Unlimited Connects

[#1]

Effective January 18, freelancers can purchase and roll over unlimited Connects each month. 

Check out the product update for Unlimited Connects and let us know your thoughts about this update in the comments below.

[#2]

Well, thay was very quick! Someone brought this up in the freelancer forum today and it's already fixed.

Wish Upwork would be this Swift in addressing other problems or feature requests we make.

[#3]

Without the boost proposal feature, it's great. But not sure how the boost will work with this feature. I think it's just for Upwork itself, not for the freelancers. With this feature, Upwork is just an auction platform to get jobs.

[#4]

Hey Shannon, glad for the update because it can always change the current freelancer strategies. Have a great day!

[#5]

Hello Shannon,
Thanks for the Update about Connects.
Now the monthly connect limits should be increased, As we(freelancers) have to pay for getting connects. Now monthly connect limits are 200 But it should need to increase.
And Remove/Redesign the boost proposal feature, the proposal ranking will be based on Skill Set, proposal description, Working experience, submission time & More like those. 

I hope @Shannon & Upwork team will prove a good solution for it.

Regards,
Malay

[#6]

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Malay M wrote:

Now the monthly connect limits should be increased,

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That was part of the update. Shannon wrote:

"freelancers can purchase and roll over unlimited Connects each month" (emphasis mine)

[#7]

Yes, That's True! freelancers can purchase unlimited Connects each month.
suppose I buy 500 Connect at a time, & Use 100 Connects that month & the remaining Connect quantity is 400. Want to use those Connect next month, is that possible?
May be, Answer is NO & here is my point, its duration limits should be increased.

[#8]

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Malay M wrote:

Yes, That's True! freelancers can purchase unlimited Connects each month.
suppose I buy 500 Connect at a time, & Use 100 Connects that month & the remaining Connect quantity is 400. Want to use those Connect next month, is that possible?
May be, Answer is NO & here is my point, its duration limits should be increased.

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Hi Malay,

Yes, with this change, you'll be able to purchase and roll over unlimited Connects. So if you purchased 500 Connects this month and only used 100 of them, you'll be able to roll over the rest to the next month. I hope this clarifies it. 

[#9]

I couldn't agree more with this.

For newer freelancers especially like myself, this would be key in helping to take off our careers. There's a lot of saturation in the market in certain niches, particularly in beginner-to-midpay graphic design work and it's extremely hard to apply to relatively simple jobs that somehow require 6 connects and then see someone who's applied with 15 connects because they have that amount available more so than maybe the merit for the job more.

I would love to see Upwork's perspective on this

[#10]

People were asking you to remove boost but you gave boost to the boost. 😞☹️😞

[#11]

I really think the boost be removed. It places some people at a disadvantage. 

At what point is the proposal that have not been boosted sent? Are they sent after bidding is completed? I am curious.

[#12]

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Iolyn G wrote:

At what point is the proposal that have not been boosted sent? Are they sent after bidding is completed? I am curious.

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That's a really good question.  Personally, I don't think we'll ever know, because, you know, the secret sauce of unilateral decision making without transparency.

[#13]

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Anna T wrote:

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Iolyn G wrote:

At what point is the proposal that have not been boosted sent? Are they sent after bidding is completed? I am curious.

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That's a really good question.  Personally, I don't think we'll ever know, because, you know, the secret sauce of unilateral decision making without transparency.

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Iolyn and Anna,

The proposal is sent and displayed to the client immediately after the freelancer submits it regardless if the proposal is boosted or not.

[#14]

You can sent those at any time and those will be displayed after boosted according to rules & algorithm Upwork uses to rank proposals high and low.

[#15]

Exactly,

But Upwork wants to use more connections on every job...😂

[#16]

I have no problem whatsoever with Upwork making money (it's a business) and I think connects based on the job are an excellent idea if only to reduce the amount of "spaghetti at the wall" proposals flooding clients' feeds. But this method is obviously causing people to try to out-"boost" one another to the tune of tens of connects or more. And in my opinion, well...this is just getting ridiculous.

It's getting down to (some) freelancers believing they must, to an extent, "buy" their jobs (that's not quite the way it works, but this is definitely causing boost duels), which isn't a good look for anyone, Upwork included. 

I mean if people are going to routinely spend 20, 30, 50 connects on every single proposal they send, why bother with a baseline 5 or 6 connects in the first place? If it's a bottom-line thing, just increase the base rate for connects and ditch the boost feature. 

Clients don't seem to like boost very much, and they're Upwork's bread and butter as they hold the cash. And freelancers alternately complain about boost and shove money at it like it's Vegas and they're trying to increase their odds. It's kind of a mess, isn't it? Again, just my view as a freelancer and client; I'm not on the administrative end. But in order to maintain at least the brand voice of "we're higher quality than Fiverr and the like," I can't see how this will help that long term. 

* By the way, I personally don't buy connects, so I'm not asking in order to save money. At this point the majority of my work on Upwork comes from long-term/repeat clients. It's pretty rare that I seek work and spend any connects at all. I have nobody to convince and I don't have a horse in this race, this is just how I logically see things.

[#17]

Hi Melanie!
Upwork says boosted proposals have 37% higher chance to get the jobs and send informative surveys to encourage freelancers so freelancers are gonna think they have a chance to buy the job.

[#18]

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Nabeel A wrote:

Hi Melanie!
Upwork says boosted proposals have 37% higher chance to get the jobs and send informative surveys to encourage freelancers so freelancers are gonna think they have a chance to buy the job.

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Correct. And that data wasn't based yet on this "buy 30 or 50 or more connects and duel it out" mentality, so who knows who will have the upper hand at this point? 

I admit my jaw dropped when I saw people saying "so I spent 50 connects on this one proposal and..."

FIFTY connects?

Dudes.

[#19]

Yes, It will be madness and data will be saying you have 70% more chance to get the job.

[#20]

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Nabeel A wrote:

Upwork says boosted proposals have 37% higher chance to get the jobs and send informative surveys to encourage freelancers so freelancers are gonna think they have a chance to buy the job.

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I am compelled to once more point out that Upwork has totally lost focus with this metric. It's not Upwork's purpose, or route to profitability, to increase the hiring chances of any freelancers other than the ones best suited to deliver satisfaction to the client. This bidding sideshow is at best a distraction to the contracting process, and at worst undermines the likelihood of clients' being satisfied, and returning for more or increasing their Upwork business.

[#21]

Hello Shannon, is it possible for me to get a response from a client if he likes my proposal even if my availability badge is off?

[#22]

Hi Mariam,

Thank you for your message. Availability badge is an option designed to help you signal to clients that you are ready for new work now. The clients can still respond to your submitted proposals even when the Availability badge is turned off if they like your profile and proposal.

Thank you,

Pradeep

[#23]

Ah, what is unlimited is the ability to buy connects. But I am doubting the utility of using them in boosted proposal. In several proposals, I outbid all the other freelances bid in the job posting, and I haven't goted a letter of message by any of the client.

[#24]

Hi Shannon L,

I am wondering:

1. So this will cost the Freelancer money (connects) to use the Zoom phone messaging?

2. Will UpWork still protect our phone number (keep private from client)?                                                                                                         As My phone number is within a family group plan - must be protected. - MaryG

[#25]

1. There is no fee to use any of the integrated features in the Messaging app/rooms. That includes Zoom calls.
2. Upwork does not give out your phone number, unless required by law/subpoena. The Zoom app, which you can dial into using your phone, does not give other participants your phone number.

So, you can rest easy.