Go back to original hourlie thumbnail preview images
I have been on this platform for a long time.
Since the changes to the hourlie preview thumbnails I have not sold any, except to an existing client.
I think that is because instead of seeing what they would get (a snapshot of the actual product) they see a mugshot of me. Not good :-)
Please PPH change it back to the way it was. It certainly affects artists and designers - you can see what you are getting in terms of artwork, not what they look like!
-
Couldn't agree more with Julian! This is absolutely the worst design decision PPH have ever taken since I'm on this platform (2012).
The Hourlie image in the search results allows the seller to make the one-dimension text double-dimension by adding some relevant image or art of the service being sold. They took that aspect away and now it's only text and sellers' faces. How horrible can that be to people who need to sell their art? How equally horrible it's going to be for some buyers who intend to buy art?! Such buyers won't know where to start looking for it!
I'm not selling art and I'm suffering from it just as much, as the cover image I had for the Hourlie used to stand out among my competing Hourlies. I had to change my profile photo and put some of the service I offer in the background of my profile photo only to be able to slide into the Hourlie view in the search results some spice, but really is this how it's meant to be from now on?!
If you want to buy art, it's much more appealing to go shop for it in Fiverr's interface than in PPH's interface. PPH, just copy Fiverr! PLEASE!
-
Hourlie search - what is that?
That's gone too.
The only hourlies showing are on the buyers dashboard, right at the bottom, 12 of them under the strange title of 'Top sales hourlies' which clearly they're not. refresh the screen, they all change, they're not in categories, they're probably only the featured ones (tbc) and the whole thing is pointless.
PPH what the f&^$ are you doing?
When there is a fire, you don't pour petrol on it to put it out!
All these changes going on and other than an email a month ago about the fees, not a single communication to your community. Awful.
I've had plans to create a whole load of new hourlies. What's the point now?
-
Gadi, they can't even copy Upwork's fees, the chance of the founder listening to anyone other than himself is unlikely.
The reviews by employees is shocking and paints a picture of a really unpleasant place to work. No wonder the decision making is all over the place, makes little sense, and absolutely no common sense.
If he wants to emulate other online big shots, then get a CEO in that knows how to run a successful business and effectively become a silent partner.
What am I saying? The guy's obviously a control freak otherwise he'd have done that years ago.
-
It might be that they're rolling out changes slowly one by one.
Seems like every 12 hours something changes. Very bad implementation plan.
The browse menu has reappeared, now in top right of the menu bar on buyers dashboard.
Just looking at them, and in tandem with PPH's stated view of building high value relationships, get rid of all the $10, $15 hourlies, some of which are plainly absurd.
I just found -
Send you 7000 facebook viral photos/quotes to post on facebook and twitter
For £10.
-
I totally agree especially from a design perspective you need to be able to see what you are getting and allow buyers to make a fair decision on thumbnails rather than a mugshot. I too have seen a decline in sales since this was changed. PPH really need to sort themselves out. Been making a lot of negative changes this year that could see them lose out to other freelance websites
-
Hello People Per Hour,
I understand you are making trial and errors to make this platform grow. But if majority of the sellers are not able to sell their hourlie using new UI then obviously this decision was an error and the new hourlie UI should be reverted back. The sales are declining. We have to make more proposals to get more business and even though we get more business we earn almost the same because of increase in fees to 20% from 3.5%. Thats 5 times increase in fees and we are facing lot of pressure because of this fee structure.
More focus to be made on marketing and growth of this platform and getting more newer clients. The other platforms charge clients 2 to 3% and PPH charge clients 10% which makes the client think twice before working on PPH because at the end they are charged more. Lot of my client when we accept proposal to purchase hourlie they contact us back that they are being charged 10%. So they at that moment dont accept and leave the portal and we never hear from them back.
Just recently i manage to convert one client by offering him 10% discount because of PPH client fees. I have so many clients i can show workstream who just dont want to work because they are charges 10%.
PPH really needs to listen and make decisions accordingly. The traffic has been declining and lot of pressure built up on sellers. The rates are being undercut to take whatever jobs the sellers can because either the client is not ready to pay 10% or freelancer undercut the pay because of less sales.
Please please please PPH you need to sort yourself out. As Letitia said making a lot of negetive changes this year could lose you out to other freelance websites. We dont want to see this platform degrade. We want to grow with the People Per Hour as a family. And a family should atleast hear what members are suggesting.
I understand PPH cannot make everyone happy but if you read the posts everyone is unhappy. So majority i would say 99% of TOP Cert and other sellers are unhappy because of ridiculous fees and negative changes to hourlie UI.
