Should You Customize Your Dubsado Templates Based on Service?

If you’ve ever found yourself duplicating the same Dubsado email four times – one for each service you offer – this post is for you. This blog breaks down which templates to customize, which to leave alone, and why simplifying your systems saves time and reduces risk.

Let’s be clear: this is not about personalizing emails for individual clients. That’s a different conversation (and one I have plenty of opinions on). What we’re talking about here is your core Dubsado templates – emails, forms, schedulers, contracts, workflows – and whether they should be customized for each service you offer, or kept service-agnostic.

Why does this matter? Because every extra template you duplicate now becomes something you’ll have to manually update later. Every time your branding evolves, your pricing changes, or you want to tweak your language, those duplicates multiply your work – and increase the chances you miss something.

To help you work smarter, not harder, I’ve broken it down into three categories:

1. Never Customize
2. Sometimes Customize
3. Usually Customize

NEVER Customize these Dubsado Templates

These are the templates you should absolutely keep universal. They’re foundational, and duplicating them by service only creates clutter and chaos.

Scheduler Confirmation Emails

I recommend setting up confirmation emails for each LOCATION of a meeting. That way, you can either include a conferencing link for virtual meetings or a Project Location smart field for in-person meetings. You do not need one confirmation email per service. If you need your client to complete a form after scheduling, that should be a separate email in your workflow – not crammed into the confirmation. Keep it clean and simple. Don’t forget the “add to calendar” smart field.

Scheduler Reminder Emails

Decide on a standard schedule and stick to it. For example, I use:

1. One reminder 24 hours before in-person meetings.
2. Two reminders for virtual meetings: 24 hours before and 1 hour before.

These templates should simply confirm the day, time, and location using smart fields. Nothing else. Don’t brand them, don’t add fluff, and definitely don’t make one for each service. Also – do not use custom (smart field-filled) reminders here. If you’re wondering why, check out this explanation.

Invoice Reminders

Create these four email templates:

1. Invoice not paid after Contract NOT Signed (for when your retainer hasn’t been paid and the contract isn’t signed yet)
2. Invoice Due Soon – keep it generic. Say “due soon” or “due on {{paymentPlan.dueDate}}” using smart fields. Avoid phrases like “due in a week” because they limit your flexibility.
3. Due Today – clear and simple.
4. Past Due – something like: “Your payment is past due. Please pay now to avoid late fees.” (They don’t need to know you’re not enforcing them.)

These four should be all you need in your payment plan reminders.

Form Reminders

(except proposals) You should always set these up:

1. Due Soon – a simple nudge (sent before the due date).
2. Due Today – sent the day the form is due.
3. Past Due – following up when the form is overdue.

I always recommend telling your client that forms are due by a specific deadline, even if you’re not using the expiration date feature. But to avoid manual input, say something like “This form is due in 7 days” in the original email, and then use a reminder flow like this:

1. 3 days later: Due Soon
2. 4 days after that: Due Today
3. 5 days after that: Past Due

More on understanding the Dubsado’s workflow form reminder parameters here.

Review Request

Most people offer one core service or expertise. One solid review request template is usually all you need. If you keep multiple, you’re just asking for update headaches.

Scheduler for Meetings

Avoid creating schedulers like “Family Session Scheduler” and “Senior Session Scheduler.” Instead, create one for each LENGTH and LOCATION combo. For example:

1. 1 Hour In Person
2. 1 Hour Virtual
3. 90 Minute In Person

This keeps it simple when updating your availability. Trust me – you’ll hate it otherwise.

Payment Plans

These should be based on schedule, not service. I recommend:

1. 100% Upfront
2. 50/50 (50% to book, 50% due X days before project)
3. Optionally, represent this to clients as a flexible payment schedule: “50% due to book, remaining balance due by X date – feel free to pay in smaller amounts before then.”

SOMETIMES Customize these Dubsado Templates

This category could easily be called “Avoid it if you can, but sometimes it’s worth it.”

Lead Captures

Try to keep all your leads flowing through one master form. You can use conditional logic for service-specific questions. Only create extra lead captures if:

1. You’re collecting emails at a live event.
2. There’s a deal-breaker question you must ask before proceeding.

Send Proposal Emails

These usually include the same core message: here’s how the proposal > contract > invoice process works. But sometimes you’ll want to tweak them. For example:

1. For a service with a discovery call, you might start the email with “Thanks for chatting with me today!”
2. For services without one, drop that line.

The key is to limit these to the necessary variations. Not just “this sounds nicer.”

Proposal Reminder Emails

These should be universal – “Hey, just checking in on that proposal I sent a few days ago.” But they should be different from your regular form reminder templates.

Onboarding / Welcome / Client Portal Intro Emails

Use one standard welcome message that:

1. Thanks the client for booking
2. Explains the client portal
3. Includes your portal guide link

But if different services require different next steps (like a form vs. a call), you might need two versions. OR write it generically: “Log into your portal to complete next steps.”

Request to Book Appointment Emails

If each appointment type requires different prep or expectations, you’ll probably want separate templates. But if it’s a recurring meeting (like coaching calls), one email may work for all.

Contracts

Stick to a single contract per terms set. If the only difference is package details, handle that with invoice smart fields that show the selected package’s scope of work. Only use multiple contracts if the legal terms differ.

Questionnaires

If your branding questionnaire works across multiple services, reuse it. But most of the time, the information you need will be specific to what they hired you for – so customization here makes sense.

USUALLY Customize these Dubsado Templates

Proposal Forms

These should reflect your actual offers. If your family, maternity, and senior portrait packages are identical, use one “Portraits” proposal. But if they’re different – or even if the photos differ – create one per service.

Workflows

This is where everything comes together. Your building blocks (forms, emails, contracts) may be reusable – but the workflow often needs to change based on the service.

Set up workflows per service, using as few unique pieces as necessary to make each one run smoothly.

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Final Thoughts

This will probably be a living blog post I update as systems evolve. But the core advice won’t change:

🎯 The fewer templates you need to maintain, the more efficient and sustainable your business becomes.

Start by auditing your current templates. Ask yourself:

1. Do I really need 4 versions of this email?
2. Could I swap a smart field and make this universal?
3. Am I duplicating effort where I don’t need to?

Simplifying where you can gives you more space to customize where it actually counts.

Need help creating a streamlined, high-converting Dubsado setup? Check out our templates or reach out for custom support.