Product update: Shining a spotlight on proposals
Providing quality has always been a goal for us at PeoplePerHour and we have been constantly looking for new ways to improve our services. Today we’re announcing a significant revamp on an area we’ve spent the last six months enhancing – the project award funnel (proposal listings page).
Buyers can now see at a glance the ‘highest quality’ proposals that they have received so far, making it easier to award a project.
Why have we made this change?
Our buyers have reported that when they start to receive too many proposals (approximately more than 20), it is hard for them to rank the received proposals and decide who they should work with. In order to make it easier for them, we’ve created an AI (artificial intelligence) algorithm with the ability to identify ‘high relevance’ proposals; those which are more likely to be preferred by the buyer. We’ve also introduced ‘low relevance’ proposals; those which are unlikely to be accepted by the buyer.
Through predictive model refinements we can now highlight the ‘highest quality’ proposals that a buyer receives, making the process of reading proposals much easier for our buyers. This in turn will reward freelancers who submit higher quality proposals as these will now have a stronger possibility of being read and accepted.
Recommended proposals
Recommended proposals have a high ‘relevance’ rating and are marked out as being particularly worthy of a buyer’s attention. Buyers will find their recommended proposals highlighted in a premium space at the top of their project proposal listings page.
Low relevance proposals
At the end of the proposal listings, buyers will now see a collection of proposals that our data model predicts a buyer is unlikely to select based on historical data.
Our AI system analyses historical data to rate and organise every proposal sent through PeoplePerHour to help buyers connect with the perfect freelancer for their project.
Hint: Proposals that are customised to the project needs tend to avoid being characterised as low relevance.
Accepted proposals
As you accept a proposal, it is moved to the top of the proposal listings.
Everything else
Buyers will continue to receive proposals which don’t quite make it into the ‘recommended’ section. These will continue to appear in the standard format along with any ‘featured’ proposals you may have received from freelancers.
Following soon: Email Notifications
Another issue we have been aiming to tackle is the large number of emails we send out. In an attempt to reduce this figure, we will no longer notify users via email on every single proposal they receive, unless it’s recommended or featured. In addition, buyers will receive 2 summary email notifications on the first day their project is published, and from the second day onwards, they will only get one summary email per day.
This update will be released next week.
We’re really excited to be launching these improvements to one of our core user journeys through the PeoplePerHour platform. These changes will help buyers award their projects faster and with more confidence that they’re making the best decision on which freelancer to choose. At the same time, freelancers who strive to provide high quality proposals are rewarded with premium proposal listings and will be accepted onto more projects.
Enjoy, and as always, we’d love to hear your feedback on our latest update.
