The cat’s out of the bag – I’m done with HoneyBook and Hello Bonsai. Yes, I’m crawling back to Dubsado’s loving arms. Yes, I feel like a cheater who’s been given a second chance. But there is no better CRM than Dubsado and I had to give others a try to be convinced.

Dubsado was the first business tool I invested in after starting Jungle Soul Collective. In fact, Jungle Soul Collective was barely making any money when I decided to make the investment. Even the $25 per month was pretty steep at that time. But I knew that in the long run, it would be the best decision I could make because I really needed to streamline and automate my onboarding and client management. 

Dubsado lived up to the expectation.

So why did I jump ships? Honestly… Because of the UI. It’s not ugly by any means but it could be nicer and more customizable (maybe the ability to use brand colors? Pretty please!). What can I say, I appreciate aesthetics and feel more inclined to use the software if it looks pleasant.

I tried HoneyBook (similar to Dubsado) and Hello Bonsai (which lacks way too many features for my needs), only to realize that although they were nicer UI-wise, Dubsado still trumped them in every other aspect. My love for aesthetics may be superficial but I’ll take awesome functionality over good looks anytime!

So this year, I’m moving my processes and workflows back to Dubsado for good. This is a list of the main reasons that sealed the deal!

Interested in Dubsado? Seeing is believing. Take advantage of their untimed trial  (it’s 3 clients long) and when you’re ready to sign up, use the code junglesoulcollective to get 20% off your first month or year! 

7 Reasons I’m Switching Back to Dubsado

Awesome support

Dubsado’s support is the best I’ve ever experienced.

Unresponsive or unhelpful (or downright rude *cough-cough Facebook Business Manager*) support is one of my biggest pet peeves. When things go south, it would be nice to know support has your back, right?

Well, Dubsado always delivers! Every time I’ve needed help and reached out, they’ve got back to me in no time and sorted everything out just like that.

I also love and religiously follow Dubsado’s official Facebook group, The Dubsado Community for feature updates, inspiration, feedback and collaborative help. It’s, in my opinion, one of the most helpful and friendliest Facebook groups. I especially love to see how everyone else sets up their client portals and workflows – I’ve got so many ideas from that community.

Everything in one place, one cohesive system

That’s the point of a CRM.

However, when it comes to other CRMs, there was always something they couldn’t do that I had to use a separate tool for. I’m a minimalist when it comes to business tools and I go to great lengths to streamline the number of software I use and pay for.

Dubsado handles every step of the client management process for me: from the moment my lead form is filled out on my website until I finish a project. After trying out other CRM systems, I find that Dubsado gives more bang for your buck and handles everything better than other CRMs. 

This is the before and after of signing up to Dubsado:

HelloSign for contracts -> Dubsado

Acuity for scheduling -> Dubsado

Typeform for questionnaires -> Dubsado

Wave for invoicing -> Dubsado

QuickBooks for accounting -> Dubsado (Dubsado’s accounting features are advanced but they also offer a QB integration)

Project and task management -> Dubsado (although I prefer Notion because I already use and love it for every aspect of my life)

Read more: My Simple Notion Setup: How to Use Notion for Small Business Effectively

Project management features

I really truly missed Dubsado’s task management and kanban board features. I use Notion for managing big client projects, but every once in a while there are smaller projects or chunks of tasks for which it makes more sense to manage them inside the client process system.

No other CRM I’ve tried has come close to the simple but effective project management features Dubsado has.

Easy way to add and sign subcontracts

Dubsado comes equipped with contracts, sub-contracts, proposals, questionnaires, and lead captures. Depending on your business, you may never need to use sub-contracts.

However, I find them immensely useful for collecting additional information that needs a signature, adding or amending existing contracts, and getting client approval for drafts (such as pin designs).

Embed lead capture form on website

The lack of embeddable forms is the biggest reason I backed out of Hello Bonsai so fast.

There are four reasons I love Dubsado’s lead capture forms:

1. It collects all the initial info I need to determine whether the lead is a good fit for my services
2. It’s embedded straight to my contact page and blends in seamlessly with the rest of the page
3. It can be shared as a direct link in emails, PDFs or social media
4. It triggers a canned response and workflow(s) behind the scenes (the beauty of automation)

My (potential) clients are all over the world and most of them are in a different time zone. Before Dubsado I would anxiously check my phone before going to bed and right after waking up to make sure applications don’t go unanswered for too long.

Now the form records their info and sends an automated reply including confirmation, welcome packet and the timeframe they can expect to hear back from me.

LIFE CHANGER.

G Suite integration (a.k.a all emails within Dubsado)

Remember when I said your entire client process can be set up within Dubsado?

EVEN CLIENT EMAILS.

With the G Suite integration, you can send, receive and read your client communication without leaving Dubsado. If enabled, all communication with a client is listed under the project along with your contracts, forms, invoices and payment info, scheduled appointments, tasks and more.

Here’s how Dubsado describes it:

Conversation mode allows you to send an email out through Dubsado and when your client replies, it goes to your email AND it gets logged in Dubsado.

They’re constantly improving

Is it just me or are they releasing new features and improvements all the time? Every time I blink there’s something new! I always look forward to their monthly newsletters to see what’s new.

It’s awesome because they are listening to their user base and implementing much-requested features.

Interested in Dubsado? Seeing is believing. Take advantage of their untimed trial  (it’s 3 clients long) and when you’re ready to sign up, use the code junglesoulcollective to get 20% off your first month or year!

Before you go, pin this for later!