PPH was also brainstorming on implementing direct adwords campaign on hourlie from sellers panel last year that has not been implemented yet. You have to find new ways to promote the platform so that sellers can make more sales. if sellers make more sales the platform itself will grow.
The community really look forward to hear from you guys and revert back to old hourlie UI or create new one and change the fee structure to legacy.
Thanks,
Muhammed
Wings Web Media
-
Previously, we could brand different types of hourlies. A single seller could sell articles, photos, videos, with different branding. Now, they all appear with an image of the seller's face.
It's dumb. Whoever made this decision failed at marketing. PH need new managers and marketers, the company is making misstep after misstep.
-
Hi guys,
I raised this with support, here's my question and their answer...
"Q. Why did you switch from the hourlie images to images of our freelancer profile pictures? Not only does this remove our chance to demonstrate our skills when a buyer does an hourlie search, it also makes the profile hourlie view full of pictures of us. Why?"
"A. I can understand your point of view, however, this is a decision that we take in order to promote our freelancers and their Hourlies at the same time. This decision is final. However, if you want you can leave your feedback here for this."
Also - today I've noticed that PPH have removed the % increase/decrease in profile views data on the dashboard. So it seems these forums are being read and reacted to. Just not in the way we all hoped for (and need!)
-
P.S. 'This decision is final' - What a stupid and ill thought out response. Smacks of 'we know better than you do' and as a position completely ignores the real people that actually work for PPH, the freelancers.
I am reminded of the orchestra playing on the deck of the Titanic as it sank...
-
Thanks everybody for your responses. (Note that several other people have also posted similar things independently of this thread). Although we are only a small percentage of PPH users, the 100% wanting to return to the previous thumbnails is, I think, indicative - nobody's argued against or said they have benefitted from the change.
I hope that PPH management will see sense and reverse this decision, no mater how "final" it is.
Good luck with your freelancing everyone!
-
Just a vent, but PPH, when are you going to WAKE UP?
Natalie, you recently wrote - I am personally following and reading every single feedback, complaints you may have and, always, escalating them to my team.
'Escalating to my team'? Surely by escalation you should be meaning that it is going up? not down? and should, if there are 8 employees in PPH's offices, mean direct to Xenios as I can't imagine there being anyone in an intermediary position. 'To my team' would suggest you're passing to those below you who have absolutely no power to instigate any changes whatsoever and that all of this is a fait accompli and the only thing you're trying to achieve is to manage the situation whilst actually doing nothing in reality to effect any change.
What do you do when your entire workforce is telling you that you've got it wrong? In the normal world you listen and then do something about it, but there is no indication that there is anything going on as people are still being fobbed off with answers and conclusions that make no sense, are not viable, and do not address the problem.
We are telling you that the fees are WRONG. We are telling you that the change to the hourlies is WRONG. People are leaving, businesses are leaving, sellers are getting less work, less money and they are leaving. It really couldn't be any clearer.
Natalie, if you are still the Customer Support Manager, here's my advice:
1. Take this thread and print out all of the comments.
2. Take the threads in the payments section about the fee increase, and likewise, print out all of the comments.
3. Draft a letter of resignation.
4. Place all documents on Xenios' desk.
5. Go and find a job with a reputable company where you will be better treated.
He'd have to be a special kind of stupid to ignore what is being said here in response to the changes that have been and are being made. If he(the business) really did engage with the community, and took the time to listen to what is collectively hundreds, if not thousands of years of experience of being hands on in this industry and not from the perspective of what appears to be a dictatorial ivory tower judging from the reviews online, there would no doubt be practical solutions and recommendations that would actually improve the business and achieve the end goals he's probably looking to achieve, not destroying it from the inside out.
As it is, this business is sinking and sinking fast, and all of the most experienced and previously loyal, highest ranked freelancers, almost without exception, are telling you that these are not sound decisions and will be the downfall of the business.
Worse still, and I have to assume there might be some small amount of empathy, there are real people, human beings, and their families, that are already facing financial difficulties RIGHT NOW, and wondering how the mortgage is going to be paid, and bills covered, whilst at the same time, and with a very short sighted viewpoint, Xenios continues to take his 20% and put it into his pockets.
He might think this is business, but it is morally corrupt and reprehensible. The biggest joke of all of this is that PPH, with its 8 employees (taken from its filed accounts) is taking more fees as a percentage than Upwork, which has a balance sheet many thousands of times bigger than PPH and some 5 million registered clients.
It is a joke, and not a funny one at that.
-
Sean - Very strong words and straight to the point, the only issue is that obviously all of what we raise here is falling on deaf ears. These problems should have been dealt at the highest priority in favor of making survival changes to keep floating but you see the answer of Shelley's message from Support and it's just completely parallel to be talking to the wall.
