My 6 Favorite Dubsado Features in 2024

I’ve been a Dubsado user since about 2016 when my business first went full-time. A few really exciting Dubsado feature upgrades have come over the years, but they’ve also remained true to the core of what makes a CRM really useful to your business – streamlining, simplifying, and keeping everything right where you need it.

Canned Emails in Dubsado

Canned emails are one of the simpler parts of Dubsado, but they are incredibly valuable, and in my opinion, underrated. Canned emails are basically email templates that you can pull from every time you send an email. So if you want every payment reminder to be the same, you can set that up as a template so you never have to type it or worry about it again.

Canned emails allow you to operate like a larger business. Perhaps you didn’t have time when it was just you typing out emails to thank people for signing their contract, welcome them to your project family, provide helpful resources that they might enjoy, or ask for reviews from every single client. But with canned emails, those things are easy to set up once. You can use these emails with just a few clicks, or you can automate them (we’ll talk about that in a minute!). 

Here’s a video showing canned emails in action!

Dubsado Features: Smart Fields

Dubsado’s smart fields make canned emails even more powerful. They basically pull data from your client’s project and insert it wherever you put the smart field. So for instance, I can use a smart field in a canned email that says “Hello {{clientname}}” and whenever it sends that email to a client, it will automatically pull in the name of the client for the corresponding project. 

Smart fields allow you to personalize your templates throughout Dubsado. You don’t have to worry about addressing a very general “you” every time you set up a template. Simply put in a smart field and it will make the template seem personalized even though you didn’t do anything. 

Dubsado Forms

Forms are so core to Dubsado that it feels silly to even list them as a feature. But if they took away every other feature on this list and kept forms, I’d still be pretty happy. Dubsado’s forms are all streamlined, so each type of form (Contract, Subcontract, Questionnaire, Proposal, or Lead Capture) has the same editing interface, and options to choose from to customize. 

Their form-building experience allows you to add all kinds of things like questions, signature blocks, service packages, images, text, file uploaders, and more! 

Dubsado Features: The Scheduler

Now onto some of the more advanced features – the Dubsado Scheduler. The Scheduler will let you set up different types of appointments and customize how and when they can be booked. For instance, you can:

• set up a 30 minute call
• that can only be booked on Tuesdays or Thursdays
• and require at least 20 minutes between appointments.

Then, you can send out this scheduler to any of your clients and they’ll be able to book time on your calendar with your predetermined specifications. You can even send out a “scheduler group” in Dubsado which will allow the client to choose what type of appointment works best for them! You can embed the schedulers on web pages too if you want them to be static.

Dubsado integrates with iCloud, Microsoft, and Google calendars. 

Dubsado Workflows

Workflows are probably the area where Dubsado features stand out most amongst other CRMs. These are automation tasks that you can set up in Dubsado to make all of your work even easier! I’m sure it sounded easy to send out a canned email template with a few clicks. But what if you could send it out without any clicks? That’s where workflows come in!

Here are all the actions you can have Dubsado complete for you automatically with a workflow! The possibilities are basically endless. Here’s a video about how workflows come together and how to apply them to your projects. 

Workflows are definitely a more advanced Dubsado feature, but once you start using them – you won’t want to stop! All of the hard work you put in setting up forms, contracts, invoices, etc. will all come to fruition when you can actually start automating everything.

Dubsado Features: Public Proposals

Public Proposals are another more advanced feature, but they are really exciting. Basically, before public proposals, you could send out a proposal in Dubsado that had a list of service packages and your client could choose what they wanted. It would automatically create an invoice for them. They could then pay as well as sign a contract if you set it up that way. This was already pretty cool – but it only worked for folks who were already in your Dubsado account. Folks who already had a project set up.

Public Proposals came in and said “What if the filling out of the proposal was the step that set up the project in Dubsado?”. So public proposals are a way to combine a proposal with an inquiry. You can embed these on a website, and someone can enter their information, select the services they want, pay, sign a contract, and even schedule an appointment all in one step without you having to lift a finger. It’s pretty miraculous.

Public proposals are ideal for set service packages – like a set of photography mini-sessions, or tickets to a calligraphy workshop, or if you sell web design services and only offer 3 total packages. Anything that people feel comfortable buying without talking to you is probably a good fit for this.

Dubsado Coupon Code

Now if any of these features sound enticing to you, I would love if you’d use my Dubsado promo code to get 30% off your first month or year with them. I will make a commission at no cost to you! The code is DESIGNBYLANEY or this link works great!

One of my favorite things about Dubsado is their free trial that lasts for the length of 3 total projects. There is no time limit, which will help you get set up and running without any pressure. 

Dubsado Training

I also have taught a 14-part How to Use Dubsado Course that you can access for free here! If you’re new – definitely let me help you explore some of the features and get set up as it can feel overwhelming at first. The best part is that every time you create a form, type out a canned email, or enter in your contract information is the last time you’ll have to do that! Once it’s ready to go in Dubsado, you don’t have to do it again. Ever! 

Dubsado Alternatives

If you’re not feeling any of Dubsado’s features, there are plenty of alternatives out there that you might enjoy instead. I personally educate with several, including Honeybook, HelloBonsai, Rock Paper Coin, Hubflo, and 17Hats. Here are a few initial thoughts:

• Honeybook: Most similar to Dubsado, but allows a little more customization, and has some recent feature upgrades that are changing the game. Read about my favorite Honeybook features here.
  
• HelloBonsai: I love their accounting and tax features, as well as invoicing. They are great for people who use time tracking a lot in their business, but are lacking in some of the forms and workflow capabilities of Dubsado.
  
• Rock Paper Coin: You can sign up for an entire year for free! I’m serious! RPC advertises being the simplest CRM and I have to agree with that assessment. They’re not as feature-rich as Dubsado, but if you find CRMs to be overwhelming, then they’re a really good place to dip your toes in with the essentials like payment processing, contracts, proposals, and file sharing!
  
• Hubflo: Hubflo is a different type of CRM that focuses on the client portal capabilities. They have an amazing portal that allows you to communicate with your clients in a lot of different ways. So if back and forth with the clients, and a hub to keep everything together is your jam – check it out.
  
• 17Hats: They are kind of like the workshorse version of Dubsado. Not flashy, and don’t have a lot of customizations, but 17Hats works well with no frills.