HoneyBook Erfahrungen

Vorteile

Easily sending out contracts and enabling the clients to sign them electronically

Nachteile

The cost of transitions when collecting online payments from clients

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

DocuSign

Warum HoneyBook gewählt wurde

We stopped using QuickBooks Online to send out invoices as we couldn't use it to sign documents electronically

Zuvor genutzte Software

Quickbooks Online

Gründe für den Wechsel zu HoneyBook

We used DocuSign for some time and stopped because HoneyBook provides significantly more value

Vorteile

Honeybook took my booking process to a massively higher level of success. My contracts are all signed, and invoices are paid before I even start designing. I walk my customers through the process and we discuss TAT and rates, next steps, and then I kick them over the Proposal with the same details we discussed during the sale.

With other software I've struggled to receive timely payments, or contract signatures.

Not anymore!

Nachteile

The contract templates are pretty limited to social media management and marketing ops. I think that every business needs their own contracts, period, but it would be nice to have a better starting place for other service providers.

Additionally, the emails that Honeybook kicks out for proposals, payments, contracts and the like have reportedly found their way to many of my customer's spam box. I just warn them ahead of time, but it's not super reassuring to some more leery customers.

Vorteile

Posts from other creators to help on jobs if needed.

Nachteile

Cost was expensive long term and not in out budget at the time but they do work with small businesses to help with that during slow times

Vorteile

The look and feel of the app is very clean, love the ability to add images and customize the look and feel of contracts, flyers, brochures and more. Adding a custom form field to our website was easy to do. Automation feature seems nice, but we didn't really use it.

Nachteile

In contracts the most frustrating thing is that you can only add line items at the very bottom of the invoice. That means if you have a very long invoice and want to add a line to the top of the page, you have to add a line at the bottom and drag it all the way up to the top ( which is extremely tedious ). It wastes so much time that it made me wonder if we wasted more time trying to use this clunky app than just doing things the way we were used to in excel!

Vorteile

What I liked most was its ease of use and the ability to easily customize my workflow. With HoneyBook, I was able to quickly add, edit and delete contacts, access contact activity, and collaborate with customers.

Nachteile

The thing I liked least about HoneyBook was the cost. Despite being an incredibly useful tool for a small business, it comes with a premium price tag.

Vorteile

I like that the interface is easy to use and navigate and is visually appealing. I can track my leads and communicate with them and send emails and send updates and invoices, contracts, and receive payments all in one place. It keeps my business organized. I like the mobile app for business on the go. The customer support is helpful and responsive. Love the scheduling app! It has replaced my previous scheduler.

Nachteile

I want more email customization - better html features - add photo to my signature, add gifs, rename buttons and add them wherever I want in the email.
I'd like it to manage my items better - have a place where I can update item pricing and descriptions and archive old items.
I'd like better customization around the contact forms. Be able to match the text and font and fields closely to my website so that it integrates better onto my design. Be able to change colors of text and lines, and fonts and customize the lead contact form better.

Vorteile

Integration with gmail for scheduling, payment processing and mobile app! Also, how easy it is to use and how it maximizes the client experience.

Nachteile

For our industry, it is lacking an edidable document such as a BEO or Event Details Sheet - I wish this type of document would be an option.

Vorteile

One, they created flexibility with pricing; for someone who wants to use the platform but uses a different checkout option, there is a very affordable tier. That tier is also fantastic for those just getting started. I've always found it crazy that more platforms don't carry an option like this for beginners.

Since I've been with Honeybook, they have been improving the software; they recently just came out with a fantastic feature to take your lead or on a streamlined journey.

Nachteile

I hope they allow us to ACTUALLY customize our project pipeline at some point.

Not everyone has the same process, and there is stuff I can't take off because it's default.

I also wish there was an easier way to just send someone to the item to be sold page rather than taking them to a pipeline, we all get leads differently, and I'd like to skip a step for some people.

Vorteile

Easy to use invoicing platformCRM helps maintain contacts and specificsContract templates are perfect for my needs

Nachteile

Payments take much longer to deposit vs competitorsThe pipeline and smart file functionality takes a degree to figure out. After two years I am still not using these featuresClients do not like the notifications on every change within their project

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

Basecamp

Gründe für den Wechsel zu HoneyBook

I thought I would be able to use the project management platform in Honeybook. The PM platform is not great and I switched to BasesCamp free instead. I often use Square for invoicing as the fees are lower and I receive the deposit faster without an extra free.

Vorteile

Invoices are easy to create and send and even easier for your clients to make payment!

Nachteile

There is nothing I dislike about this software.

Vorteile

I love the pipeline, where each client's project is categorized by stage (new inquiry, tour scheduled, proposal signed, etc.). I can pull up all clients who are in the "Planning" stage of the pipeline, for example.

