Can someone explain "Effective communication"

[drschneider]

I qualify for level 2 seller in every way, except the success score, where effective communication gives negative impact. I have a 99% response rate and rarely have any disagreements or problems in any communications. It is all very straightforward. Why is this giving me negative impact? I get order, I say thanks working on it, I deliver order.

And also I have "room for growth" in the conflict free orders, because quite often my customers buy more services and I have to extend the delivery times. I have not had cancellations for the last year, and I dont quite get why just adding more work would for any reason affect you negatively. It feels like I should do a lot of small orders instead of a few big ones, which sounds ineffective.

[Alex.M]

23 minutes ago, drschneider said:

Why is this giving me negative impact?

Well, no one really knows. I communicate in the same way when I deliver something for all of my gigs,nothing is changed in the way I discuss with my buyers but for some of the gigs I also have that negative impact when it comes to 'effective communication' 

[newsmike]

It is a completely subjective term, like defining a "good steak."  Buyers with poor comprehension/reading skills will grade the most proficient communications as poor, since they aren't able to follow. 

Edited April 3 by newsmike

[arianelaurent]

My SM said that their AI system is judging the communication (it's not just buyer reviews and that % metric) but couldn't tell me specifics....

[mandyzines]

7 minutes ago, arianelaurent said:

My SM said that their AI system is judging the communication (it's not just buyer reviews and that % metric) but couldn't tell me specifics....

That seems counter productive, if the end goal is to satisfy clients. Then again, maybe it goes back to Fiverr not really knowing what the AI does.

[newsmike]

28 minutes ago, arianelaurent said:

My SM said that their AI system is judging the communication (it's not just buyer reviews and that % metric) but couldn't tell me specifics....

The same AI that cannot effectively communicate any policies or ideas?  Perfect. 

That seems like a 2 star answer on effective communication. 

Edited April 3 by newsmike

[mandyzines]

10 minutes ago, newsmike said:

The same AI that cannot effectively communicate any policies or ideas?  Perfect. 

That seems like a 2 star answer on effective communication. 

That's why Seller Plus Premium exists. So you can ask your manager and have them not tell you because they don't know.

[smashradio]

Well, yes, it's subjective, which is why I find mirroring a useful technique. What I do is mirror the buyer's communication style.

If the buyer enjoys writing long and super-friendly messages, sharing details about their day and their spouse's knitting project, I'll share some personal anecdotes in return. However, if the buyer isn't much of a talker and just goes "Hey, I need this. This is my budget. Thanks," they likely prefer brevity, and I'll adapt to that (politely, ofc). 

If the buyer's English isn't strong or they use simple language, I'll adjust my communication to match theirs.

You can usually tell quickly whether a buyer enjoys small talk or not, and their... level of sophistication... often comes across in their writing style.

I also make sure that I'm clear from the outset about what's included and what's not.

If the buyer feels understood and there's mutual clarity, minimizing unnecessary back-and-forth, you should do well enough. 

Responding quickly to their requests and messages will probably also help. 

But as Mike mentioned, it can be subjective, and I have no idea what actually goes into that metric because the Fiverr brand of "transparency" doesn't work like that.

With that said, it's not all subjective... Even an amateur can distinguish between a tough, overcooked piece of cheap steak flattened with a sledgehammer and cooked in stale frying oil, and a sublime, perfectly marbled Wagyu steak expertly prepared.

The issue is, not everyone likes steak, and that's the subjective part. The key is knowing whether the customer who walks in is a connoisseur seeking the finest meat experience in town or the weird vegan dude wearing a "Free the Cows" T-shirt and dreads. If you can satisfy both, you're a good chef (but then again, some chefs don't want to satisfy the weird vegan dude, or they're running a vegan place and wouldn't dream of cooking up anything but nasty "burgers" made from soy protein and starch. 

Edited April 3 by smashradio

[emmaki]

1 hour ago, arianelaurent said:

My SM said that their AI system is judging the communication (it's not just buyer reviews and that % metric) but couldn't tell me specifics....

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd it's another home run for Fiverr AI!

[vickieito]

11 hours ago, arianelaurent said:

My SM said that their AI system is judging the communication (it's not just buyer reviews and that % metric) but couldn't tell me specifics....

I've mentioned this before, but Fiverr's articles do mention "tone" when discussing what effective communication is. Tone should be "friendly and polite" and you should "find solutions, rather than assign blame."

I noticed that for me, "Effective communication" is lowest on gigs where I have to provide constructive feedback - this includes proofreading, writing coaching/advice, beta reading, website content audits, and Linkedin profile reviews. It seems like I'm not polite or friendly enough when buyers ask me to "tell them what's wrong." My direct style of telling buyers what's wrong might seem accusatory to the AI monitoring my conversations with my buyers.

[emmaki]

50 minutes ago, vickieito said:

I've mentioned this before, but Fiverr's articles do mention "tone" when discussing what effective communication is. Tone should be "friendly and polite" and you should "find solutions, rather than assign blame."

