HoneyBook Review: Best Client Management CRM in 2023

As a small business owner, you would agree that building a profitable business takes having a loyal client base, which requires a proper customer management system.

No matter what, you always want to maintain a mutually beneficial business relationship with your customers to encourage them to stay and keep buying your products or services.

Fortunately, innovative CRM software, like HoneyBook, makes customer management a breeze for small businesses. HoneyBook not only makes it easy for you to manage your client base, but it introduces several automated tools that allow you to manage projects effectively.

What are the things to expect when you choose HoneyBook as your client management software? Keep reading to learn more about HoneyBook, including its features, pricing, pros & cons, and alternatives.

What is Honeybook?

Honeybook is an all-in-one solution equipped with every tool needed to run and manage small businesses. It makes your business processes smooth by managing projects, overseeing payment processing, forging contracts, onboarding more clients, and automating your various tasks.

Some of the core features on HoneyBook are;

  • Proposal generator
  • Online Contract Generator
  • Online appointment scheduler
  • Automated Invoicing and billing
  • Lead tracker
  • Client manager

HoneyBook also assumes the role of a personal assistant and provides administrative support, including helping with scheduling meetings, bookkeeping and invoicing, time management, task management, sending emails, and more.

Who is Honeybook for?

HoneyBook is a CRM software for small businesses in diverse industries selling products or services. It has tools ideal for businesses like the following;

  • Business service providers like business coaches, Wellness professionals, virtual assistants, and more
  • Internet Professions, like copywriting, web design, and more
  • Creative professionals like Graphic designers, photographers, artists, and more
  • Events services, including planners, DJs, caterers, and others
  • Creative Entrepreneurs

You can use HoneyBook if your business falls in any of the categories above. It is crucial to know that not all the tools on the client manager will be ideal for you. You can see the right tools for your business in the HoneyBook client management resource.

HoneyBook Overview

Best for: Entrepreneurs and small business owners

Price: Starts at $39/mo

Discounts: About 20% on yearly payment

Promotion: 7 days free trial, $1 monthly subscription for the first six months, 60-day money-back guarantee

Rating: 4.84/5

How does Honeybook work?

HoneyBook is all about representing your business in the most professional way to your clients and prospective clients. The first thing you are most likely to do after subscribing to HoneyBook is to customize the software to suit your brand.

You can choose your brand color, upload your logo, customize documents, and other elements that represent your brand on HoneyBook. That ensures that anything sent from your HoneyBook account carries the business’s essence.

Showing where to customize your brand as a new HoneyBook user

When you get new leads, HoneyBook has the resource base to convert them, from inquiries to completing client projects. You can easily send brochures and questionnaires to understand what your lead needs and introduce the business.

After onboarding clients, you can send proposals and contracts to seal the deal. You can also send invoices and receive online payments after completing the tasks.

If your business with customers requires continuous remittance, you can use the automated recurring payments feature on HoneyBook to keep the cash coming in every month.

The CRM software also has other tools that you can use apart from lead conversion. See all the features of HoneyBook below.

Honeybook Core Features

A summary of what HoneyBook does is track all your projects from start to finish, organize all your files and documents, seamlessly manage clients, and manage bookings and payments.

HoneyBook makes use of the following features to perform the functions above;

Honeybook Project Management

HoneyBook has a project feature where you can create and track all your business processes. The tool breaks all your projects into different steps that make follow-up easier and more productive.

Showing Honeybook default sales pipeline under projects

Each new project usually starts with the inquiry stage, where your lead contacts are added to your contact list to begin a funnel. You can receive the inquiries directly from your website or linked social media account or add the leads manually.

Your readymade brochure gets sent so the client can get all the answers they need and choose the services they prefer. HoneyBook then automatically drafts a proposal to such a client based on their picks and sends them the document.

HoneyBook knows when a proposal gets sent to a client and moves the business stage accordingly until the completion of the project.

