HoneyBook Review 2023: Best All In One SMB Software?

Creating, managing, and sending contracts can be a significant strain on any business, particularly for SMBs where resources might already be stretched thin.

Drafting contracts requires a keen eye for detail, and sending them out can be time-consuming.

Luckily, HoneyBook steps in to eliminate these headaches.

During our three-month testing period of HoneyBook, we dove deep into its contracts feature.

We created a variety of different contracts, including:

• Employee contracts
• Affiliate marketing contracts
• Terms of service agreements

Look at the creation process, where we easily drafted an affiliate marketing agreement (in less than 5 minutes).

As you can see, we were able to include our branding, plus HoneyBook automatically added our contact info to the top of the contract to make things even easier.

The contract templates (shown below) were well-constructed, covering all the legal bases and leaving room for customization.

Plus, the ability to send out and have clients sign contracts online (directly from the platform ) was a game-changer, saving us from the hassle of manually emailing each document.

Aside from testing with SBB, I've worked with several clients at my digital agency using HoneyBook.

This is one of the features that I've consistently heard positive feedback about.

Some things my clients have said include the following:

• "It's great to be able to quickly send out contracts without having to worry about formatting and the legal language."
• "The templates are a lifesaver. I don't have to spend hours crafting each contract from scratch anymore!"
• "HoneyBook makes it easy to stay organized and keep track of all contracts in one place. I never have to worry about losing a contract again!"

The bottom line: HoneyBook's contract feature is fantastic for just about any business that needs to create and send contracts without hiring an entire legal team.

At Small Business Bonfire, we believe in working smarter, not harder. That's why we were excited to test out HoneyBook's lead forms.

Quick refresher: Lead forms are digital forms that allow businesses to collect contact information from prospects from the following locations:

• Website
• Social media
• Other marketing channels

We are happy to announce that HoneyBook makes it extremely easy to create and customize these forms.

We'll walk you through our setup process.

We simply navigated to the "lead forms" tab, where we were greeted with a collection of helpful templates (shown below).

We went with one called "partnership form" and started the customization process.

We were pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to incorporate our branding with the lead form (shown below).

We were able to customize the following aspects of our theme:

• Main font & colors
• Button font
• Question colors

Check out a sneak peek of the creation process.

The whole thing took about 10 minutes from start to finish, and we were able to easily embed the form on our website.

At the end of the day, HoneyBook provides some of the most intuitive lead form creation we've seen (and that's saying a lot). It's definitely a standout feature of the platform.

HoneyBook features an intuitive client portal that gives your clients a clear overview of all their pertinent details in one centralized location.

This becomes a particularly convenient feature as it saves much-needed time and eliminates the need for back-and-forth emails to exchange information.

Here's what clients can access directly from the portal:

• Invoices: Clients can effortlessly access all their invoices, past and present. This feature eliminates the need for digging through a pile of emails to find specific invoices.
• Documents: Any important documents shared between you and the client can be easily accessed here. This includes contracts, proposals, and other related files, all neatly organized.
• Project Details: Clients can view details of all their projects, including their status, deadlines, and any associated tasks. This helps them stay informed and up-to-date about their projects.

The client portal by HoneyBook is designed to foster transparency and enhance client satisfaction.

By making essential information and communication easily accessible, it enables a smoother, more organized business-client relationship.

Let's face it—managing your workflow is essential to running a business.

HoneyBook provides an intuitive solution to this problem with its workflow management tools.

These include the following:

• Calendar
• Scheduler
• Task manager
• Time tracker

For our three-month testing period, we utilized all of these features to get a better understanding of the ins and outs of HoneyBook.

The calendar tool was particularly helpful, allowing us to plan our events in advance and manage our client schedules.

Here's how ours looked for reference.

We especially liked how we could change between the following views:

• Day
• Week
• Month

The task manager (pictured below) was also great, giving us a comprehensive overview of our day-to-day activities and upcoming projects.

Our takeaway: HoneyBook's workflow management tools are awesome for staying organized and on top of our tasks. If you're looking to revamp your SMB's workflow, HoneyBook is definitely worth checking out.

HoneyBook has an invoicing feature that is not only easy to use but also incredibly efficient at collecting online payments.

Throughout our three-month testing period at Small Business Bonfire, we found that HoneyBook essentially eliminates the need for any manual tracking of payments.

Outside of SBB, I had a photography client (at my digital agency) who was spending an excessive amount of time creating, sending, and tracking invoices.

Once I told her about HoneyBook, she saved significant time (and money).

HoneyBook allowed her to quickly accomplish the following:

• Generate invoices
• Send them off to clients
• Effortlessly track the status of each payment

What's more, she was able to send payment reminders directly from the platform, eliminating the need for any additional reminder or communication software.

Here's an example of an invoice she was able to create (within seconds) for a client.

All in all, the invoicing and online payment capabilities of HoneyBook greatly reduce tedious tasks and manual tracking for SMBs and freelancers.

It's an excellent tool to ensure you're paid on time and can focus more on your actual work and less on paperwork.

HoneyBook also offers outstanding project management tools that truly simplify the process of managing and tracking various projects.

During our three-month testing period, we created tons of projects, pushing the platform to its limits.

Here's an example of a project that we created related to onboarding at Small Business Bonfire.

We were genuinely impressed by the ease with which we could:

• Add tasks to each project
• Select a lead source
• Track employee time
• Set a date and location for the project
• Create notes within the project

These features provided a comprehensive view of each project, enabling efficient management and timely completion.

Believe us when we say that HoneyBook's project management feature is a game-changer for SMBs seeking to complete more projects and boost productivity.

From strategic planning to execution and follow-ups, everything can be handled within HoneyBook, making it a preferred choice for SMBs.

HoneyBook's automation capabilities came as a pleasant surprise during our testing period.

These features are designed to simplify routine tasks and save time, which is invaluable for any SMB or freelancer.

HoneyBook allows users to set up automated workflows that streamline the process from lead capture to project completion.

Setting these automated workflows is a breeze.

Once set up, they can handle a wide range of tasks, such as:

• Scheduling appointments
• Sending payment and task reminders
• Automating invoices
• Sending follow-up emails

For instance, we set up an automation that would automatically send over a contract to one of our clients when a project with them was closed.

This saved us the time and effort of having to manually track which clients had been sent affiliate contracts.

Here's how it looked while creating our contract automation.

HoneyBook made the whole process as straightforward and beginner-friendly as possible (which we thought was great).

Ultimately, HoneyBook's automation capabilities proved to be a big time-saver throughout our testing.

They allowed us to automate mundane tasks, allowing us to focus on more strategic aspects of our business (such as better client communication).