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

[MichaelJ]

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.

[kochubei_valeria]

Lajpal and Saima,

That's correct, you can bid additional Connects on your proposal, entering it into an auction for three boosted slots at the top of the client’s list. In other words, you can use your Connects to help make sure your proposals get noticed first. You can find more information about the feature in the announcement here.

[nikolas79]

I get Upwork needs to make revenue. Since we're giving this boosting proposal business a shot,

how many of you out there feel that Upwork should be a little more transparent and that we freelancers should see exactly what we are buying and should be informed where our proposal ranks in the list  ?????

Would like to know if my boosted proposal made the top three slots.

This could help me know if I should be boosting more, " wink, wink "

Of course, only after our proposal has been paid for and submitted!

[m_terrazas]

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Nicolas N wrote:

I get Upwork needs to make revenue. Since we're giving this boosting proposal business a shot,

how many of you out there feel that Upwork should be a little more transparent and that we freelancers should see exactly what we are buying and should be informed where our proposal ranks in the list  ?????

Would like to know if my boosted proposal made the top three slots.

This could help me know if I should be boosting more, " wink, wink "

Of course, only after our proposal has been paid for and submitted!

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It won't do you any good to know, now you can be first and ten minutes later not be in the top three (there are only 3 top positions).
Nor will it help you to bid more. Once the proposal is sent, you can no longer do it.

[marc_compte]

If I'm not mistaken they already do this, in a way. They refund the connects if you do not end up in the top 3. So, if you don't get the refund it means you did end up in the top 3.

Edit: I'm not sure this is correct, though. The actual feature is more complex and difficult to keep track with. Making things more complex than they need be is often done in an attempt to fool your audience and make them take the decisions that benefit you and don't benefit them. It is the 101 of scamming.

[indija99]

As if 20% + taxes + paying for connects is not enough, lets also mention the ocean of fake jobs that is abused for free connects, which makes bidding pointless and will drive clients away. 

I also have a couple of questions for Upwork: 

- Upwork, why don't you set a minimum wage/hourly salary for every category to actually help us? 

- Why don't you make it mandatory for clients to disclose their budget/hourly rate for the project? I have applied for so many jobs where the clients noted that they are ready to pay more for experienced freelancers, only to find out after so many interviews that we are not compatible because of salary expectations. 

Stop destroying this platform and actually start making it better.

[gilbert-phyllis]

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India V wrote:

As if 20% + taxes + paying for connects is not enough, lets also mention the ocean of fake jobs that is abused for free connects, which makes bidding pointless and will drive clients away. 

I also have a couple of questions for Upwork: 

- Upwork, why don't you set a minimum wage/hourly salary for every category to actually help us? 

- Why don't you make it mandatory for clients to disclose their budget/hourly rate for the project? I have applied for so many jobs where the clients noted that they are ready to pay more for experienced freelancers, only to find out after so many interviews that we are not compatible because of salary expectations. 

Stop destroying this platform and actually start making it better.

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The 20% only applies to the first $500 you earn from each client, then it drops to 10% for the next $9,500 an 5% on everything earned above $10,000 with each client. It's obviously designed to encourage repeat business and sustained client-FL relationships because those are the most lucrative for FLs and for UW, and in most instances, most valuable for clients. It is up to each FL to set their fees accordingly, so they can absorb the UW fee and still make a profit. 

Whatever each of us pays in tax is irrelevant to discussions of how the platform works/should work.

Dishonest people colluding to use fake job posts to generate free connects for each other seems to be a growing problem, ensnaring innocent passers-by. The remedy is to eliminate free connects altogether which wouldn't be a bad thing.

It would be impossible to set minimum rates by category on a global platform. And it would represent unwelcome interference by UW's part in FL-client transactions. Vetting a prospective client with respect to budget is part of your responsibility as a FL. It's a challenge for all of us including us longtime veterans of FLing. The bottom line is you have to spend some amount of time and energy and connects to land enough projects to make it wortwhile to use the platform. Each FL has to figure out what their ROI threshold is and then determine if they can adapt their business model to the conditions of the platform. 

[d8c7aac1]

It is very much expensive. Most of the jobs already need 6 connects to submit proposals. So if i want to boost my proposal then i need to spend around 12 connects for each proposal. Too much expensive. If upwork want to introduce boost proposal system then they should make 1 or 2 connects system for normal proposal.  Thanks 

[2ef54d61]

Next up, you can pay to have your profile picture a bit larger. And for an additional fee, you can get an extra sentence visible to your potential clients on your proposal. We promise, this will help you out so much! 

[lawrence_natalie]

Please remove this Boosted idea. 