Under each client's project is absolutely everything related to their project: all emails exchanged, contracts, payment schedule, separate workspaces with vendors who will be working on the project, and more. I have templates for emails and have them sent automatically. One goes out when we receive an inquiry, a different one 5 days after client signs the contract, and another 30 days before their event date. There are also templates for brochures, contracts, and payment plans. I can't imagine having to do all of that manually!

I set the system up for my business with no outside assistance. It was easy to understand.

Nachteile

Would like to have more ability to make formatting changes (bullets, numbering, bold, etc.) when editing a document. I can do this on a new document, but not when editing an existing one.
Workflows could be improved to have more triggers and the ability to automatically send files.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

17hats

Gründe für den Wechsel zu HoneyBook

It was recommended by another business owner who I trusted.

Vorteile

Very user friendly, they offer so much! I love being able to track my expenses and schedule clients. I love the workflow feature, it’s so helpful. I REALLY love the fact that clients can pay you through the HB invoice. That’s probably the best part. Its awesome that they added a COVID-19 tool kit that shows you which clients are most likely to be affected. And then they have email templates that are COVID related. So many resources are provided, it’s like they actually care about us 🥺 💕 haha.
Highly recommend

Nachteile

The only thing that’s a little slow is the payment actually getting to my bank account. I’m not even sure if HB has anything to do with the time it takes, but I do wish it didn’t take 2 days to finally show up in my account. I wish there was an option to “instantly” transfer the funds for like a 1% fee. Like Venmo! That way if someone needs the money ASAP, they can instantly get it OR they can choose to wait the 1-2 business days to get the full payment. That would AMAZING

Vorteile

User friendly for both myself and my clients, ease of set up (love that they do most of the upload work & it’s easily changeable!), the community it’s created, & the “opportunities” section.

Nachteile

1. I wish there was more internal automation, like the workflow applied just sent out the emails and not prompted me to act.
2. While “linked” with Calendly, it’s not linked in the correct way. I wish when someone signed up for a slot in Calendly, it could generate an automatic proposal that I could look over before sending, or sent automatically. When adding my “Calendly link” to a honeybook email, the link always fails. I don’t use Calendly enough to have this be a major issue, just a nuisance.
3. More flexibility in personal branding & branding the contact form. I don’t currently use the form on my site because of this.

Vorteile

1.Template building for sure. Not having to hand customize every single contract has saved so much time.
2. The fact that, in the wedding industry, it is heavily female dominant.... which means a lot of us are moms.... which means that this app allowed me to take care of critical work while on my phone. THAT is a lifesaver with kiddos. If you know you know!
3. The time between sending a proposal and getting paid (depending on how ready to book a client was) was minutes at most. I’d get live feedback when they opened the file, signed the contract, and made a payment. I never had to guess.
4. Customer service was great!!! They actively ask for feedback from their customers and even go granular with their questions so they can consider the nuances of each client’s industry!

Nachteile

1. The email communication side of the app is very hit or miss. Where they soar with sending files and making payments a BREEZE, the ability to create a streamlined, semi-automated Follow-up process for leads that come in is sorely lacking. Even if HoneyBook never intends to be the best at that portion of sales, I feel it is a simple task to add a feature that makes it easy to add tags to leads so that you can export those contacts to a service that DOES soar in email communication and lead nurturing.
2. There is still a lot of room for more organization in the communication process from sales to project completion.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

17hats

Gründe für den Wechsel zu HoneyBook

After looking into many different options (I don’t even remember all of them) we chose HoneyBook because of: 1. It’s UX design. It was very easy to navigate and use for both us as the admins and the customer. 2. The process of receiving payments was so simple. 3. The template creation which eliminated customizing every single contract manually. 4. The app!

Vorteile

I love the Project Management area. I can see everything i am working on and the stage it is at. I also love the automation of some of the project stages. I love that everything pertaining to that project is all included in the project. Once i open each project i can see all the files, correspondences between my client and I. I can simply pick up where i left off.

Nachteile

I was expecting more from the workflow and would love the option to create a link so clients can open the link to get to the invoice to make the payment. As much as I’d love everyone to use the client portal, not everyone can handle it and this would be a great feature for older, less tech-savvy clients.

Vorteile

I get paid without hassle. Everything is automated. The proposal is so amazing, you send the invoice and contract together, and it goes with a pay button where the customer has no choice besides to sign the contract and paying.

Nachteile

The app.
The time tracking - the fact you have to calculate the time in fractions, what should have been an easy task becomes a "let me google what 1h35min is in time fractions". You can just put the time in the app, but not on the webapp. But I can never login at the app because it doesn't accept Google SSO, but it does on the web, so I always have to change my password. The app doesn't stay connected for long.
So I just don't use the app, I have it installed because maybe one day it will update and login with Google.

Vorteile

I love the brochures and proposals features. It makes things SO easy for me and my clients! I also love that I can use HoneyBook for project specific emails, so I have everything in one place!

