Top Freelance Platform Introduces AI Matchmaking Tool to Help Clients Find the Perfect Fit for Their Projects

TL; DR: Business owners often have to tackle skill areas outside their expertise. Fiverr allows them to connect with talent specializing in those unique skill areas to do the work for them. Fiverr recently introduced a new AI-powered search companion to help businesses and freelancers match and streamline the discovery process. We spoke with Gali Arnon, Chief Business Officer of Fiverr Marketplace, about the new AI tool, how Fiverr drives success for freelancers and businesses, and AI’s influence in the freelance market.

Every freelancer has faced the stress and dread of having to find the next big client. You send cold email after cold email, scour the web for pitching tips, and hope and pray someone will reply to your coffee-fueled messages.

Conducting a client search the traditional way can come with quite a few headaches and maybe a lifelong client relationship along the way. But there are more ways to find clients. If you’re short on time and tired of writing cold emails, you can set up an account with a freelance platform.

In the last decade, freelance marketplaces have emerged to help simplify the gig economy and enable talent to better position themselves. A few years back, I used Fiverr for freelance work and can attest to its value proposition.

Fiverr allowed me to set up an account in minutes and find opportunities within days, even though I had little prior experience. It felt like striking the goldmine without needing to follow a treasure map to discover it.

“Offering your talents on Fiverr as an individual freelancer is simple; the platform will prompt you to build out a profile, describe your service, rate, and provide examples of previous work,” said Gali Arnon, Chief Business Officer of Fiverr.

On Fiverr, a gig is bought every four seconds, showing the scale and credibility of the platform. Freelancers can join a community of skilled professionals who are making a living with more flexibility. And sellers can work with anyone, from entrepreneurs to enterprises.

Now, Fiverr offers more features to help freelancers grow their businesses and customers find the perfect match for their projects. Its new AI tool, Fiverr Neo, takes the legwork out of client-freelancer discovery by leveraging AI for matchmaking.

Thousands of professionals use Fiverr to find opportunities and set up gigs. From small businesses to Fortune 500, over 4 million customers worldwide worked with freelance talent on Fiverr in the past year.

Of course, Fiverr isn’t only a platform for freelancers. But it allows businesses and entrepreneurs to find in-demand skills and assets at any price point for more than 700 categories, including social media marketing, eCommerce development, and SEO.

Finding the right freelancer can take some work, depending on what a business needs. With so much talent to choose from, it can feel overwhelming to do a manual search on your lonesome. This is why Fiverr recently introduced Fiverr Neo.

“We know finding the right freelancer for a project – someone who is talented, within budget, and who can get the work done on time – is paramount to our customers’ success, and this is why we’ve developed Fiverr Neo, Fiverr’s AI matching tool,” said Gali.

Fiverr has always connected businesses with freelancers, but Neo takes this process to the next level. Instead of using traditional filters to search, Neo can do most of the discovery work for you in less time.

“Customers can type just a few words, and Neo quickly finds suitable Fiverr freelancers. Matching is the biggest challenge for any online marketplace, and we’re excited to share this AI tech with our community,” said Gali.

And Neo has already delivered on its promise. Gali said data from Neo has shown that its initial release has helped businesses define and find what they needed, tripling the conversion rate of orders.

How Neo Works

Neo offers a straightforward, conversational experience to help clients determine their freelancing needs. It leads the conversation and provides follow-up questions to ensure users get personalized results.

“Neo acts as an expert guide, providing more context for projects, narrowing down criteria, asking relevant follow-up questions, and introducing users to the right freelancers. As your conversation evolves, Neo updates the search results in real time,” said Gali.

Its AI Briefs also help businesses that may know what they want but aren’t sure about the specifics. AI Briefs allow customers to quickly articulate their project needs to share with Fiverr Pro freelancers and agencies. All it starts with is an uploaded data brief or a project description.

“Neo will then build a detailed, structured brief, suggesting additional relevant aspects. Neo will also prompt for details like timelines, deliverables, and attachments if needed, ensuring that customers get matched with the right experts,” said Gali.

Fiverr plans to expand Neo to further enhance user experience. In addition to Neo, Fiverr introduced a new profile feature to simplify freelancer discovery. Its professions catalog enables customers to search Fiverr not just by services but also by professions, skills, and roles.

“Customers can browse the freelancers’ professions, services offered, unique skill sets, and expertise, helping freelancers showcase their talent and providing customers with the information they need to confidently choose who to engage with,” said Gali.

Gali told us the market for freelancers is excellent, according to Fiverr’s annual Freelance Economic Impact Report. Year after year, the number of freelancers in the top 30 markets in the U.S. has increased. The industry has also seen an increase in revenue. And Fiverr has played a major part in this growth.

Fiverr makes the business behind freelancing simpler. Skilled professionals don’t have to go it alone and can streamline various operational tasks for their projects. Gali encourages professionals in any field to apply to become a Fiverr Pro.

“In coming weeks, Fiverr Pro freelancers will, for the first time, be able to tackle bigger, long-term, and ongoing projects by offering a new way to engage with their customers,” said Gali.

Fiverr Pro allows top-tier, vetted professionals to advance their careers and gain exclusive access to premium opportunities. Users can stand out from the pool with Pro badges, connect with a skilled community for strategic partnerships, and receive customer protection.

“We also encourage freelancers who work as a team to apply to join the waiting list to become a Fiverr agency. In search results, agencies are displayed in dedicated areas,” said Gali.

Besides standing out in filters, agencies receive faster customer service response times, free video meeting features, and access to even more benefits that Fiverr will implement in later phases.

Helping Businesses Find the Right Accommodations

Fiverr not only helps businesses find the right talent but also the suitable accommodations for their project needs. Businesses often need flexibility when working with freelancers. Fiverr’s new hourly rate hiring option responds to that need.

“The new “hourly rate hiring option” allows businesses to choose how they work with freelancers that best suits their organization’s needs. This new flexibility is valuable as a job evolves over longer periods of time and for recurring consultations,” said Gali.

Fiverr also offers project management services. Its Business Partners managers work with businesses of all sizes from project conception to completion. They act as an extension to business teams, managing project details and hiring for those requiring more human engagement to tackle complex, long-term projects and services.

“Business partners are experienced project managers who know your industry and will assemble a team of freelance talent to ensure you get high-quality results quickly and within budget,” said Gali.

It’s no secret that AI is transforming the world and how we interact with technology. As it happens, its influence has already reached the freelance market. Gali told us that AI is at the forefront of in-demand tech skills for empowering business evolution.

“For example, searches for freelancers skilled in creating AI chatbots increased by 84%, a query for AI influencers increased +6305%, and AI SaaS +1461%,” said Gali.

Of course, the Fiverr team was prepared to meet the demand. Fiverr was the first freelance platform to create an AI Categories vertical when searches for AI-related services increased by over 1,400% in early 2023. Its AI-powered companion Neo also extended its capabilities.

Fiverr also introduced an AI-powered feature called Enhanced Reviews. This feature helps customers write more detailed reviews based on their actual experiences. Early testing has shown that it increases the quality of reviews without adding more work for customers.

“These detailed reviews provide future customers with reliable insights and give freelancers the feedback they need to improve and grow their businesses,” said Gali.