Honeybook Review
Built for managing client relationshipsSuitable for marketers, event pros, vendors
Invoicing, contracts, AI, & meetings in one
Integrations with top business tools
Advanced tools for leads and connections
Pros & Cons
- Send contracts and proposals from within the platform
- Automated reminders, appointment requests, and more for clients
- Concierge onboarding for new customers to ease the transition from another tool
- Robust training library and knowledge base
- Analytics are fairly basic
- Internal automation is relatively unsophisticated
Plans & Pricing
HoneyBook offers three plans, each with a 7-day free trial (no credit card required) and account set-up assistance. The plans below are based on the annual fees that HoneyBook offers.
Starter
The starter plan costs $16/mo and includes everything you need to create great client experiences. This plan includes unlimited clients and projects, allowing you to manage your workload without restrictions. You can easily handle invoices and payments, create professional proposals and contracts, and keep your schedule organized with the integrated calendar.
You also receive access to all professional templates, making it simple to design and send polished documents. Your clients can access their own client portal, enhancing communication and transparency. Additionally, the plan includes basic reports to help you track your business performance, making it an excellent choice for professionals looking to streamline their operations while delivering top-notch service.
Essentials
The starter plan costs $32 per month. This package includes all the features from the Starter Plan, plus additional tools to streamline your workflow. You gain access to a scheduler for easy appointment management, automation to simplify repetitive tasks, and integration with QuickBooks Online for seamless financial tracking. You can also manage expenses, view profit and loss reports, and collaborate with up to 2 team members. The package allows you to remove the “Powered by HoneyBook” branding from your client communications, giving you a more professional appearance. Standard reports are included to provide deeper insights into your business performance, making this package ideal for those looking to elevate their business operations.
Premium
Priced at $66/mo it helps you scale up your business with priority support for your whole team. This plan includes all the features from the Essentials Package, with additional benefits tailored for larger operations. You can add unlimited team members, ensuring everyone in your organization has access to the tools they need. You’ll also receive priority support, so any issues or questions are addressed quickly. The plan supports multiple companies, making it ideal for business owners managing more than one venture. An onboarding specialist is provided to help your team get up and running smoothly, and advanced reports offer in-depth insights to help you make informed decisions as you grow your business.
Overview
HoneyBook is a business management and CRM platform designed to help small business service providers and creative entrepreneurs simplify their workflows. Founded in 2014, HoneyBook empowers businesses with 2-15 employees to manage client interactions, projects, and finances—all in one place.
With HoneyBook, you can capture and nurture leads, build strong client relationships, and efficiently run your business. It caters to a variety of industries, including event planning, photography, consulting, web design, marketing, and coaching, offering robust tools to help you streamline your processes while maintaining a professional touch.
Features include sending proposals, contracts, and invoices; triggering personalized follow-ups; and organizing client communication through a dedicated project portal. HoneyBook also integrates with popular tools like Google, Microsoft, Zapier, Calendly, QuickBooks, Zoom, and Meta to fit seamlessly into your existing setup.
Features and Functionality
HoneyBook is a feature-rich CRM platform that’s tailored to the needs of creative entrepreneurs who provide services as opposed to products.
You can perform many mission-critical activities such as send out proposals and track interactions with them, use a customized client portal, manage your business with a mobile app, and even processing payments with the platform. The cloud deployment means it’s accessible at any time from anywhere.
All-in-One ClientFlow Platform
HoneyBook organizes all your client information and projects seamlessly, accommodating an unlimited number of clients and projects. Track the progress of each project from start to finish with the project pipeline feature and manage leads efficiently through contact forms that integrate directly with your website and Gmail. Simplify transactions with features for invoicing and online payments, and handle legal formalities by collecting e-signatures on contracts and forms.
Enhance your service offerings with brochures, pricing guides, and customizable proposals that combine contracts and payments into a single process. Allow clients to easily select and book services, and use forms and questionnaires to gather essential client information in one place.
A dedicated client portal and synchronized calendar enhance client engagement and organizational efficiency. With HoneyBook’s mobile apps for iOS and Android, manage your business on the go, ensuring you’re always connected to your clients and projects.
Scheduling
HoneyBook’s scheduler enhances appointment management by enabling clients to book and pay for sessions online while automatically handling confirmations, reminders, and notifications. The round-robin feature efficiently distributes client sessions among team members, optimizing team availability and workload. This streamlined process ensures smooth operations and improves client engagement.
Lead Tracking & Management
HoneyBook gives you the ability to see where your leads are coming from which helps you double down on the channels that are working. You can even determine if a channel is producing leads that don’t turn into customers. Once a lead signs up, you can manage bookings, communications, organize signed contracts or send proposals, and more.
Workflows
The platform also has the ability to set up automated workflows to keep you on top of client communication and the necessary tasks that need to get done. Create automatic reminders, build task lists for projects, automate processes such as appointment requests, follow-ups, and thank yous.
Contracts & Fast Scheduling
HoneyBook has a number of contract templates that you can customize to fit your needs. These are easy-to-use, ready-to-sign-in online contracts. Once you’ve tweaked them to match your situation, you can send them to clients directly from your account. Track when clients have looked at the contract and, since it supports electronic signing, you’ll know exactly when the deal has been sealed.
Professional Payments & Invoicing
HoneyBook simplifies payment processes with flexible scheduling, recurring invoicing, and automatic reminders. Clients can opt for autopay, benefit from instant deposits, and make payments through major credit/debit cards or ACH transfers. The system also offers discounts, allows tipping, and includes fraud monitoring and dispute management to ensure secure and convenient transactions.
