A powerful tool to optimize your business processes

A streamlined client onboarding process can save you and your potential customers a lot of time. It’s key to helping clients understand your workflow and what they should expect when working with you.

It’s also a powerful tool to weed out potentially problematic clients, spot red flags, and identify prospects for which you’d be a great match.

Luckily for all designers and entrepreneurs, it’s now possible to automate many steps of the client onboarding process and save tons of time. HoneyBook — our personal favorite — is one of the many tools to automate processes while remaining flexible and tailoring your communication to each specific situation.

Let’s explore what a typical onboarding process looks like and see which tasks we can automate with Honeybook.

1. Initial inquiry on your website’s contact form

When a potential customer fills out your contact form, they show a serious interest in your services. So, of course, you can’t afford to miss any of those inquiries, and you should make sure you answer them all.

But if you have a well-defined niche, an appealing portfolio, and a structured website that seamlessly guides prospects down the sales funnel, you probably get a fair amount of inquiries from your website’s contact form. And that can sometimes be a bit overwhelming.

HoneyBook allows you to set up Automations and have them activate when a contact form inquiry comes in. For example, you can set up an automated “Thank you, I’ll get back to you soon” email right after the prospect fills out the form so they know they will be hearing from you later.

You can set up a default Automation on HoneyBook following these steps:

Go to your Automations Dashboard.
Find the Automation you’d like to set up on the list.
Select “Default for Contact Form” in the “Automate via Contact Form” drop-down.

You can also get a lot more specific. HoneyBook allows users to set different Automations based on the project type. So, for instance, if a prospect chooses the option “Content creator website” from among the list of potential project types in your contact form, you can automate a specific response tailored to that type of inquiry.

In this case, you must ensure inquiries reach HoneyBook with a project type assigned.

You can do that by either creating a contact form directly via HoneyBook or by assigning a default project type to a specific contact form on your website. Then, follow these steps:

Go to the Automations Dashboard.
Find the Automation you’d like to set up on the list.
In the “Automate via Contact Form” drop-down, choose which Project Type will trigger this specific Automation.

And there you go! Your clients will receive an automatic but fairly personalized email after filling out your contact form.

2. Send a welcome guide automatically

Sending out a welcome guide can elevate your relationship with clients. It’s an outstanding tool to screen leads and let them know precisely what it will be like to work with you.

A welcome guide can also reduce unnecessary back and forth after each inquiry and helps you spot clients that you don’t really feel comfortable working with.

To make the most of a welcome guide, you should include:

A quick overview of your workflow and what clients should expect
Your packages, pricing, and payment terms
A list of what you need from the client to get started
Your working hours, average response time, and the appropriate means to contact you
A rough timeline of the project
Clear answers to frequently asked questions that your potential customer may have
The policies that they should be aware of

You can also include an about me section or a bio, client testimonials, and some portfolio pieces. And more importantly, you should include an appropriate call to action.

Following the steps we discussed in the previous section, you can automatically send a welcome guide to prospects filling out your contact form. They’ll be happy to receive a well-rounded overview of your workflow — and you won’t even need to click “Send”!

If you offer different services or different project types, you can create an Automation for each of them with a tailored welcome guide that will match the prospect’s needs. If you don’t, you can resort to a more generic guide.

3. Automated booking for discovery calls

Jumping on a quick discovery call with a potential customer is fundamental to building a successful work relationship and is a major step in the client onboarding process.

Discovery calls allow both professionals and customers to see if they are a good match and provide a dynamic space to clarify the project’s timeline and workflow. They help you make sure everyone’s on the same page.

HoneyBook allows users to streamline the scheduling process and avoid a lot of extra communication via email. It’s really easy:

The first thing you need to do is create “Session Types” according to your business needs. So, for instance, you can create discovery calls, feedback calls, and so on. You can set a specific duration for each type of session, add your weekly or monthly availability for that type of session, and even create instructions.
Share your session link with your customers so that they can only book you for the session type that is most relevant to them at a given stage of their journey.
Once you have sent them the link, customers can simply pick a time that works for them from your real-time availability and schedule.

Of course, throughout the project, you’ll probably need to jump on a call or two with your client to get their feedback or ask them some additional questions. With HoneyBook, your customers can easily book meetings with you if they have the appropriate schedule link.