Nachteile

It's not really a con, but I don't use the community aspect of the platform. I'm sure it's amazing too though. 😄

Vorteile

We can conduct all of the business we need to within one software. We can create contracts, get them signed and get paid, all within HoneyBook. Our team can communicate with clients straight from HoneyBook. It will even allow us to communicate from emails within the website. Love it! Makes our jobs so much easier. It allows our creatives to create and not have to worry about all of the details associated with the business practice.

Nachteile

We don't have any complaints. We book 40ish weddings a year and I strongly believe HoneyBook pushed us up to the next level with professionalism.

Vorteile

Being able to integrate this program/system with the other parts of my business is great. HoneyBook allows me to integrate a booking calendar into my website and to integrate financial software.

Nachteile

The learning curve is a little higher than other applications, but I think it is because it is so unique in its mission - to help organize multiple parts of a photography business.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

SimplyBook.me

Warum HoneyBook gewählt wurde

It was not as integrated and helpful as HoneyBook.

Gründe für den Wechsel zu HoneyBook

HoneyBook gives you full access, where as SimplyBook charges for each part you use, so it adds up to be more expensive for the same services and feature.

Vorteile

I love that everything I need to run my business is in one place, and that I can customize just about everything to create brand cohesive experiences for my clients.

Nachteile

Couple little things here and there, like a box won't move where I want it to in Flows, but they are always tweaking and adding new features. The customer service is also stellar so if anything goes wrong I know someone will be able to help me right away!

Vorteile

The ability to work from anywhere at any time is one of the best features. I can access all the information for our clients from home and answer any questions. Since leads go directly to this program, all emails are attached to each project so you have a record of everything you said. The Library stores all our documents and handouts. I love the report section--last month the owner was starting a project to see what months was our best months for bookings. He said he was going to have to dig through Quickbooks for the information. I pointed out that the information was already in the Honeybooks!

Nachteile

The only thing have to say that is bad about this program is when there is an update of change. Opening up the program to do something and finding that things have changed with no notice is frustrating.

Vorteile

Honeybook provides many tutorials to help you get the most out of the program. Setting it up is fairly simple and worth the effort for the ease of use in managing your clients and how much time you save when using the features such as email and contract templates and task management. I love having everything about my couples in one place - the contract, tasks, payments, all messages and any notes. Plus, I can see the details at a glance and love the ability to integrate my own pictures so my clients and I can all see the beautiful eye catching graphics of my choosing.

Nachteile

I honestly can't think of anything I don't like. I thought I liked my old program a few years ago, but when it went defunct and I had to change, I was so grateful I was forced into an upgrade. I did not know what I was missing. This program simplified the management of my business beyond what I thought was possible.

Vorteile

When I was drowning in emails in my inbox, HoneyBook was the place that everything was in one place. No emails were being looked over anymore, my contract and invoices were easily accessible (no more unprofessional word doc), easy to accept payments and HoneyBook made it so easy for me to do my taxes this year. I contemplated hiring someone to help take the load off the back work but HoneyBook does that for me with easy to use templates, reminders and automated email responses. I can't recommend HoneyBook enough!

Nachteile

I have very few negative things to say about HoneyBook. The couple things I did note that may be helpful in the future, HoneyBook wants to know about. They offer surveys and take users suggestions to possibly implement in the future. All things were very minor and don't take away from the overall experience of using HoneyBook.

Vorteile

HoneyBook saves me mountains of time by organizing all of my projects in one place, and allowing me to to track every detail of each project in an organized and easy way. This was the only system I could find that would allow me to communicate with clients, send proposals, attachments, contracts (that can be signed!), collect payments, track tasks and project phases, and manage all of my expenses in the same place. It's so intuitive and the HoneyBook team is incredibly available and helpful.

Nachteile

The ONLY things I dislike about the software are very minor. I wish that I could customize the project phases more, I wish that I had a live stop/start time tracking feature, I wish that I could customize the wording of my payment reminders, I wish that I could send an invoice from a proposal without duplicating the payment in the project (clients ask for that for their records), and I wish there was an iPad app.

Vorteile

HoneyBook's "Pipeline" feature makes tracking inquiries, keeping up with contracting and following up after events nearly effortless. The power to automate these steps in the process while still being able to customize the automation allows me to keep my client interactions prompt, professional, and most importantly - personal. Email reminders keep me on top of my inbox, and templates turn once-tedious processes into a breeze. HoneyBook's client-facing side is deeply customizable and helps me maintain a professional aesthetic even when I'm drowning in the background.

Nachteile

HoneyBook shines for many industry professionals but isn't without a few details in need of improvement. Uploading files to customize templates can be difficult due to the restrictions placed on file types and sizes. Businesses with more non-traditional models may also find HoneyBook difficult to customize to meet their needs.