I noticed that for me, "Effective communication" is lowest on gigs where I have to provide constructive feedback - this includes proofreading, writing coaching/advice, beta reading, website content audits, and Linkedin profile reviews. It seems like I'm not polite or friendly enough when buyers ask me to "tell them what's wrong." My direct style of telling buyers what's wrong might seem accusatory to the AI monitoring my conversations with my buyers.

Have you considered putting all of this feedback into a document and sending that instead? You could make a snazzy little template, and the rubbish AI won't be able to read it. 

That Fiverr knows its AI is broken and continues to use it to give people scorings that affect their placement and visibility is something that more noise should be made about, IMO. 

[vickieito]

2 minutes ago, emmaki said:

Have you considered putting all of this feedback into a document and sending that instead? You could make a snazzy little template, and the rubbish AI won't be able to read it. 

In my early days as a newbie seller, the order chat was used instead of Fiverr's Zoom (usually for buyers who just wanted real-time corrections). Since I broke my rule and started using more Zoom (to prove I wasn't AI), feedback is either given by Zoom or as a written report. I don't get many orders on these gigs, so it might take some time before I see any Success Score changes for those gigs.

[emmaki]

11 minutes ago, vickieito said:

In my early days as a newbie seller, the order chat was used instead of Fiverr's Zoom (usually for buyers who just wanted real-time corrections). Since I broke my rule and started using more Zoom (to prove I wasn't AI), feedback is either given by Zoom or as a written report. I don't get many orders on these gigs, so it might take some time before I see any Success Score changes for those gigs.

Makes sense. 

My policy is not to work with buyers who want me to prove I'm AI. It's not in the little book of red flags just yet (it's one of those subtle red flags that needs a few others to confirm it), but I think it will be soon enough. I do understand buyer concern about this, but I also recognize the potential for abuse. Too dangerous to work with - especially when, as you note, you're not getting a lot of orders on a gig. 

[priyank_mod]

11 hours ago, emmaki said:

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd it's another home run for Fiverr AI!

Grammarly keeps sending this kind of summaries and often claims to detect the tonality of the conversation. I won't be surprised if Fiverr has embedded similar tech.

Plus, l think @zerlina84 had shared that - Fiverr's AI can't read non-english conversations and her SM told her to converse more in English to improve the 'negative impact pertaining to effective communication'!! 🤐 

[emmaki]

Ugh, Grammarly. Pre-AI, most writers would tell you that it wasn't a very good checker (there are better options out there for professionals that don't mass market the product so they're not as well known). In this glorious new era of AI, it has found a new fan base of people (students, dishonest Fiverr sellers, etc) due to its plagiarism checker and another useful feature which I am not going to name here. 

I used it briefly to help with typos (it's okay) but it's not very good. One of the professional tools I used to use was much better but then they moved to a subscription model so I cancelled. I use, er, ChatGPT to spot typos and CopyScape (credits model! They'll steal your credits after a year though) for plagiarism, since it gives me a nice little report to share. 

Hemingway App is also quite good, if very fussy - I just use it for the reading age and not very often, since it usually only confirms that I was on target. Grade 8, people. The internet has a reading age of a 13 year old. The concerning thing is that this has remained static while the average reading level of the population is plummeting due to the way big tech works and poor parenting. At least in the West. If you want to see what today's toddlers are watching, lankybox on YT will give you a headache and the realization that attention spans haven not yet reached a nadir. (edit: pay attention to the sheer amount of moving pieces - and contrast that to a classroom).

Edited April 4 by emmaki

[zerlina84]

On 4/4/2024 at 8:08 AM, priyank_mod said:

Plus, l think @zerlina84 had shared that - Fiverr's AI can't read non-english conversations and her SM told her to converse more in English to improve the 'negative impact pertaining to effective communication'!!

It wasn't me (I also remember that comment, though!), but I do have that problem with Negative Impact on Effective Communication + mostly writing in Portuguese with my clients. My SM had no idea what was wrong.

I've learned to live with it though lol I don't care anymore. I'm an 8 and that's how it is. Whatever. I'm not gonna waste my time fighting with a stupid AI machine.

Edited April 5 by zerlina84

[ghoshradhe]

3 hours ago, drschneider said:

I qualify for level 2 seller in every way, except the success score, where effective communication gives negative impact. I have a 99% response rate and rarely have any disagreements or problems in any communications. It is all very straightforward. Why is this giving me negative impact? I get order, I say thanks working on it, I deliver order.

And also I have "room for growth" in the conflict free orders, because quite often my customers buy more services and I have to extend the delivery times. I have not had cancellations for the last year, and I dont quite get why just adding more work would for any reason affect you negatively. It feels like I should do a lot of small orders instead of a few big ones, which sounds ineffective.

Congratulations for your Level 2 upgrade! And Best wishes for next level as a top-rated freelancer.

[ghoshradhe]

2 hours ago, newsmike said:

It is a completely subjective term, like defining a "good steak."  Buyers with poor comprehension/reading skills will grade the most proficient communications as poor, since they aren't able to follow. 

Good advice, which you have given him. You are a  cooperative seller person thanks you.