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Boost Your Proposal to the Top of List

kochubei_valeria
Community Member

Update 10/13: Our Boosted Proposals test has ended, for now, so we can study the results and learn. We sincerely appreciate all of the feedback you gave us during this test, and we’re taking time to review our data and plan some improvements with your input in mind. 

We will share more information about our plans for a re-launch of Boosted Proposals. So stay tuned!

 

Open auctions will run their course; however, no new boosts will be available.

Our goal remains to support the best outcomes for Talent and Clients and help you win more. We’re working to make this feature even better as part of that effort!

 



We are testing a new way to help you
make your proposals stand out to clients. We’re dropping the required price of proposals to 1 Connect and allowing talent to bid for a chance to boost their proposal to appear in one of three promoted slots at the top of the client’s proposal manager. With boosting, you can promote yourself to clients by signalling that you are highly interested in their job. You can use your Connects to boost your proposal and increase the chances of being among the first that’s noticed. When clients see “Highly Interested” next to a blue lightning bolt, they’ll know these proposals are from talent who paid to express their interest by investing extra Connects into their proposal.

 

 

How it works 

When you submit a proposal, you can choose to boost it by spending additional Connects — whatever amount you think it’s worth. If you bid high enough relative to the other bidders, we’ll boost your proposal to the top of the stack, so it’s one of the first proposals the client sees.

 

  • Decide. If you really value a job, choose to bid to be eligible to boost your proposal above others. 
  • Bid. Set the number of Connects you’re willing to use to outbid other freelancers. We encourage you to bid the amount you truly think the job is worth.
  • Submit. Your proposal will be boosted to the client if your bid is high enough. If another freelancer bids more than you and your proposal is not boosted, we will refund some of your Connects (if boosting did not result in an engagement with a client). You’ll be notified either way and your proposal will still show up for the client, even if you’re outbid. 
  • The auction will last up to 7 days. It starts when the job is posted, and it is cleared after 7 days, or sooner if the job is closed or a hire has been made. 
  • Using Connects. The value of a job is always up to you, and you never have to worry about wasting Connects if you over or underbid. 

 

  • For example, if a job post allows for 3 boosted proposals, the top 3 bids will win those slots, and the final cost will be set by the lowest of those 3 bids. 

  • So if you spent 7 Connects to boost a proposal, and the lowest of the top 3 bidders spent just 5 — you’re in! Plus, you’ll receive a refund of 2 Connects to match the cost of the lowest qualifying bid.

  • What if you had bid just 3 Connects instead of 5? No worries! Your proposal won’t be boosted, but it will still show up for the client just like a regular proposal, and you’ll be refunded all the additional Connects you spent to boost your proposal.



We know you put a lot of effort into developing quality proposals, especially for projects you’re excited about. That’s one of the reasons we created the option to bid to boost your proposal, so you have an even better chance of being seen by clients for projects you’re really passionate about. We see this as a way to express your level of interest while increasing the odds of being noticed. So, in cases where boosting your proposal results in an engagement with a client, you will be charged - even if you are outbid, since this exposure can often lead to future interactions. An engagement means one or more of the following was done by the client (in other words, the client engaged a freelancer in at least one of these ways): viewed your proposal, messaged you, shortlisted you, sent an offer, and/or archived or declined your proposal. It’s another way to make your Connects work for you!

 

Screenshot from September 8, 2021 9_20 AM.png

 

For more information about boosting your proposals so you’re more likely to land the work you really want, check out our help article.

 

Excited to try this out? We are eager to gather feedback while we’re testing this feature. Let us know your thoughts so we can continue to make the work marketplace even better for you.

629 Comments
mubeen_rahat
Community Member

This is a complete disaster for freelancers on upwork especially the ones starting out as beginners. The standard way "first come first serve" was much more effecient. Now, one can draft proposal and send it first and it won't matter because seller spending the most connects will take the top place. A completely moneymaking move by Upwork without giving a thought about the freelancers working on its platform.

wlyonsatl
Community Member
Rahat,

Do you think new freelancers have ever gotten ranked among the top 5 proposals on projects with, say, 20 or more total proposals? I doubt that is common.