The software also has an invoicing system that can be connected to proposals and signed contracts to create a seamless experience. You’ll be able to view all paid and pending invoices in your dashboard and take action accordingly.
Ease of Use
HoneyBook stands out for its intuitive design and user-friendly interface, making it a top choice for small business owners and creative entrepreneurs who want to save time and avoid technical headaches. Its dynamic platform ensures that everything you need is within reach, from managing projects to automating reminders, tracking finances, and generating project recaps.
One of the platform’s highlights is its visual, easy-to-follow user prompts, allowing you to accomplish tasks efficiently—often in a fraction of the time compared to other software. Signing up with HoneyBook is equally straightforward, as the onboarding team helps you migrate your contracts, forms, and questionnaires into the system, eliminating the need for manual setup. This personalized onboarding service ensures a smooth transition, even for users switching from DIY client management solutions.
The dashboard is clean and organized, with major menu items like projects, tasks, invoices, and calendars prominently displayed. This layout helps you quickly access key features, perform important tasks, and monitor your business’s progress at a glance. Whether you’re managing bookings, sending follow-ups, or using forms with auto-populated project details, HoneyBook ensures every process is simple and seamless.
Contacts & Users
HoneyBook gives you the ability to add clients to your account in multiple ways. If you’re coming from a different solution, you can export your contacts from there and upload them via a CSV file. You also have the option of adding them manually, when you’re creating a project, or capturing them from your website with a form built in HoneyBook.
Additionally, you can connect platforms like Facebook and Zapier to route leads directly into your database and start following up with them. You can customize the information you collect from contacts and add private notes to keep track of interactions.
The sales pipeline features are organized under the project section of the application. You’re able to customize the stage to suit your needs and add as many as needed. There are a few stages that cannot be changed or deleted because they’re updated automatically by client actions such as signing a contract or paying an invoice. If you’ve used a different CRM with a sales focus then you’ll be familiar with the way pipelines work in HoneyBook.
Reporting & Integrations
HoneyBook’s reporting tools enhance financial oversight with comprehensive features. You can track payment statuses and expenses to manage cash flow effectively and optimize tax deductions.
Gain insights into your financial health through profit and loss summaries, and access detailed reports for a deeper analysis of your business performance.
HoneyBook gives you insights at various stages of the sales pipeline. It starts by showing you where leads were generated and how many. Drill down further to see the value of projects attributed to different lead sources. This lets you know your best channels so you can focus on them. It’ll also show the conversion rate and time to booked broken down by lead source.
It also has a monthly report that shows you the total number of booked projects, the number of files or proposals you sent, and your conversion rate. You can get more granular and see the value of projects booked, payments collected, and payments outstanding. Unfortunately, you’re unable to customize the default reports provided.
Integrations
On the integration side, it has direct connections to Zapier, QuickBooks, Calendly, Gmail, Zoom, and a few other solutions. It doesn’t have an accessible API, but many of the integrations are used to make it easier to automate simple tasks or import data into HoneyBook.
Customer support
HoneyBook offers a great support system to ensure small business owners have access to help whenever they need it. Their support team is available 7 days a week to assist with troubleshooting and technical questions. Users can reach out via email at concierge@honeybook.com or contact their billing team directly at 415-591-7768. For those interested in learning more about HoneyBook before signing up, the sales team is also accessible through the same email address to answer questions about the platform’s capabilities. Plus, there is a live chat option that is available around the clock.
In addition to live support, HoneyBook provides a comprehensive library of resources, including written guides, FAQs, articles, and video tutorials. These resources are available 24/7, making it easy for users to find answers on their own schedule.
They host interactive webinars and live demos to help users get familiar with the platform. Their Welcome Webinar: How to Navigate HoneyBook covers everything from organizing projects in the Pipeline and setting up invoices to managing scheduling and bookkeeping. These sessions are a great way for users to quickly get up to speed and maximize the platform’s potential.
Overall, HoneyBook’s support system is well-rounded, combining live assistance with extensive educational tools to ensure users feel confident and supported at every stage of their journey.
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Phone Support
For billing inquiries, users can contact the support team directly at 415-591-7768. -
Live Online Chat
Live chat is available from 6 AM to 6 PM PST on weekdays and 8 AM to 5 PM on weekends. -
Email
Email support is available from 6 AM to 6 PM PST: concierge@honeybook.com -
Video Tutorials
There are many video tutorials available through the official support portal as well as on YouTube. -
FAQ
It has multiple FAQs on key website pages. -
Community Forum
It maintains a forum that’s available for customers and non-customers that provides networking opportunities. -
Blog
It has a well-maintained blog that shares company updates, customer success stories, and business tips.
Final Word
HoneyBook is a great CRM platform to manage relationships with clients, generate leads, and ensure you get paid on time. There’s a clear focus on freelancers and service-oriented small businesses, and this is shown in its straightforward interface.
Its combination of client management, project tracking, financial organization, and automation tools in one place, make it an efficient solution for businesses looking to simplify their operations. Stand out features such as auto-populated project details, integrated scheduling, invoicing, and a customizable client portal, make it versatile enough for a wide range of industries.
Additionally, HoneyBook’s commitment to supporting its users is evident in its 7-day free trial, accessible onboarding assistance, and 24/7 educational resources, including video tutorials, FAQs, and live demos. For those needing immediate help, the platform offers email, phone, and live chat support, ensuring users have reliable help whenever they need it.
Whether you’re managing leads, closing contracts, or tracking expenses, HoneyBook delivers the tools and support to keep your business organized and your clients satisfied. It’s an invaluable resource for professionals seeking to elevate their workflow and focus on growing their business.
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