This article explains how Upwork's Boosted Proposal feature lets you increase your visibility by bidding additional Connects to have your proposal appear within the top four slots of a client’s proposal list. This auction-based system lets you bid Connects on jobs you’re a good match for, with the highest bidders occupying the top positions and marked "Boosted." A proposal remains boosted until the client interacts with it, it’s opened three times without more interaction, or it’s seen five times without action. If you are outbid before a client interaction, no boost fee is charged. The auction lasts for seven days or until the first hire.
Boosting your proposal may help improve your chances of landing jobs you're excited about by placing it near the top of a client's list. This option appears only for jobs where you're likely to be a good match.
To boost, you’ll bid additional Connects on your proposal, entering it into an auction for a boosted slot:
- Eligible freelancers who are the top bidders will have their proposal appear in the top four slots, marked “Boosted,” until they’ve received an eligible interaction, OR their proposal has been opened three times with no further action, OR been seen five times with no action by the client
- If eligible, you can bid to boost your proposal until the auction closes, which happens seven days after the job is posted or when the client hires, whichever comes first
- Eligibility to boost your proposal is determined based on how good of a match you are for the job and client requirements. You can always submit the proposal without boosting
- Find: You see a job post that is a great match for your skills and experience. When you submit your proposal, you may see the option to boost your proposal
- Decide: If you’re eligible to boost, you can bid any Connects amount to boost. It’s always optional and clients still receive your proposal if you don’t boost it. The bid table shows what other freelancers are bidding to help you decide
- Bid: Set the maximum number of Connects you’re willing to spend to win one of the top spots. This will be in addition to the required Connects needed to submit your proposal. You’ll see the total Connects you’re using to submit your proposal at the bottom, which will include your bid amount and the required Connects
- See auction results: If you’re one of the highest bidders, we’ll highlight your proposal to the client by putting it in the top four slots and adding a “Boosted” icon. It will remain boosted until the client interacts with your proposal, opens it three times without further action, sees it five times without interaction, or you’re outbid. If you move out of a boosted slot, the “Boosted” icon will be removed and your proposal will be moved down the list to the organic results
The auction is closed after seven days or upon first hire, whichever comes first, and you can’t boost a proposal on the same job post after that.
- Find the “Boost your proposal (optional)” section at the bottom of your proposal. Note: You will not see this option on jobs whose auctions have already closed
- Add the number of Connects you’d like to bid and select Set bid
- Choose Send for (your total bid) Connects
To see if your proposal is still boosted:
- Go to Find Work and select Proposals and offers
- View your submitted proposals
Pro tip:
Make sure you’re confident about what you bid. If you withdraw a boosted proposal, you can’t submit it again and auction charges will still be applied as if you had not withdrawn.
When you boost a proposal, you are immediately charged the Connects needed to submit the proposal. You’ll be charged the Connects you used to boost your proposal at the end of the auction. The cost for the proposal and the cost to boost will show up as two separate charges in your Connects History.
If either of the below happens, you’ll pay what you bid:
- You are among the top four bidders at the end of the auction
- The client interacts with your proposal while it is boosted. We consider eligible interactions as: the client opens your proposal, shortlists your proposal, messages you, archives your proposal, declines your proposal, or sends you an offer
You will not be charged if you are knocked out of the top four slots by other bidders before receiving an eligible interaction.
Examples:
- You bid 35 Connects to boost your proposal and are the top bidder when the auction ends. The other winning bidders bid 30, 25, and 20 Connects. You’ll pay the exact amount of your bid of 35 Connects, the second slot winner will pay 30 Connects, the third slot winner will pay 25 Connects, and the fourth slot winner will pay 20 Connects. You’ll be charged at the end of the auction.
- You bid 20 Connects to boost a proposal. You’re in one of the top promoted slots and the client clicks on your proposal, but during the course of the auction, you get knocked out of the four promoted slots before the auction ends. You’ll pay your 20 Connects bid since the client interacted with your proposal while it was promoted.
- You bid 10 Connects to boost a proposal. You’re boosted, but unfortunately you’re knocked out of the promoted spots before the auction ends and the client did not interact with your Boosted Proposal. You are not charged the 10 Connects that you bid to boost your proposal; you’re only charged the Connects needed to submit a proposal.