This does not serve anyone except Upwork - in that it is a blatant attempt to get freelancers to spend more money in buying more Connects.

It does not encourage freelancers to focus on writing better quality proposals or improving their profile and case studies.

For the hiring clients, they face being bombarded with boosted proposals that are highlighted not because of their quality, but because the bidders happen to have a lot of Connects. Once they read these boosted proposals and see that the bidders don't meet their needs, they'll lose faith in Upwork's ability to find them the freelancers they need.

This feature doesn't help freelancers or hiring clients and as such, should be removed. Upwork's efforts should be focused more on helping clients write clear and concise briefs and helping freelancers create high-quality proposals and profiles. 

[crart]

Is there a way to see how clients feel about it? Maybe they dislike that too. Are they certain that the one boosting their proposal is the best possible to work on their project? What if clients are flooded with irrelevant proposals, boosted just for the giggles (yes, there are people absolutely not suited to any online work and they are just trolling), do they have time to browse through freelancers profiles to check if that person is indeed fitting them? What if amount of failed contracts as a result of this stupid boosting system will start driving clients away from Upwork?

Question to Upwork: are you still sure you know how to run this business? Because latest months changes show exactly the opposite and just to remind you - some freelancers make money solely via Upwork, so - corpo business aside - are you ready to leave those people without a way to earn anything by introducing aggressive monetization techniques that actually ruin human experience? Is that how you care for people that earn money for you, partially? Interesting. Reminder: this is human-human relationship and frankly I feel like me and my client alone create better business environment than Upwork itself, with its corpo greed and shortsighted visions. Perhaps you should step back and rethink your business model, as it is clearly seen on the forum, people using their brains properly see how you try to justify your greed with ridiculous decisions. Are you proud, Upwork? 

Also, now I am less inclined to even earn on Upwork because why would I make money for people that absolutely spit on my work by introducing idiotic "features" that are met with high disagreement and yet still are introduced? Are there still people working at Upwork office or only money-counting machines? 

Another thought - if you spit on our feedback and go ahead with your fantasy ideas anyways, why this illusion of "we need your feedback"? Just do what you want and good luck staying in the market.

[tushar601]

Upwork recently launched new system called "boost proposal". Anyone can boost their proposal by using extra connect to get top 3 position that will showing to the buyers. According to their rules if any seller boost his proposal by extra connect it will show to the top 3 proposal to the buyers, but if others sellers boost more than him then his proposal will down below and he will get back extra connect that he spend for boosted, it is called "boosted outbid" it will only happens if anyone boost more than him and if his proposal below Down after top 3 proposal. now, question is many offer of mine were boosted outbid and some offer I won. but some connect I got returne after my proposal were boosted out bid and some I didn't get. then I contact CS and CS support manually return back my extra connect that I used for boost. so, my question is every time I contact with CS for getting back extra connect? its not working properly automatically I think. still I missed my some extra connect because they were already outbid some days ago. 

[ahn190]

Hello,
I have boosted some of proposal recently, I'm wondering what does this notification mean? (attached)

[nyonomega0]

It means that your 'boosted' proposal is no longer 'boosted' because it fell out of the top 3.

[ahn190]

Well, this means that I should be refunded for the extra spent connects, I'm I right? I can't see any refunded connects reflected in my account

[ahn190]

The boosted proposal sounds like "Plz hire me, Plz hire me, I just spent a few cents more just for you !!!!" 

I don't understand how boosted proposals can help both FL and clients?

For clients, It is not about who spent more to get their attention, it is all about the experience and the proposal quality and the value the FL will be adding to the client's job. So if I were a client, I don't care who pays more to win my attention, it is more important for me to find a freelancer who understood my needs and is ready to help and finish the job to my expectations. 

For Freelancers, it is the perfect way to push low-quality proposals and less experienced freelancers to the top of the stack which may result in bad deliverables and then negative feedback everywhere on the platform. For me, I'm not going to use this feature as of today, I believe in my proposals, and I think serious clients will decide based on the added value I may add to the job.    

[m_terrazas]

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Ahmad H wrote:

The boosted proposal sounds like "Plz hire me, Plz hire me, I just spent a few cents more just for you !!!!" 

I don't understand how boosted proposals can help both FL and clients?

For clients, It is not about who spent more to get their attention, it is all about the experience and the proposal quality and the value the FL will be adding to the client's job. So if I were a client, I don't care who pays more to win my attention, it is more important for me to find a freelancer who understood my needs and is ready to help and finish the job to my expectations. 

