8 Tips for Using Dubsado as a Wedding Professional

As a wedding professional, your primary goal is to create an unforgettable experiences for your clients.

However, managing all the backend tasks for multiple weddings can be overwhelming and time-consuming. It can even overshadow your creative passion.

This is where Dubsado can be a game changer for your business. From beautiful proposals to effortless contract signing to time-saving invoicing and sending questionnaires easily, Dubsado can do all this and more and even automate these tasks by using workflows.

I’ve worked with many clients in the wedding industry: wedding / elopement / intimate wedding photographers, wedding planners, DJs, mobile bar owners, etc.

Here are some things I’ve learned along the way to help you utilize Dubsado in the best way possible for your wedding business:

1 - Use inclusive language

This is 2023. Using inclusive language is important in order for all to feel welcome.

Avoid terms like 'bride' and 'groom', and instead use more inclusive language by using terms like 'partner 1' and 'partner 2' in your forms.

Also include form fields where you ask for their preferred pronouns. You can turn this into a custom mapped field, so it will show up inside their project view for you to see it easily.

If you take one tip from this blog post - let it be this tip.

It’s always the right thing to do to make others to feel welcome, seen & included ? We need more of this.

2 - Set the wedding date as the project start date

When you ask clients for their wedding date in the proposal (or any other forms) - you can map their response to the project start date in Dubsado.

Doing this allows you to tie workflow tasks and payment plan dates to the wedding date - saving you a lot of time.

Don’t worry, if the date changes or they typed it in wrong - you can update it for them inside their project and workflow tasks that haven’t happened yet or upcoming payment plan reminders will update accordingly.

3 - Break up your questionnaire into sections

Some questionnaires in the wedding industry can be LONG, which can be a bit overwhelming for clients.

To make it feel less daunting, break up your questionnaire into sections.

Group questions around a similar topic into sections and title each one: venue questions, wedding day questions, vendor questions, photography questions, etc.

Alternate different colors for the background for each section so it feels less like one long questionnaire vs. smaller sections. It will come across as more manageable for your clients.

Also, make sure you remove excess questions that aren’t necessary from your questionnaires. Look at questionnaires from past clients and ask yourself if you really needed some of those answers. If they aren’t necessary - remove them. Your clients will appreciate it.

4 - Use a 3 in 1 proposal

3 in 1 proposals are proposals that include a contract and an invoice. Your clients submit the proposal and are immediately taken to the contract and then the invoice.

This allows for all three steps to happen back to back, so your clients can sign up quickly and start onboarding.

It avoids having clients wait for an email with their contract and then another email with their invoice. This can cause you to lose leads and potential clients because of the multiple steps (aka drip in your funnel). So I’m all for 3 in 1 proposals when possible.

The added bonus is that with the new Dubsado form builder, you can create beautiful on brand proposals that look almost identical to your website, creating a seamless experience for your clients.

Win-win-win.

5 - Ask the right questions

When I work with Dubsado setup clients, we think about all the information that is needed as you work with each new client.

Make sure that you are asking for the information you need in your forms: inquiry forms, or proposals or questionnaires. This will save you from having to reach out manually to request certain pieces of information.

Once you ask for a piece of information - don’t ask for it again, unless you’re checking to see if something has changed.

6 - Use automated workflows to save time

Workflows are the most powerful feature inside of Dubsado. They are a way of automating your client process, allowing you to send proposals, contracts, invoices, forms, emails and more automatically.

They allow you to start a series of tasks based on a trigger or with the click of a single button.

For wedding professionals, workflows are a way to automate tasks that you have to do for each new client. For instance, you can send your client:

• A questionnaire 90 days before their wedding.
• An email a day (or two) before the wedding with reminders and tips for their wedding day.
• An email with their final invoice 3 days before their wedding.
• A thank you email the day after their wedding.

All done automatically with workflows ??

It’s such a relief to know that things are moving along in the background and you don’t have to keep a loooong to-do list. Dubsado will take care of things for you.

7 - Ask for testimonials

Testimonials are important for your business as they help build trust and credibility.

They help potential new clients know that there are others out there who have worked with you and have had a great experience doing so - aka social proof. It helps them feel reassured to move forward and hire you.

So make sure you gather them after working with each new client.

Dubsado helps you gather testimonials in different ways:

• Send clients a feedback form with a few questions about their experience working with you
• Send clients an email with links to platforms where you can gather review - Google reviews, The Knot, WeddingWire, etc.
• You can even combine the two and send them a feedback form with questions plus a button with a link to your Google review. Make it easier for clients by asking them to copy/paste the testimonial they wrote in the feedback form over to your Google review link. Boom!

Using workflows makes this process even easier. You can automate sending clients the feedback form one week after their wedding (or earlier if it makes sense).

The earlier you can send that feedback form - the better (within reason of course).

You want clients to remember how excited they were with the service you provided. Waiting too long to ask for reviews will lessen that feeling and the odds of getting great reviews will also be less.

8 - Use payment reminders

You’ve got a lot going on as you approach the wedding day. Why add the headache of chasing payments?

Automated payment reminders are the best thing ever. Set it up and forget it. Watch those payments come in without having to lift a finger ??

If you prefer to and it works for your clients, you can even use the autopay feature so the amounts will automatically be deducted from your clients credit card on the due dates.

Wedding professionals: do you need help setting up Dubsado?

If you need help setting up Dubsado to automate tasks in your business, build beautiful proposals and every other details to make Dubsado work for you - book a call.

Book a free 20 minute no strings attached discovery call and let's see if we're a good fit to work together and see if a Dubsado setup is right for you.

Click the link to schedule your call → www.emakatiraee.com/call