Note:
To help measure if Boosted Proposals are helpful to users, a small number of job posts are randomly selected as “Boosted Proposal placebo jobs.” When freelancers boost a proposal for a placebo job, the client won’t receive any boosts on this job post and the freelancer’s Connects are not taken. Learn more about Boosted Proposal placebo auctions.
Learn more about ad features you can use to promote your work.
Frequently Asked Questions
All Boosted Proposal auctions run for up to seven days or until the client makes their first hire. If the auction is closed or a hire has been made but the job is still open, then the boost option will not be available. Also, some jobs may not be available for boosting as eligibility to boost is determined based on how good of a match you are to the job and client requirements. You can still submit a proposal regularly.
Yes, the client will still receive your proposal. It will appear in the list of proposals below the top four promoted slots for Boosted Proposals.
This is the total number of proposals that can be boosted for the job post. There are four slots available, meaning the top four bidders at any time will appear at the top of the client’s proposal list.
Clients will see a proposal as boosted in the top spots until one of the following happens:
- Another freelancer outbids you
- The client has sent an offer, shortlists, hires, messages, archives, or declines the proposal
- The client has opened your proposal three times without taking additional action
- The client has seen your proposal five times without action
If you're outbid during the auction, your proposal will no longer be shown as boosted (it will still be visible, just lower on the list). If your proposal had an eligible interaction from the client while you were boosted, you will be charged for the Connects you bid to boost. If your proposal didn’t have an eligible interaction from the client while boosted, we’ll only charge you the standard number of Connects required to submit the proposal.
Eligible interactions include:
- The client opens your proposal
- The client sends an offer to you
- The client shortlists your proposal
- The client messages you
- The client archives your proposal
- The client declines your proposal
You are charged what you bid to boost if your Boosted Proposal receives an eligible interaction or your proposal is boosted at the end of the auction. Your Connects balance will be charged when you receive an eligible interaction or when the auction ends, whichever comes first. If you boost your proposal, don’t receive an eligible interaction, and are knocked out of the auction before it closes, you will not be charged the Connects you used to boost.
No Connects refunds will be issued for Boosted Proposals that receive an eligible interaction or are successfully boosted at the end of the auction.
If you boost, but are knocked out of the auction before receiving an eligible interaction, you will not be charged.
Refunds are only issued if you bid for a job that we end up removing due to a Terms of Service violation. You’ll be refunded both the boosted Connects and the cost of submitting the proposal.
Like with any auction, a high bid increases your chances to win. But it’s good to consider the value of the job to you, and carefully review the post to make sure you are a great match. Only bid as many Connects as you are comfortable spending.
Yes. We’ve included a note that is visible to clients so they know freelancers use additional Connects to have their proposal in a top spot with the “Boosted” icon.
If your bid is high enough and your proposal is boosted to a top spot, the client will see “Boosted” adjacent to your name. Your proposal will be in the top four proposals shown to the client.
Boosted Proposals will be pinned to the top of the client’s Proposal Manager, meaning they see the Boosted Proposals first. All other proposals will be located below.
Boosted and unboosted proposals that are withdrawn are removed from the client’s list so they can no longer see them. If you withdraw a Boosted Proposal, you can’t submit it again, and you will still be charged as if you had not withdrawn.
No, you’ll only be able to boost your proposal once for any particular job, even if you’re outbid. If you submit your proposal without boosting it, you won’t be able to boost it later.
You can see if you’re getting more jobs when you boost your proposals on your “My stats” page. To go to the page, select Stats and trends from the drop-down options under your profile picture icon.
You can see what others are currently bidding in real-time with the bid table. The refresh button will refresh the table and let you see the latest winning bids.
When two bids come in at the same amount, the bid that came in first wins the higher spot.
Your proposal may drop out of a boosted position if another freelancer outbids you or if you receive an eligible interaction. You may move back into a boosted slot if your boosted proposal did not receive an eligible interaction and one of the following happens:
- Other freelancers move out of their boosted slots due to receiving interactions from clients.
- A freelancer who outbid you withdraws their proposal.