You can also customize your pipeline or funnel according to how your business works. The stages are simply the sales process clients will go through throughout your business transaction.

Honeybook Invoice Generator

HoneyBook has templates that allow you to customize an invoice to request payments from your clients. It makes it easier and faster to collect and track the remittance of due payments. You can also activate automatic billings to keep the cash coming in from your consistent customers.

showing how to create a new invoice on honeybook under projects in the homepage

To create an invoice, click on New Invoice from under projects on the homepage. You can either create an invoice from scratch or modify a template provided by Honeybook.

Honeybook Proposal Generator

You can generate proposals and send them via HoneyBook when you need to pitch your business to a client. It contains information showing your services, price list, payment schedule, and a contract to be signed by the customer.

If your client agrees to your proposal, they will sign the contract and make payment for the product or service that you are offering.

To create and send a proposal, follow the steps below;

  • Open a new project or an existing one
Showing where to create a new proposal in HoneyBook software under created projects
  • Click on Create New
  • Choose Proposal
  • Create a Proposal from a template or scratch
showing where to customize your proposal on Honeybook from scratch or using template
  • Draft or add an email
  • Click send to forward the email and proposal to the participants of the project.

HoneyBook Contract

HoneyBook allows you to create pre-built service agreements that show the terms of your service and sign contracts online.

You can send contracts to your client to seal a deal and receive payments. Once your client signs the contract, you will see it. When you also sign the contract after, your client sees it and the deal gets done.

You can create a new contract by;

  • Creating a new project or opening an existing one
  • Click on New
  • Choose Contract
Showing how to create a contract in HoneyBook from within an existing or newly created project
  • Draft your contract terms
  • Edit the required fields
Showing some of the fields to edit when creating a contract on HoneyBook app
  • Review the email and send the contract to the client

You will get a notification when the client has received the contract and if they sign it. You can then sign afterward to close the deal.

HoneyBook calendar and Online Scheduling

Honeybook has a calendar where you can schedule all the upcoming events or tasks on your plate. You can add any of your unfinished tasks from created projects and get a reminder to do them. The calendar also keeps tabs on upcoming meetings, booked and unbooked projects, and payments.

HoneyBook calendar showing a project created on the marked date

It is important to note that any projects, meetings, or items that do not have a date attached to them will not show on your calendar. Ensure that you assign dates to all important tasks so they can be scheduled.

You can create an event from within your calendar by clicking on the preferred date and setting the details correctly.

Honeybook Calendar integrates with Google calendar and Zoom to keep all your events visible all in one platform.

HoneyBook Bookkeeping and automated recurring payment solution

Honeybook tracks your payment including how much that has come in and the expenses. It also shows you the payments that are due and the remittance date.

HoneyBook Bookkeeping page showing the profit and loss table and other tools tabs

Honeybook bookkeeping draws the profit and loss account where you can check if your business is profitable. It also integrates with QuickBooks and helps to bring all your accounts under one platform.

With this feature, you can automatically send invoices to your clients on due dates to request payment. It helps to save time, improve cash flow, get paid quicker, and improve client relationships.

The automated payment reminders feature is suitable for any small business owner with clients that pay consistently every month.

HoneyBook Templates

Under the templates feature, you can create different types of documents with available prototypes. You can customize contracts, invoices, proposals, questionnaires, onboarding templates, and more.

The type of documents you can create using HoneyBook Templates

Apart from the already-named templates available on HoneyBook, you can create others and rename them to match your intent.

Honeybook Integrations

Honeybook integrates with many other software apps that allow small business owners to run their businesses efficiently. Some of them are;

  • Quickbooks
  • Zoom
  • Google Calendar
  • Gmail
  • Zapier
  • Chrome extension
  • Google meet
  • Calendly
  • Facebook and Instagram ad leads

The goal of integrating other apps on HoneyBook is to bring all your business managers under one platform. That way, you can access all your data without switching tabs or going through a longer process.

