"What is this new devilry?" or "Respond within 5 minutes" aka "Reply fast to beat the rest" aka "Boost your chances of sealing the deal"

[miiila]

Today, out of the blue, this here popped up on my screen...

It might not be that bad if there was an actual lead behind it, however, as you may or may not have guessed, clicking on it, only confirmed my suspicion - don't ask why I was suspicious, if you know, you know, if you don't know you'll learn over time - led to this...

Of course, it was a seller, no deal to be sealed. Well, I guess this new feature can significantly boost my chances of reporting spammers as the first one... yay? Granted, it might also boost your chances to notice spam before it reduces your response rate, but it might become really annoying when you're caught in a spam wave.

Just joking, of course, as the first time the feature hit me, was with spam - I wonder what the chances are - but might be a nice feature, especially for those specializing in urgent orders, and for sellers just starting out, or with too little to do.

Edited January 23, 2023 by miiila

[imagination7413]

I'm imagining one of those old b-movie horror posters, "The RETURN of Available Now" (Subtitle/elevator pitch: "Over five years ago, Available Now was introduced as an attempt to help Buyers find Sellers who were available, but bugs and abuse caused the system to last less than a year. Perhaps cut outright, but many think it was integrated to be more subtle, more 'behind the scenes.' Now, just when we thought it was safe to let the tails die, there are signs, eerily familiar, that The End may not have been...")

[fastadking]

I just started getting those "hurry and reply" popups. They aren't consistent. They appear just once in a while. And ALWAYS for a message from a scammer, seller begging for work, or someone wanting me to write in German (huh? I don't know a word of German.) I've never had a popup urging me to reply to an actual buyer. 

[venonusa]

it popups today to me, he was a buyer, anyway i did not close the deal 

[miiila]

6 hours ago, venonusa said:

was a buyer, anyway

Ah, well, that's something, at least, even though the deal didn't come to be, still feels better to spend time on actual possibilities than on spam 🙂

[sunboatrecords]

I think that this prompt is meant to give mere mortals a chance at having the 'highly responsive' badge.

And a guaranteed place at the madhouse.

[callyofficial]

My first thought when I saw this was is there any hidden but real consequence of responding or not responding in this time. Does it perhaps change the algorithm in any way to benefit those who respond quickly or negatively affect those who don't? 

[radiantlifeug]

I was also able to see it today. As if it is not already stressful enough to answer as soon as possible. But maybe it really has an influence on the algorithm or what do you think. Why else would Fiverr do this?

[miiila]

4 hours ago, callyofficial said:

My first thought when I saw this was is there any hidden but real consequence of responding or not responding in this time. Does it perhaps change the algorithm in any way to benefit those who respond quickly or negatively affect those who don't? 

 

2 hours ago, radiantlifeug said:

I was also able to see it today. As if it is not already stressful enough to answer as soon as possible. But maybe it really has an influence on the algorithm or what do you think. Why else would Fiverr do this?

That's a good thought/question. I think it's perfectly possible that it will have an influence, but that the influence will probably be negligible enough if you're an in-demand seller. It's main benefit should be a chance for new sellers or such with little demand, to close a deal, or get a little bit of leverage with the algorithm.

As @imagination7413 mentioned the long-forgotten "Available now", though, this new feature might well suffer from the same or similar ailments, so it will be interesting to see if it's here to stay, or will go the way of "Available now".

[frank_d]

Remember: Fiverr bases most decisions on data they have and we can’t see.

 

Maybe it rings true: people who respond faster may have better chances to book the gig.

[miiila]

Yes, absolutely it's a chance. All other things being equal, the buyer not already having shortlisted specific sellers for specific reasons, or if someone who replies faster can convince the buyer to choose them, depending on how many sellers the buyer messaged, etc., same as with any inbox message or brief, it might even be decisive.

I know that I've not booked a few Gigs because by the time I replied, the customer had already given the job to someone else. Which is fine, however, I can't pick up every request I get anyway. The question is if you can, want to, or have to live with replying within five minutes.

I'm sure it has an influence. How negligible or not that influence is, depends a lot on the seller, the seller's situation, and on the buyer. 

Of course, I try to check or reply quickly, anyway, but I won't take my phone into the shower or even the bathroom, to say it a bit pointedly, just to not miss an eventual "Reply within five minutes" pop-up. Especially not if the spammer/lead ratio will turn out to be bad. The time spent on checking, replying, and re-focusing on your work might be spent better else. But it also depends on how you work, and what you work, for some people, maybe it doesn't matter if they let messages disrupt them, or they don't mind either way.

As far as I can see, it seems to have been a "normal message" that this seller sent to my inbox, referencing my Gig, which got that pop-up, not some kind of brief, so, if it had been a buyer, they'd probably already chosen to message me specifically, so, typically, probably would expect a reply within an hour, according to the "Response Time", if they have common sense, probably within an hour if they happen to be in a similar timezone. If it's a buyer who randomly messages a number of sellers, or more than one sellers that they have shortlisted, most obviously, the chances to book the Gig if responding faster are better. 

I wonder which messages get those pop-ups, only those of newly registered users? My experience so far, and @fastadking's comment makes it seem probable, and the odds of getting spam/scam messages are higher then, of course. I got a message around the same time as the pop-up spam message, without a pop-up, and it was from someone who already bought on Fiverr, a 2021 account. Or is there even something on buyer (or spammer) side that they do to trigger that pop-up, like clicking "I want to receive an instant reply" or such? With briefs, I guess they are getting passed on to the next/more seller/s down the line, but if someone specifically messages you in your inbox, that would be weird?

I'll try checking any pop-ups that I notice for a while, "for science", to see if it's just from new accounts (and only from spammers ;)).