What Builds Your View Rate, Reply Rate, Leads, and Win Rate on Upwork

Hey, guys, sorry, usually I do articles on Mondays but I wanted to cover all 4 topics in one article! So here is me, your Tuesday snail expert🐌

View Rate

Your view rate on Upwork is influenced by two main things:

1. How Your Profile Matches the Job: When clients look at proposals, Upwork shows them the ones that best fit the job description. To improve your chances of being viewed, make sure to:

• Bid from a Specialized Profile: A profile with specialized skills is more likely to be noticed because it shows you have the right experience for the job.

• Add Relevant Keywords: Use keywords related to the job in your profile to help Upwork match you. More info here.
• Include All Jobs in Your Work History: Make sure to add all your relevant jobs to your work history. Upwork’s matching algorithm heavily relies on your work history to find the best matches.
• Check Your Categories: Ensure that the categories you have selected in your profile settings are accurate and relevant to jobs you are applying on Upwork.
• Avoid Misaligned Jobs: Do not apply for jobs where the preferred qualifications do not match your profile. Applying for such jobs can lower your view rate as it shows a mismatch between your profile and the job requirements.

2. The First Line of Your Cover Letter: The first sentence of your cover letter is very important. It needs to grab the client’s attention right away. You know, it's not the one line but kind of 1,5, right? 😼

Reply Rate

Reply rate is influenced by three main things:

1. Show Relevant Experience.

• Don’t just send a link to your portfolio (I call it lazy sales link)
• Don't just send a list of 20 links you did before.
• Instead, provide one or two of the most relevant examples with a clear explanation of why they are relevant.

1. How You End Your Cover Letter: If you end your cover letter with phrases like "Let’s discuss job details" or "Looking forward to your answer," you’re not likely to stand out. ! Use open questions to start a dialogue and engage the client.
2. How Your Profile Looks: This isn’t about beauty, but your avatar should be bright and trustworthy, and your overview should look real. Also, consider adding a simple selfie video to show that you are a real person.

Qualified Leads

Okay, so you already got many leads (replies) and you are quite happy, but something is going wrong. They are not suitable—cheap, not your tech stack, or you are just doing estimates for them a lot and not winning afterward. One more usual problem is that they are disappearing after the first touch.

What are the key success points here?

1. Answer Fast: Most of the impressions come from the first touch. Do you have a weekend? Oh dear, so sorry, the client wanted to give you money exactly on the weekend. Of course, miss him. Sarcasm.
2. Qualify Before the Call: A call is not a step in the Upwork sales funnel. It is a task. A very resource-intensive task. First, ask them about the budget or tell the approximate budget yourself. Save your time and the time of the person on the other side of the monitor.
3. If They Are Not Relevant: If they are not relevant (not your tech stack, etc.), I have a question. Why did you bid on them? At this point, you need to go back to the PREsales, PREfunnel part—build your ICP first.
4. Follow Up

Win Rate

Okay, so you have many qualified leads now but can’t close them. Here are some probable reasons and what to do about them:

1. Estimate Fast: You might think that in hot sales, people will wait for you, but that's not the case. An estimate is a key sales tool, and you need a responsible person to provide a detailed estimate as soon as possible.
2. Always Tell Your Client the Next Step: It’s not enough to just answer "let me check" and then disappear. People have their own expectations for what "let me check" means. For me, it might mean 2 minutes, but what about your client?
3. Build Trust and Work on Warranties: Sometimes, doing something small can open up larger opportunities. Building trust and offering warranties can help secure the deal.
4. Track Lost Reasons: Always ask for feedback on why you lost the job and why the client chose another team. Understanding these reasons can help you improve and close more deals in the future.

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Hugs,
Tamara