Honeybook App and Mobile version

Honeybook have an app optimized for mobile devices. You can access your account from your smart mobile devices easily when your Pc is not nearby.

HoneyBook also has web-optimized versions for both desktop and mobile. You can log into your account via the web through your smartphone or laptop. Either way, the software displays correctly without any glitches.

HoneyBook Support

HoneyBook has four different ways by which their customer reps can be reached. You can contact them via Email, Phone calls, and live chat. Customer support is available 24/7 and is ever-ready to answer your queries.

Honeybook Pros and Cons

The following pros and cons are a summary of reviews of verified clients of HoneyBook;

Pros

Cons

  • HoneyBook is a cloud-based software, it doesn’t take up your device space.
  • It has everything you need to run your small business in one place
  • It saves time and extra cost
  • It works for both products and services sellers
  • Reasonable price
  • User-friendly interface
  • Customer support not 100%
  • Sometimes, notifications come in late

Honeybook Pricing

HoneyBook does not offer a free plan to users, and neither does it have a free version. It has only two paid plans, monthly and yearly subscriptions. See their costs below;

  • Monthly- $39
  • Yearly- $390
Showing HoneyBook Membership plan costs for monthly and annual subscription

Honeybook Offers and Promos

HoneyBook currently offers a 7-day trial to new users without collecting any card details. There is also a special promo at the moment where you pay $1 monthly for your first six months while having access to all the tools.

Showing HoneyBook's special  per month offer for new users

You can also request a refund within 60 days of trying the software if you don’t like their services.

Honeybook Alternatives: Other Client Management Platforms

Other CRM platforms offer similar services to HoneyBook. They are also popular platforms that you may have come across or tried out before using HoneyBook.

See how HoneyBook compares to alternative customer management software below;

Client Management Platforms

HoneyBooks

Hubspot Sales Hub

Quickbooks

Calendly

Mobile

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Users

Unlimited

Limited

Limited

E-commerce platform integration

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Industries

Photography, freelancing, web development, creative entrepreneur, graphics designers, business coaches, copywriters

Marketing and advert, IT

Non profit, restaurants, law firms, professional services

Wellness professionals, vendors, trainers

Analytics

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

Pricing/mo

$39 for all users

$45 for all users

From $30 per user

From $8 per user

Honeybook – Managing Multiple Clients- FAQs

1. Is HoneyBook a CRM?

HoneyBook is a CRM software for SBMs and entrepreneurs. It has all the tools to help manage your business from lead management to receiving payments. It is proven to provide reliable and efficient services since its existence.

2. What is HoneyBook good for?

HoneyBook facilitates client communication, booking more customers, creating documents, scheduling meetings, sending, and receiving payments, task management, and more. It is designed to suit small businesses and entrepreneurs.

3. What’s better Dubsado or HoneyBook?

HoneyBook and Dubsado are both CRMs and they outdo each other in different areas. For instance, Invoicing in HoneyBook is better than Dubsado’s while workflow on Dubsado is more robust than Honeybook’s.

4. Is HoneyBook good for freelancers?

HoneyBook is the right CRM software for freelancers with its various tools tailored to streamline their businesses. It is generally suitable for small business owners and entrepreneurs.

5. Does HoneyBook have an app?

You can access HoneyBook on the go using your smartphone or tablet. HoneyBook has a mobile app that can be used on android and ios devices. Its web version is also optimized for mobile and desktop devices.

6. Is Honeybook good for the photography business?

Photographers will enjoy using HoneyBook as there are various handy tools tailored to streamline their workflow. They can manage their events and tasks by creating projects and customizing the pipelines to suit various work stages.

My Thoughts on HoneyBook as the Best Client Management Tool

Having an all-in-one CRM software like HoneyBook to help organize your business makes everything faster and stress-free. From booking clients to getting paid, you will be amazed at its efficiency and functionalities.

If you have been looking for a Client Management platform designed to suit small businesses and entrepreneurs and comes at a reasonable price, Try HoneyBooks.