For Freelancers, it is the perfect way to push low-quality proposals and less experienced freelancers to the top of the stack which may result in bad deliverables and then negative feedback everywhere on the platform. For me, I'm not going to use this feature as of today, I believe in my proposals, and I think serious clients will decide based on the added value I may add to the job.    

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Well, you have used it. Why did you do it if it seems wrong to you?

[ahn190]

Hello Maria,
Well, in this platform, I have to test out everything to decide on my best approaches. YES, I used it for a few proposals at the beginning, and then after getting enough feedback and knowing how it is working exactly, I decided not to use it anymore. It still doesn't make sense to me.

[vishalarchitect]

hello ahmad can you please tell me how can i stop boost . because i dont want to spend my connect for that.

[tzounakos_n]

Generally I think that we would spend a lot more connects for jobs, whithout understanding if this lead to the "best" freelancer for the job.

The thing is that there is no max-value for the connects that you can spend, so you may need to spend a lot of them without getting the job, because the client can easily interact with the boosted proposals and just check your profile.

I have a questions that is not clear to me.

Lets say that below the top 3 places...
The next positions, will be the proposals with the order that they made?
Irrelevant to the amount of connections?

For example the 4rth position will be always the one that made the first proposal?

[m_terrazas]

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Nikolaos T wrote:

Generally I think that we would spend a lot more connects for jobs, whithout understanding if this lead to the "best" freelancer for the job.

The thing is that there is no max-value for the connects that you can spend, so you may need to spend a lot of them without getting the job, because the client can easily interact with the boosted proposals and just check your profile.

I have a questions that is not clear to me.

Lets say that below the top 3 places...
The next positions, will be the proposals with the order that they made?
Irrelevant to the amount of connections?

For example the 4rth position will be always the one that made the first proposal?

---

From what I understand, and I hope, if you get outbid you go to the list in the position that Upwork thinks you should be in, as if you didn't bid.

[jafludd-wordpro]

Hello.  I'd like to ask a question here, as Help & Support is useless and there is no Chat any more.  

I put in a Boost on my proposal and have found it to be outbid.  I didn't realize that someone could outbid a Boost; I thought when your Boost was there, it was just there.  Anyway, after a proposal has been submitted, is it possible to Boost it a second time?  And what is the maximum number of Connects you can bid to Boost something?  Is this adjustable at the time you're bidding?  Thanks.  

[kochubei_valeria]

Hi J.A.,

That's correct, 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) and, if it also didn't lead to an eligible interaction, you'll only be charged the standard number of Connects required to submit a proposal. It is not possible to boost the same proposal again and  if you withdraw a boosted proposal, you can’t submit it again.

[4c5b9f71]

Valerie if I may ask:

When I say bid 7 connect to boost to the first spot and after a while my I see that I have been outbid and no longer in the 1st place, which position is my proposal in? 

The position where it originally been when I placed the bid ( If I did not boost the proposal I would have been in the 5th spot, now that I boosted the proposal and got outbid where does my proposal rank in the list. Do I go back to the 5th spot) 

Thank you 

[arkhykate]

It's really interesting to learn about this as well

[sasindu13]

This simply means that the service fee Upwork charges from us (even from bonusus given by the clients) is not enough for them and it needs more ways to draw money from its users. 

[dbab365c]

REMOVE AND DELETE BOOST PROPOSAL TO TOP OF LIST - IT'S UNFAIR TO THE APPLICANTS AND WASTE MONEY

[nyonomega0]

We asked Upwork to remove this feature in the past but they didn't. It is very unlikely that they'll remove it now.

[dbab365c]

Its like cheating and applicants need to pay more for connects to able to get attention from the clients. 

[feed_my_eyes]

I don't know anyone who's happy with this feature, but it seems like we're stuck with it. The good news is that you don't have to pay if you don't want to, and I believe that the strongest proposal will still get chosen. The boost feature does increase your chances of being seen, but if you're not a good fit for the project, you still won't get the gig.

[aliraja1990]

agreed.

[07a3e40d]

Ahh...The worst is that my proposals aren't getting viewed, Just because of this boost option and even if I boost my proposal it is outbid. I mean it's so frustrating, I submitted 17 proposals and only 4 were viewed (  Yikes ! 13 weren't seen by the clients). Ohh man, this boost thing needs to be eliminated.

BTW ( I checked the seen on my proposals via stats) 

[4c5b9f71]

I was on a forum with many people saying this. It's the same with me because I  recently started bidding for project with clients that had a 100% hire rate and a perfect match to my skillys but when I look at the stats. 

I see the client has posted the job and not come back to see it again. I sent out 30 proposals but same thing  28 without a reply and no hire, while onlt 2 hired someone. 