Theoretically, and if a new freelancer is willing to pay extra for the privilege, the new freelancer who boosts their proposal now gets a much higher ranking in the proposals list than they otherwise could.

For low-priced services where proven expertise and experience are not important, boosting by a new freelancer might be useful. But it will also become expensive. And that could get out of hand.
jeronimomartinez
Community Member

This new system is just terrible if you ask me because:

 

  • It has no consideration at all for the actual merits the candidates have towards the requirements of the job.
  • It looks rather "insulting" to the clients, especially the more professional ones, that instead of highlighting the freelancers with the best skills and track record, they get shoved in their faces the ones that just simply have spent more connects (and therefore money) in the auction, not necessarily the most well suited.
  • It makes it harder to land jobs unless you empty your wallet buying connects (as if the comissions weren't high enough already), and again, it's just a matter of who throws more connects at the job, not of who has the best qualifications for it.
  • It practically throws a freelancers history and track record into the trashcan in terms of value towards getting more work.
  • The only purpose or benefit it serves is to sell more connects, none other than that. It looks very bad, Upwork. I remember ads for Upwork where they say something like "Hire the best talent anywhere in the world"....if the new system stays, then it should say "Hire the most desperate to spend their own money to get a job"

 

Please put this bidding system (auction) idea away for good.

wlyonsatl
Community Member

Jeronimo,

 

Have you ever bought a house, bought a car or rented an apartment?

 

Those are big decisions. Was your final selection always among the first three you saw?

 

Most clients are going to completely ignore unqualified boosted proposals. The higher end ones might even ask Upwork to stop highlighting unqualified candidates in the top 3 positions in the list of proposals, especially if Upwork's method of ranking proposals has served those clients well in the past.

jeronimomartinez
Community Member

Will,

 

"Most clients are going to completely ignore unqualified boosted proposals. The higher end ones might even ask Upwork to stop highlighting unqualified candidates in the top 3 positions in the list of proposals, especially if Upwork's method of ranking proposals has served those clients well in the past."

 

So you are agreeing that it is useles and only serves the purpose of making people just throw away their connects (and their money), as I said in my last point. As I also said, just the fact that they are pitching this to the client is insulting just for that very reason. Still it does put more obstacles in the way of getting awarded the job...how much negative impact it will have on the freelancer is yet to be seen....or rather, let's not even try to find out someday, since the idea is just a bad move (except exclusively from a fininacial point of view for Upwork, but useless to all other parties involved).

belauger
Community Member

Well said! The wisdom of Upwork has gone from "hire the best talent in the world" to, "hire the most desperate but at-least-rich-in-connects talent in the world."

wlyonsatl
Community Member

No, I didn't say boosting is useless, Jeronimo.

 

For new freelancers bidding on low-value/low-skill projects, it might be useful for both clients and those particular freelancers.

 

I don't expect freelancers bidding on higher value/higher skill projects neither qualified freelancers nor clients will find much use in boosting. Some clients might even tell Upwork the boosting feature doesn't interest them at all and is a distraction they'd rather not see. 

 

But only Upwork will know what the results of this testing period reveal. We will never know.

juassis
Community Member

I had been enjoying my experience in UpWork so far, and after building my profile and doing a lot of freelancing, I was getting quick responses for my proposals. Since this new boost feature, I have barely gotten any responses. We already need to buy connects and give 20% to UpWork, this is just a way to take even more of our cut. I'm already looking into other platforms. 

pebravos
Community Member
Me too, barely any responses even when the job is a good fit and I submit
the proposal when there are very few other proposals. I used to have a lot
more responses.
Clients must be looking mostly at boosted responses. I wonder what they
see, i.e., if they're aware that the freelancers paid to get on top or if
Upwork is hiding that from them.
avishekbhardwaj4
Community Member

what is Boosted outbid .. what does indicate