Do you also send bids on freelance projects, and then days go by with no reply at all? Every time you check your inbox, you hope “maybe this time there’s a response” — but eventually, the excitement fades and you lose hope for that project.
And it’s not just one project… this starts happening on repeat.
Sometimes, you even get a notification that the client viewed your profile, yet still didn’t respond to your proposal.
Here’s the thing: the problem isn’t always your skillset. It’s not even about having fewer reviews or being new to the platform. You’ll often notice that clients award projects to new freelancers with no strong profile, no reviews, and less experience — sometimes even beating well-established freelancers.
I noticed this happening a lot. I applied for projects where the client ended up hiring a completely new freelancer whose profile wasn’t even close to mine. That made me curious — how were these new freelancers winning?
So, I reviewed 50 winning proposals submitted by new freelancers who successfully won projects against more experienced profiles. And in this blog, I’m going to share exactly what I discovered.
Where Did I Collect These Winning Bids From?
There are many top-rated freelancing platforms in the market, and I’ve been active on them for the past two years. But for the last 5–6 months, I started observing this pattern more closely.
Most of the winning bids I analyzed came from Freelancer.com, as it’s one of the few platforms (in my experience) that openly displays the winning bid details — making it easier to study what works.
What Does “Winning a Bid” Mean to Me?
For me, winning a bid simply means that the client awards the project to a freelancer. That’s the most important milestone a skilled freelancer needs — because once the project is awarded, they already know how to handle and deliver the work effectively.
This Will Definitely NOT Get You the Project
Before we even get into the 5-step formula, there’s a common mistake most new freelancers make. They send proposals that sound like this:
“I have 5 years of experience… My name is XYZ… I do this and that…”
This approach doesn’t work 95% of the time — especially for new freelancers. Why? Because the proposal becomes all about you, instead of the client’s needs.
Clients don’t care about a copy-pasted introduction or a generic template. They want to see that you understand their requirements and are focused on solving their problem.
5-Step Formula the Winning Bids Use
1. Stop Their Scroll
The first and most crucial part of your proposal is the opening. Your bid should be written in a way that makes the client stop scrolling the moment they see it. The goal is to make your first few lines so relevant and personalized that the client feels, “This freelancer gets exactly what I need.”
Instead of writing a generic intro, match the client’s writing style and talk directly about what they want. Your opening should instantly show that you’ve read the project and understand their requirements.
Remember, you only have 2–3 seconds to capture their attention — so your first two lines must make the client think it’s worth reading the rest, rather than scrolling to the next freelancer.
Below, you’ll see an example of how I would begin a proposal for the project shown.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t use AI to write your bids. In fact, I encourage freelancers to use AI—and we ourselves help freelancers with AI-powered tools for generating proposals.
But here’s the issue: most AI-generated bids turn out too generic. They lack personalization because AI doesn’t know who you are or what makes you different. It can only write based on the project details, not your unique experience, strengths, or approach.
That’s why your proposal must still feel personalized. Even if you use AI, you should tailor the content to the client, their project, and your unique value. Our AI-powered proposal writer also follows the same principle—it creates personalized, tailored proposals rather than generic templates.
Click here to learn more.
2. Include a Mini Plan
If the client has shared enough details about the project, try adding a mini action plan in your proposal. Instead of listing your skills and expertise, highlight how you plan to approach the project. This instantly catches the client’s attention because it shows you’re already thinking about their solution.
I’ve noticed that many clients prefer freelancers who include a short plan in their bid — it demonstrates clarity, confidence, and preparedness.
Important: Don’t force a mini plan into every proposal. Only include it when it feels relevant and when the project truly requires a planned approach (especially for medium or large projects).
3. Relevant Proof
Sometimes the client demands are to showcase such similar projects that you have done. Even if the client isn’t demanding for the relevant proof they often choose the one who has the references( relevant proof) attached with the bid. This shows them that you have done similar project you can tackle that also. This improves the trust.
By taking this point in consideration you increase you chances expontially. One of my friend followed the same approach he was new in freelancing (0 Reviews) and a client posted a project that he need an AI powered Resume Generator web app and he shared a relvant link of a project that he has done and guess what he got that project even there were 100+ more bids on that projects and still he managed to get that.
4. Verify the Client
This step is extremely important, and I noticed that nearly 90% of the winning bids I analyzed followed this pattern.
When a client posts a project, if they are completely new on the platform, they rarely award the project. Many new clients have no idea how the platform works, or they post projects casually without any real intention of hiring. And if their payment method is not verified, the chances of them awarding a project become even lower.
So, in the beginning, try to avoid bidding on such projects. Instead, focus on clients with verified payment methods or at least a few reviews. These clients understand the hiring process and are far more likely to award the project.
I’m not saying that unverified clients never hire — some do. But based on the pattern I observed, verified clients with reviews award projects far more consistently. So, especially in your early freelancing days, avoid unverified or zero-review clients as much as possible.
5. Stay Active
This is a simple yet powerful tip that requires almost no effort. Make sure you appear active on the platform, because clients often prefer freelancers who are online and responsive. Being active increases your chances of getting messages and quick responses from clients.
This doesn’t mean you need to sit on the freelancing site 24/7. Instead, keep the platform’s mobile app installed and stay logged in. Most apps show you as “online” whenever you have internet access — which is a huge advantage. Clients are more likely to message someone who appears active rather than a freelancer who seems offline for hours.
Conclusion
I hope you found this post on “I Analyzed 50 Winning Freelance Proposals. Here’s the 5-Step Formula They All Use” helpful and insightful. If it added value to your freelancing journey, feel free to like this post. And if you have suggestions or thoughts to share, I’d love to hear them in the comments.
Want to read more content like this? You can explore our other blogs here.
If you’re planning to start your freelancing journey, you can also check out our AI-powered tools designed to help freelancers boost their success, productivity, and proposal quality — click here to explore.
Thank you for reading!