[dbab365c]

yes, but I don't think it is not as simple as it sounds, it's their marketing, their tactics, and their work system (what the clients see and where our proposals go, etc) that we don't see and somehow it leads the applicants to have no more patients but boost proposals by using more connect as usual, once the connects run out (much much faster than usual), we buy more and more for that, and they can make money from it, it is clearly something wrong here.

[tarrier-design]

If you read the publicly available reports by Upwork, for their stock holders, you will see it mention many times... we, the "freelancers" are the majority of their income. It is mentioned time and time again the reports.. with out making money freelancer via 20%  off the top, buying connetcs etc, this website/buisness model would collapse. So they do whatever they can to gain revenue from us the freelancers...

and many of use probaly work more hours per week, for 1%-5% of the $$ renumeration as the top salaried staff of this website... and then stock values. 

[moonraker]

Anything from Upwork claiming freelancers are their majority source of income is just fluff. The real source is clients. Freelancers are expendable. In fact, they probably need to shed some.

Which is one reason why this abomination is so atrocious. It means clients are less likely to hire the best candidate, meaning they are also less likely to have a positive experience. Clients that don't have a good experience on the platform are likely to take their money elsewhere.

Upwork keep banging on about how boosted proposals increase the freelancer's chances of being hired, but that's not a positive. Quite the opposite. What REALLY matters is how the system affects client satisfaction, and I've seen nothing on that metric despite several of us having asked numerous times.

[petra_r]

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Keith T wrote:

If you read the publicly available reports by Upwork, for their stock holders, you will see it mention many times... we, the "freelancers" are the majority of their income.

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All that money is paid by the clients.

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Keith T wrote:with out making money freelancer via 20%  off the top, buying connetcs etc, this website/buisness model would collapse.

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Upwork is literally drowning in freelancers, They could lose half and still have too many.

Losing freelancers doesn't affect the bottom line.

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[m_terrazas]

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Petra R wrote:

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Keith T wrote:

If you read the publicly available reports by Upwork, for their stock holders, you will see it mention many times... we, the "freelancers" are the majority of their income.

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All that money is paid by the clients.

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Keith T wrote:with out making money freelancer via 20%  off the top, buying connetcs etc, this website/buisness model would collapse.

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Upwork is literally drowning in freelancers, They could lose half and still have too many.

Losing freelancers doesn't affect the bottom line.

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---

I think you've mentioned once that a cleaning was done some time ago.
Maybe they should do another. I have seen quite a few profiles that are nothing or little more than nothing. That apart from all those who were be created a long time ago and have never interacted on Upwork.

[researchediting]

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Maria T wrote:

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Petra R wrote:

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Upwork is literally drowning in freelancers, They could lose half and still have too many.

Losing freelancers doesn't affect the bottom line.

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I think you've mentioned once that a cleaning was done some time ago.
Maybe they should do another. I have seen quite a few profiles that are nothing or little more than nothing. That apart from all those who were be created a long time ago and have never interacted on Upwork.

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There may be an internal disconnect between the part of Upwork that acknowledges that it needs fewer sellers than buyers, and the part that seems to think quantity of freelancers is a selling point—to the detriment of quality.

[heavenmade]

It would be better to get rid of boosted proposals and raise the freelancer fee to 25% 12%  and 5% at least you are only paying for a job you have not thin air...

[nhansen]

My previous experience as a client hiring writers is I don't care in what order they appear. The automatic algorithm tells me what it thinks are the best matches but it isn't always right. I always went through the entire list of writers who applied and frankly I was more interested in their title and their country (because I know certain countries have good writers).

Also, my expeirence as a freelancer to be honest is even the recruiters that Upwork assigns to some clients are absolutely incompetent. I've gotten dozens of invites from these recruiters and in the vast majority of cases I wasn't even remotely qualified for the job and that was clear from my profile.

I suspect if the people using boost are getting hired more frequiently then it is more likely because 1-the person is really well qualified and interested in the position to begin with compared to the other applicants, 2-the clients don't understand what it means, having gotten used to the algorithm of best matched showing certain people at the top previously.

Also, while it may mean that certain people are more likely to get hired, compared to jobs where there are no boosts, is the chance that the client hires anyone at all higher? Is the chance that the client is satisfied higher? Yes Upwork can earn a few cents here and there from boosted applications, but their real bread and butter comes when someone or anyone is hired, the higher the rate the better.

In fact, while all of this is probably perfectly legal, it kind of reminds me of how in some places, people pay bribes to people to help them get government jobs they may or may not be qualified for. As the formerly jailed governor of Illinois once said, "it's f***ing golden" for Upwork.