system would send Freelancers an 'ack' message notifying Freelancers that their proposal has been read. At least we would know the system IS working and clients are reading proposals. Of course this would not be the case if a client does not read a proposal however this could aid in an analytical way of helping Freelancers know more about how many proposals are being read and if we use multiple proposal formats which proposals are producing the best results.

[JoanneP]

Hi Michael,

Thank you for your feedback. I'll be sure to share this with the rest of the team for consideration.

[a_lipsey]

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Joanne Marie P wrote:

Hi Michael,

Thank you for your feedback. I'll be sure to share this with the rest of the team for consideration.

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Joanne Marie, I hate this idea, and if they do implement something like this, please let there be an opt out. I don't need a notification if they read my proposal. Much like I don't need them to send me a rejection note. 

[JoanneP]

Thanks for following up on this feedback, Amanda. I've shared your feedback as well so our team can review it. 

[wescowley]

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Amanda L wrote:

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Joanne Marie P wrote:

Hi Michael,

Thank you for your feedback. I'll be sure to share this with the rest of the team for consideration.

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Joanne Marie, I hate this idea, and if they do implement something like this, please let there be an opt out. I don't need a notification if they read my proposal. Much like I don't need them to send me a rejection note. 

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100% agree. The only relevant state change for a proposal is when an interview window pops up.

Just knowing if a proposal is read or not doesn't give any actionable insight. They might not read it because the few visible lines in the list didn't grab their attention, or it sorted too low in their list, or they already picked someone, or their eyes glazed over, or, or, or.

Even a read proposal doesn't mean anything. Maybe the preview grabbed their attention, or maybe an assistant is dumping them all to a printer for their boss, or maybe they misclicked and meant to look at the one below. 

(edit for a missing word)

[richard_wein]

I understand Michael's point of view. I felt the same way when I was new to Upwork. It was frustrating not to know whether my proposals were even being read by clients. I'd be happy to see such a feature, though it wouldn't be much use to me now. Of course, it could only tell you whether a client had clicked through to your proposal, not whether they'd read it all.

Michael, like you, when I was new to Upwork I spent time thinking about how Upwork's system could be improved, and making suggestions. But after a while I gave up on that and focused on making the best of the system as it is.

[lysis10]

OP, I would focus on proposals where the client responds. Figure out why there was a response. I think you will find that the more jobs you have relevant to the client's requirements you'll get more responses. I didn't check your profile, but I assume you're new. It's frustrating when you know you are perfect for a job and no response. It happened to me too. You just have to keep testing proposals.

Once you get clients, you'll understand why the regs don't want this feature (I wouldn't either). You will only want emails from clients contacting you. It would be annoying to get emails about opened proposals.

[smkiger]

Recently posted a suggestion that UpWork add a function in the system to sent Freelancers a simple notification when a proposal has actually been read.

I think this would give Freelancers, especially new freelancers a better idea of what is working and what is not. 

If I send out ten proposals and none of them are read I know to change the proposal and/or that the client is so busy reading other proposals the client never got to mine to this is another piece of intel that would help me choose which clients to spend time submitting proposals to.

The UpWork profile is the the 'point of sale' as many contributors here suggest. There is only so much one can do with a profile and again it is not the catch all solution to being hired.

One contributor said he does not want to receive notifications that his proposal was read. This could be an option for Freelancers to receive notifications their proposal was read. A simple 'ack' function in the UpWork system would easily facilitate this service. An additional section in the /Profiles section of Freelancer account could display for each profile if the profile was read and even easily display the date and time it was read.

This simple addition to Freelancer accounts could not only increase Freelancer opportunity to be hired providing more info about how and when clients review proposals but this would also increase new Freelancers ability to make important decisions about what proposals are working or not and reduce the massive overhead in these forums and UpWork support personnel's workload.

I would be happy to pay a little more each month to receive Proposal Analytics. Even if it were just a notification that my proposal was read by a client.

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi Michael,

I've merged your most recent post to the previous thread about the same suggestion. We occasionally merge and move posts about same topics to keep the Community organized and conversations easier to follow. 

We appreciate your feedback, however, I'm not aware of any immediate plans to add "read" feature to proposals or Messages. Our Product team actually considered a similar feature for Messages a few years ago but, based on research and feedback we received, decided not to go forward with implementing it. Please see this thread and Fernando's reply:

Fernando V. wrote:

Thank you all for your feedback. Many of you voiced legitimate concerns, and so we have decided not to pursue this at this point. Once again, thank you for being so awesome, it's great to be able to have this sort of communication with our users.

That said, My Stats page provides freelancers with information about their marketing efficiency and how they are doing against the competition in their category. I recommend that you check that page out as it may help you adjust your profile and proposals for greater success.

[a_lipsey]

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Michael K wrote:

Recently posted a suggestion that UpWork add a function in the system to sent Freelancers a simple notification when a proposal has actually been read.

I think this would give Freelancers, especially new freelancers a better idea of what is working and what is not. 

If I send out ten proposals and none of them are read I know to change the proposal and/or that the client is so busy reading other proposals the client never got to mine to this is another piece of intel that would help me choose which clients to spend time submitting proposals to.

The UpWork profile is the the 'point of sale' as many contributors here suggest. There is only so much one can do with a profile and again it is not the catch all solution to being hired.

One contributor said he does not want to receive notifications that his proposal was read. This could be an option for Freelancers to receive notifications their proposal was read. A simple 'ack' function in the UpWork system would easily facilitate this service. An additional section in the /Profiles section of Freelancer account could display for each profile if the profile was read and even easily display the date and time it was read.

This simple addition to Freelancer accounts could not only increase Freelancer opportunity to be hired providing more info about how and when clients review proposals but this would also increase new Freelancers ability to make important decisions about what proposals are working or not and reduce the massive overhead in these forums and UpWork support personnel's workload.

I would be happy to pay a little more each month to receive Proposal Analytics. Even if it were just a notification that my proposal was read by a client.

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And I think it's pretty obvious I'm not a "he."   😉