I can count 3 deadly resolutions that PPH decision makers have taken to completely kill this platform:
1) Hourlies cover images removed from the search results and instead are shown only with the profile photo.
2) Hourlies search results algorithm changed and is now completely useless.
3) The killer fees they applied on all sellers and good bye legacy scheme.
I can leave with item no. 3 (sellers fees hike) if there's a huge traffic of buyers and everyone wants to buy my service, PPH could take even a cut of 30%, I don't care as long as they bring in buyers with deep pockets who don't care paying. But it's very far from the actual reality at present time.
The most troubling for me is item no. 2.
Inquiries from new buyers about my Hourlies (which constitutes my main revenue in PPH) went down to rock bottom and close to zero for the past two months. That is the most shocking impact on me from PPH latest set of changes. It's the algorithm change for the Hourlies search that strikes me the strongest. I used to be always at the top 8 search results with my two Hourlies when the results were sorted by relevance, which is the default sort. Now these "sophisticated" search results by relevance with the new algorithm are placing my first Hourlie in page 10! And when I asked PPH Support about it they got back with some ridiculously stupid explanation that it's in favor of giving a fair chance to new sellers in PPH. What?! Seriously?! Is this a joke? No, PPH Support were 100% serious. PPH wish to kick out well established sellers with excellent track record in favor of newbies. Now I'm asking who needs the newbies if the established sellers are preforming well? PPH should not give fair chance to everyone and keep at the top those who earned their right to be there, the good guys that have been making for PPH money all along professionally and steadily.Now if my Hourlies don't sell, I need to go and bid on posted jobs, right? So say there are on average 10 bidders on one job and therefore 10% chances on winning a job. If I choose the jobs bidding route, I need to go and spend my time sending proposals on all those uncertain projects, whilst competing with some newbies who would even be willing to lick the floor for free if they can get their first few sales. That's not supposed to be the way for established sellers to make money on this platform. And if only PPH looked here at the bottom line, PPH will absolutely make more money if they push buyers to buy well established Hourlies (being found with a proper algorithm) rather then pushing buyers to post jobs.
I wish I could have talked some common sense to the owner.
-
Sean, Gadi, you are both totally right. I doubt management will listen. I've tried, over the years, even offering a beta test user group to them for free to trial "improvements"....Interestingly, I seem to remember (and I might be wrong - I think my memory's going - too many wrangles with cheapo clients :-) ) that PPH were boasting of having over 30 staff at one point.
I am quite OK with fairness, and giving newbies an opportunity - just not at the expense of the rest of us. Incidentally I didn't know about the taking 10% off the clients too, until a few weeks ago, when one of mine told me, and he was quite aggrieved. Rightly so, IMO.
-
My profile views are -41% this month and that's after last month when they were -35%.
The company is completely losing the plot, which is very distressing for freelancers.
Either:
1) They are incompetent. They need a new marketing team and need to listen to the people who actually USE the site (freelancers and sellers).
2) They are greedy to the point where they will take short term profits over long term viability of the web site.
3) They intend to sell the platform to Upwork, which is why they are aligning fees, trying to boost profit in the short term, and changing features.
All 3 scenarios are equally disturbing.
-
"The company is completely losing the plot, which is very distressing for freelancers."
Agreed. I have had no profile views since 6th Jul, and haven't sold an hourlie (apart from the one to a regular client) for 2 months. I normally sell about four a month, and have a few inquiries, which sometimes result in sales, sometimes not.
I realise that, although I get most of my income elsewhere, I rely on PPH for a bit of short-term cashflow, because payment is usually swift.
Actually I think it is a combination of 1,2 & 3.
-
Its the same situation for me. A lot of my work came from people seeing my hourlies and contacting me directly. This often resulted in a job worth more than the hourlie price thus earning People Per Hour more money!
Hourlies where such a convenient way for clients with a clear idea of what they wanted to find and artist who suited their particular taste. Now they're going to have to waste their time clicking through random hourlies to find what they need. People will stop using them.
Maybe this will result in people posting more jobs (though this certainly doesn't seem to be the case in the design category!) but often these jobs are never awarded.
-
I agree too, what is the point of saying ' an image helps sell your hourlie' and you get us to choose one for free, but then they buyer doesn't even use it. Some people have had houlrie images specially created, come on, reverse this. I've seen a decline in sales since the change for 3 of my hourlies.
-
Would you buy a product form Amazon or Ebay if you could only see a photo of the seller and not the product they are selling? Of course not! So why have Hourlie thumbnail images been removed???? My Hourlie sales are almost zero now. I do not and will not bid on jobs so this looks like the end for me on here.
Please sign in to leave a comment.
Comments
29 comments