What does a client see without opening a proposal?
- Edited
Here is an image from Reddit posted by thefreelanceking.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Upwork/comments/1ho5woy/the_first_two_lines_of_a_proposal/
I have cropped the image.
Ravi Fascinating how easy it is to make a proposal disappear with that thumbs-down (or thumbs-up) appearing to be the first thing the UX intends you to consider doing... before considering clicking through to a full proposal! I'd love an eye-tracking test of this, but I think Upwork and I both know what it would show. Profile photo, thumbs-choice. Nobody gets much further.
Reading even the brief teaser copy is nearly the last choice, and clicking through is literally last in each listing. No wonder no one clicks.
...
Imagine if the center two columns were simply moved to the right, and the right-hand column was moved to the center—not perfect, perhaps, but people would be much more encouraged to read what a freelancer wrote (teaser and full message).
(And imagine if the thumbs were all the way to the right as well, making them seem to be what a user should do LAST.)
...
I wonder how different this client view was 2 & 4 years ago, when my experience on the freelancer side was vastly different. I suspect the UX pulled clients to other actions first, at that time.
- Edited
For people who are uncomfortable with their face (photo), there's a free headshot generator in Canva that in my experience worked the best (for now)
Do you mean for the forum or for Upwork? You are not allowed to use them on Upwork. They are also quite easily identified as AI generated, on Upwork it immediately means smart clients decline them as fake and possibly report them.
- Edited
For the Upwork.
Saying that it's easily identified could lead to a lengthy discussion.
I often "attack" AI copy-pasters in the forum but I also often said that I'm not against AI.
People are using AI in Upwork, including for their photo. Some fake accounts use fake-generated photo that are easily identified.
But it's not easy to tell the difference between AI-generated (or digital imaging) products, and a studio photo. Same reason (part of the reasons) why Upwork won't just ban the AI copy-pasters.
I am using AI generated photo, because of this. I prefer AI than doing things physically to make my face look better. Haven't sent any proposals to test its effectiveness yet, though.
rlatief You are not allowed to use an AI image as your profile picture on Upwork, and it can get you flagged and suspended when you are found.
People are using AI in Upwork, including for their photo
And when they are caught, they are suspended. Profile photos must be a real photo.
I am using AI generated photo,
Well, sooner or later you'll be found out and your account will be suspended. How do you expect to pass ID verification with the automatic face recognition?
I mean, do whatever you like, but don't suggest something to other people that is SUCH a bad idea on so many levels, including the fact that it can be the end of their Upwork account.
- Edited
Petra that is SUCH a bad idea on so many levels
That's an opinion.
People added Will Smith's yellow background to their photo, I added a suit, glasses, and hairdo.
Petra automatic face recognition
You didn't know people can pass face recognition with printed photographs? And that was not even AI, or deepfakes. The Canva photo grouped into my name in Google photos.
You do have a point about 'not following the rules' (which should've been a good advice to yourself as well), so I added a disclaimer: use the Canva generator at your own risk.
Practically no point in working my ass off to write compelling letter, I should rather invest in face surgery... wtf
I have no idea where to seek gigs anymore, it's so saturated...
Kelly_E I use the thumbs down when a freelancer WAY overbids. For example, today I posted a job looking for hourly rates from $50-$85. I explained we were an agency and it was for our client (so I'm not paying their bill, the client is). Yet, someone came in at $200/hr. No need for me to look at anything else...THUMBS DOWN all the way! BTW - the client view was vastly different two months ago.
dsmgdesign Oh, yes, of course the thumbs-down can be used for any reason—I was only observing, from that screen shot, what Upwork's UX is doing to a viewer: it's forcing your eye to see the photo first, ability to reject second.
If they were trying to make it more job-matching-oriented, which you would think would be their aim, the rate and the proposal-snippet would come before the thumbs, so your eye would at least pass over the meat of the matter before making a snap decision.
Snap decisions is what we all make! Busy world. Nothing wrong with that. But UX design can influence the inputs that go into our decisions, and that arrangement is pretty distressing.
Kelly_E Totally get it. Makes sense. Personally, I think the new view is overwhelming. Too much to look at. The two things I look at are what I always looked at...$$ and JSS. If those are good, I'll read the cover letter.
- Edited
Ravi woa that's very helpful. It means places such as this are both suffocated with too many 3rd degree newbies who are desperate to land anything plus ai bots and scripts. Now task is how to get above all this, but once people start to see place as s**t pool it goes down the road.