Regardless of your industry your forms are important. Branding is key and you want to ensure consistency across your entire client experience. In this post we’re going to focus on what makes a proposal great, as this really is the key moment you capture your customer. 

 CSS and HTML code will help you make your forms, contracts, proposals, and questionnaires as beautiful as your brand. If you’re new to using CSS and HTML, you can check out our free course that will teach you everything you need to know about creating Beautiful Dubsado Forms using CSS & HTML. 

Space and Structure

The layout of your proposal is so important. When the page looks cramped potential customers are likely to feel overwhelmed and, often resulting in them clicking away.

Dubsado makes it super easy to add columns to provide structure to your layout.

White space is one of the most important things to consider when you are creating a form. By using plenty of white space you’ll be able to help your users focus on the important things.

Using sections and headings will allow you to break your form up into manageable bite-sized pieces and improve the readability and flow.

Keep it simple

Simplicity is important both in terms of content and style, this stops the customer from being overloaded or distracted. 

When it comes to content,  you should consider if you are offering too many options and packages. If so, you may be opening yourself up to client indecision.

With your style, remember you don’t need to do everything! Our free course Beautiful Dubsado Forms offers a lot of different CSS and HTML tips and tricks, and it can be easy to go overboard. Before adding a new element, really think if it’s adding value and if it’s truly necessary. If something doesn’t serve a purpose, don’t add it just because it has a cool effect! 

Show off

Your work is awesome. When you’re selling, you want to make your customers’ decisions as easy as possible. For me, as a Web Designer, that means showing off how awesome my work is. I like to show off three of my favourite websites on my proposals. I’ll switch out the sites in each proposal to ones that I feel the customer will relate to the most. My free course Beautiful Dubsado Forms will show you some awesome ways to display your work and really capture interest!

Now don’t go overboard with examples as the potential customer has likely seen some of your work through your website. 

Also remember that social proof is always welcomed. Sprinkle customer testimonials throughout your proposal, so they really feel they can connect with and trust you.

Up-Sell

As you create your Dubsado proposals you’ll notice opportunities to up-sell your product or services. Including these in your proposal does two things. Firstly, you’ll make extra money, people regularly go for my up-sells. Secondly, it stops people from trying to ‘Scope Creep’. Scope Creep is when clients push the boundaries of the project. By including the up-sells on your proposal upfront, clients will already know these extras will cost more. 

Familiarity and Building Relationships

It is important to show your customers that you truly care about them. Little things like including their name and using a friendly tone of voice really help. A short welcoming paragraph before jumping into pricing always goes a long way as well!

I also love to create a short welcome video for each and every client, where I address them directly and welcome them to working with me. Check out this post to learn how to add videos to your Dubsado forms!

In some proposals it may be beneficial to include some details about their company or the problem you are solving for them. Always remember, people are much more interested in talking about themselves then they are about you! 

Depending on your industry you may be able to customise your proposal to each individual further. For example, if I’m sending a proposal to someone that I know wants a eCommerce site, I’ll switch out my portfolio items to sites that are similar to their needs. Similarly, I’ll tend to use more corporate sites for corporate clients. Make sure to think about what a customer will connect with best and choose relevant portfolio items to display. 

As a wedding planner or photographer, you may choose to switch our photos out to something with a similar vibe to your client. This could me more nature orientated shoots, same-sex couples, or themed events. 

By doing this, you help your potential clients to better visualize themselves working with you, and show them that you can connect with them and their needs. 

5 things to consider when creating your Dubsado Forms!

Contact information

Sometimes potential clients are not quite ready to agree to a proposal there and then. They may have a few questions, so make it as easy as possible for them to contact you. I like to include my clickable email at both the top and bottom of my proposal with a friendly message that welcomes them to reach out with any questions without feeling pressured to sign up then and there.  

Responsiveness 

Be responsive! This is a great place to make use of Dubsado Workflows! Potential customers can be lost if you don’t get back to them quickly, so it’s important that you respond to them as soon as you can. If you know you can’t respond to enquiries straightaway, make sure you give them an idea of when they can expect to hear from you. Having a timeline for a response helps to reassure customers that you have seen their query and that they are on your agenda.

Offer Validity

It is a good idea to always include a valid until notice on your proposal. It doesn’t have to be big or fancy, but you’ll be grateful to have it when someone rocks up a year later expecting the same offer!

Project Schedule 

In many situations it can be useful to include a timeline and estimate completion date. I also like to emphasize areas where the client will be responsible for doing something. For example, I can’t complete a website and stick to the timeline if the client doesn’t send over the content! You don’t have to go into loads of detail on the proposal, the full details can go into the contract, but it’s good to be upfront about aspects of the timeline which are dependent on theirs or others actions. 

Grammar 

Consider downloading Grammarly, even just the free version, it makes a huge difference! 

I hope these Top Tips are helpful to you as you build your brand in Dubsado!