Also, if you have agreed to regular meetings with your clients throughout the project, you can automate emails at specific times asking them to book a slot or reminding them that you are scheduled to meet in a day or two. This can save you a lot of time and prevent customers from forgetting about calls.

4. Send proposals and contracts

Proposals and contracts are an essential part of the onboarding process. With HoneyBook, you can create and send both proposals and contracts.

HoneyBook Contracts are legally binding and allow you to specify the scope of your project and all the relevant details. Before the project can proceed, clients must sign the Contract on the platform.

Here’s how you can create and send a Contract on HoneyBook:

Go to the Project's workspace and click the “Create New” button.
Select “Contract” from the file menu.
You can choose to start with a blank Contract, a recently used Contract, or a Contract Template.
Enter the full text of your Contract in the text box below the header.
Click the “Field Options” button in the formatting toolbar to add fields that automatically pull in Project details such as your client's info, event specifics, relevant dates, and more.
Use the add buttons to insert headers, payment schedules, your package list, etc.
Click “Client View” to get a preview of the Contract.
Then click “Next: Review Email” to proceed.
Check your Proposal and make any edits you'd like.
Click “Send,” and HoneyBook will send the email and Contract to your client.

On HoneyBook, a Proposal is a file combining an Invoice and a Contract. It is time to use them when you know your client is ready to both sign a Contract and make their first payment. This enables businesses to fast-track their booking process and allows customers to quickly review, pay, and sign — all from one document.

Follow these steps to create and send a Proposal on HoneyBook:

Go to the Project's workspace and click the “Create New” button.
Choose “Proposal” from the file menu.
You can start with a blank Proposal, a recently used Proposal, or a Proposal Template.
In the “Items” and “Scheduled Payment” sections, you'll create the Invoice portion of your Proposal.
In the “Contract” section, add all the relevant details of your service agreement.
By clicking the “Client View” button in the top right corner, you can get a preview of the Proposal.
Then click “Next: Review Email” to proceed. Check the email and edit it if necessary.
Click “Send,” and HoneyBook will send the email and Proposal to your client.

Proposals and Contracts cannot be automated on the platform (yet!). But that makes sense! These are important documents that need to be reviewed carefully.

However, there’s one key feature that will definitely save you some time: Contracts on HoneyBook take the information from the appropriate project and your client’s profile. So, they auto-populate with the client’s name, contract amount, delivery deadlines, and more.

Also, if you need to remember to send out a Proposal, Contract, or Invoice, you can add a TASK step in your automation to remind you to send out a given document after a given trigger.

It is also worth mentioning Honeybook’s new feature – smart files. A smart file is a document type that gives you the freedom to add anything you need to it. This way you can configure custom documents fit for your business needs. The smart file can include, invoices, questionnaires, contracts, images, videos, a list of services, and more.

5. Send your client a welcome package – and some homework!

After your client has signed the contract, you can easily automate a welcome package on Honeybook.

Your welcome package should include relevant information for your new customer, such as how your project management system works (if you have one), how and when to give feedback, how to schedule a call with you, your expected response times, and so on.

The package can (and should) include some homework for your client. You can have them fill out an in-depth questionnaire with details such as their goals for the project and their main competitors. You can even ask them to create a Pinterest inspiration board!

To streamline this part of your onboarding process, you can leverage Smart Files on Honeybook — especially Questionnaires and Brochures — to automatically send a welcome package that makes clients feel in control.

Creating Questionnaires and Brochures is quite easy:

Go to the Project's workspace and click the “Create New” button.
Select either “Brochure” or “Questionnaire” from the file menu.
Choose to start with a blank or a recently used Brochure or Questionnaire, or a template.
Customize it.
Save them as templates.

After creating your Brochure and Questionnaire templates, you can automate them so that the customer receives the welcome package right after they sign the Contract:

Select a document type from the “Actions” menu and choose your template.
Pick the email template you'd like to send along with the document.
Choose your trigger and delay (for instance, 1 day after the client signs the contract).
Select whether the email and the document require your approval before sending.
Click Save.

And that’s it! When the chosen trigger hits, your document and email will automatically send out to your client.

Talk about saving time, right? When your business starts growing and you find yourself swamped with things to do, a little bit of automation here and there can be a lifesaver. Go ahead and give it a try! Moreover, Honeybook is only $1 per month for 6 months now with code ONLY1.