Here’s How To Handle an Unresponsive Freelancer | Twine

Although working with freelancers is incredible – trust us – there are times when things become slightly tricky… not everyone is equipped to handle the #1 problem: an unresponsive freelancer.

Let’s set the scene – you posted a job, you sat back and before you knew it –Ding!– a wonderful message popped into your inbox. Wow, that was fast! you found yourself thinking, before becoming thrilled with such a quick response. After a lovely chat, it appears you’ve found the perfect freelancer for you – hoorah! Time to celebrate… right?

Well, maybe not. You quickly find out your emails haven’t been answered. No biggie, just send a follow-up – freelancers are busy people after all.

But then, your follow-up email didn’t get answered. Neither did the follow-up to the follow-up.

As time creeps on, you start to feel like you must have done something wrong. Maybe the freelancer changed their mind about your project brief? Maybe they’ve taken your ideas and ran for the hills?

The tension’s killing you. All you want to know is what happened?

Right now, only your freelancer knows the answer. But, they’re not talking –at least, not to you– so it’s up to you to find out. 

Without further ado – here’s our foolproof guide to handling an unresponsive freelancer:

Check for signs of life

Everyone and their mother is on social media, so if your freelancer is around – this is the first place to check. Have a look at their public online profiles, to see if the freelancer is tweeting or posting on their social media regularly. If they’re posting fresh updates, then they’re still out there somewhere within reach of an internet connection.

If you’ve found that they are posting, ask yourself these questions:

• Have they changed email addresses? – do you get any auto-response emails like “we’ve received your message and will get back to you”, or do you just get dead silence?
• To clarify – are you definitely using the right address? No spelling mistakes? (Sorry, we have to ask…)
• Have your emails been caught by a spam filter?

Connect on a different medium

Ideally, you would have gained full contact information from your freelancer the second you began discussing the project. If you did, fantastic, give them a call.

If you don’t have any telephone numbers for them, nothing other than their email address, you need to resort to the internet. Here are a few solid options:

• LinkedIn:
  

  Connect with your freelancer if you haven’t already, and send them a message.

• Facebook, Twitter and Google+: 
  

  If they have public profiles on any of these platforms then you’re in luck. Things become slightly more tricky when it comes to private profiles, as some platforms make it harder for you to contact them. However, the platforms may display a secondary email address used by the freelancer. If displayed, try emailing using this one – although it may be more of a personalised contact address, just explain that you’ve tried everything to contact them and you’re down to the last resort. This is business, after all – a good freelancer will realise that.

• Mail:
  

  Some people pay more attention to a piece of paper in an envelope than they do to email, so it’s worth trying if you’ve got a postal address for your freelancer – although, you may experience severe delays in response time…

Remember – this is business

Don’t give up straight away just because your follow-ups were ignored – your freelancer may be incredibly busy handling a multitude of projects. Although we aren’t excusing ignorant behaviour – your freelancer should be able to find time to answer a client they’ve agreed to work with – it may be a simple misunderstanding. 

Like we’ve mentioned before – this is business. Here are a few tips to consider when reaching out:

• Ask a yes/no question

It might seem counter-intuitive, but asking a question that forces them to answer with a yes or no can be a really effective way to get a response – especially when it’s a no!

• Get others input

When all else fails get someone to fight your corner and contact the freelancer on your behalf – if using an online platform like Twine, our customer support team is perfect at handling issues like this.

• Move on

Although you should be persistent, you also shouldn’t wait for a response forever. If the freelancer is truly MIA, you should start looking elsewhere.

However, don’t be put off by working with a freelancer altogether! The majority of freelancers are hard-working and incredibly skilled individuals – to discount them all over one bad egg will be disadvantageous in the long run. We just recommend that you have a better vetting process for finding a freelancer – and don’t forget bagging multiple contact methods! 

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