More on the Topic of Samples
I'm working on my taxes at the moment, and have noticed how drastic the dropoff in VB work has been in 2019 as opposed to most of 2018. I would attribute at least some of that to the removal of the ability for Pros to control the prime positioning of their samples which bring in the most business. I was getting WAY more favorites and work last year than since those changes have been implemented. I don't think you guys have factored in some of the collateral damage when making such a move. We know what is getting favorited, and it's incredibly painful when our most popular samples get yanked by QC for whatever reason (many of which never applied in the past...so you are punishing our past hard work and robbing us of the success it brought us).
I do understand and respect that there's a point to your actions, but it's also terribly painful to see it so inconsistently applied...the Browse section is FILLED with samples that are low-quality, both technically and in terms of performance.
Back to the topic at-hand: we are not given the option of replacing the "defective" samples while keeping the favorites, or of controlling their visibility through positioning.
Something that ought to be very seriously considered is this: We ought to have a Prime position for each category in which we are active where we can place the sample that gets us the most attention and work. It's especially hard for us now because you are constantly adding new stuff that the clients are proud of, but which we might not believe shows off our best work in the category...which forces us to ride herd on the samples constantly and delete things which are likely causing us business rather than showing our best side.
I feel like there ought to be 3 categories of samples available to us at all times: prime category placements, samples we have submitted ourselves, and the last XX jobs that we've completed for clients. But the prime should always been first-in-line when our results show up. Obviously, none of this back-end stuff would need to be visible to clients. I would really like to see this idea given serious consideration.
Thanks for listening.
C-
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Hi Chuck
Thank you for your feedback. We're currently working on several improvements that should prove beneficial for all parties.
As we have mentioned before, we haven't taken control from you over your samples. Our system has always ranked the samples based on each sample's stats as well as your profile's stats. What we have been doing is cleaning the samples that do not match our standards. We know there are still some samples that are not as good as we would want, but we keep working on reviewing them all to ensure they all represent the quality we want to offer our clients. We have over 30,000 samples which make it challenging to review them all, but please do know that we are doing our best to clean them as soon as possible.
Thanks for your response, Angela.
So, to be clear, placing particular spots near the top of our sample queue has *never* affected where they would be seen priority-wise when someone was Browsing samples for a certain type of work? Because I had heard that that was not the case, and that you could bring extra attention to certain samples by keeping them placed first or last in the count when reordering. If that had been the case, then removing our ability to reorder as happened a few months back would certainly control as taking control from us over that particular ability.
But, if that was never the case...then the problem was clearly my misinformation, not with the loss of reordering control.
Thanks again for taking time to clarify!
C-
By the way, I do understand that it's a Herculean task to go through all the samples...and I appreciate whatever progress you can make.
But I ask you to also understand how frustrating it is for us who take our work very seriously as VOs to see the works so gummed-up by inferior samples and talent, when we're not getting the level of work on the platform for which we believe we are qualified and would have had a much better chance of winning...but knowing that clients will almost never go 5-6 pages deep in the results to find what they want. They are much more likely to settle way sooner. So there's a pressure on us, too.
And I'm very eager to hear about whatever new improvements you have on the way! :)
C-
Hello, Chuck.
Let me answer your questions:
placing particular spots near the top of our sample queue has *never* affected where they would be seen priority-wise when someone was Browsing samples for a certain type of work?
Exactly. The algorithm is the thing that decides in which order the samples are showcased. What you can do is actually sort the samples you've uploaded so they appear in a certain order in your public profile, however, the search page might show them in a different way.
In order to do that, just go to "your samples" and click and drag the different samples to organize them according to your preference.
But I ask you to also understand how frustrating it is for us
We understand completely what you mean. This is why we're working to improve the search feature by tweaking the algorithm, in order to have a more accurate way to showcase all the samples.
If you happen to have any suggestions, we'd love to hear them as well.
Best,
Oscar
Thanks for both clarifications, Oscar. I was clearly misinformed on the order issue. Also, I could have sworn the last few times I tried to adjust position in the Your Samples section that it no longer worked. I must have been drugged...as it seems to work fine now.
Great. I'm looking forward to seeing what coming in terms of the improved algo!
best,
c-
Just an addendum: I too notice a volume dropoff from 2018, but whether that's due to sample restructuring or just vo business trends, I have no idea. It's just something I've noticed this year, as has Chuck.
I sure hope this stuff gets straightened out soon. I don't know if these sample issues are contributing factors, but I have gone from averaging a couple bookings a day just a few weeks back to 1-2 bookings per week. I have been unable to identify anything in my stats that would explain the dropoff. I still get some favorites coming thru...but, unlike the past, almost none of those seem to result in work. This is a very troubling trend...at least, from my perspective.
c-
Hello, Joe and Chuck.
If you have the chance, please send us an email to support@bunnyinc.com in order to check your profile properly and be able to identify what might be causing the reduced number of projects you both have been receiving lately.
Regards,
Oscar
Same. I wondered, much like Joe, if this was a trend or just a drastic Q1 slump. Mine started right at the first of the year... I wondered if maybe my stats had somehow been reset. I've been receiving some recent work from existing clients and finally, things are starting to pick up again, but nowhere near the volume I experience in early 2018. Thanks for the assist, Oscar!
You're welcome, Brad.
Anything you guys need, let us know.
Regards,
Oscar
Many comments in this string apply to me as well. My bookings have fallen from hundreds of dollars every month to less than $50 per month. I did raise my rates, but then have dropped them back down. I would imagine that at some point it will not be worthwhile to remain a Bunny pro.
I might have missed it in this string, but is it possible to merely replace the defective sample with a good one? I know that I've gotten a sample favorited by clients that now QC is asking to have removed. I can fix the issue they identified easily but only have the option of removing the old one entirely, not just replacing it, and so now I'll lose those favorites, right?
I strongly agree, Barbara. Unfortunately, I've been told in the past that it's just not possible. Seems like a real weakness in the system to me...especially when it was Bunny QC who changed their standards over time...and it's the Pros who are suffering by attempting to comply.
c-
Yes, that is a weakness. Because it means that clients can't maintain consistency in their projects if they need to when they're relying on their favorites to get back to a certain pro. It's really not hard to create a feature like this in a database structure, speaking from my six years in the software industry, and creating a database where you are constantly losing data is a giant no-no. But having said that, if the design is to intentionally lose data, then that's another matter, eh?
Thanks for the followup, I'll head back to square one with this puppy.