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How to send a form in Dubsado

megan easley

3 ways to send a form in Dubsado and when to use each one

It may not always be the most fun part of running a business, but sending forms to your clients is essential.  Whether it's a contract or a questionnaire, you need a way to efficiently and securely deliver these documents to your clients.

I personally love and use Dubsado for the ease and security of delivering everything.

Have we officially met yet?  I’m Megan.  I’m a Certified Dubsado Specialist, and I spend my days helping creative entrepreneurs organize their client processes - Dubsado is a huge part of how I do that.

Let's get on with it, shall we?

When forms are sent correctly and on time, you’ll have a smooth client process that should be pretty… unremarkable.  But if a form doesn’t get sent correctly or on time….

Well, that could be huge: 

  • You could be opening yourself up to legal issues down the road (specifically when it comes to contracts)

  • Delays in receiving assets (logos, guest list, font choices, etc) could result in work not being able to start on time.

  • It reflects poorly on you and the service you’re providing for your clients.  Who are trusting you to do what you promised - and are likely to refer you to their friends.

 

Be someone that does what they say they’ll do. 


If you’re using Dubsado to manage your client communications, then sending forms is one thing you definitely need to know how to do.  But how?  When I offboard clients, this is the main thing they all want to have a good understanding of.  


Let me walk you through all the ways you can send a form in Dubsado, step by step. You'll learn when it's best to automate this process and how to ensure your clients complete the form on time.


WRITE THE DELIVERY EMAIL

First things first - assuming you already have a form ready to go, you need to go ahead and write a delivery email for it.  Go to TEMPLATES > CANNED EMAILS to write an email for each form that would get emailed to a client.  Share any specific information that’s related to this step. 

Make sure you include the smart fields for the form link in this email ←- THIS IS CRUCIAL

{{form | formLink}}

It’s totally fine to create this and email it on the fly!  But even in the case of always sending it manually, it’s still incredibly time-saving to have at least a template email to fall back on.  


|01| SEND A DUBSADO FORM AUTOMATICALLY:

There are actually THREE ways you can automate this!


1. SEND A DUBSADO FORM IN A WORKFLOW

Once your form has been created, and the delivery email has been written, you can automate this inside a workflow.  (Templates > Workflows)


Inside a workflow, click ADD ACTION.  You’ll want the action to be SEND FORM.  You’ll always want this to be the action, unless you’re sending a contract.  Then you will choose SEND CONTRACT.  *This is CRUCIAL* You cannot send either of these by using the action SEND EMAIL.  

After that, select the form (or contract), and the email that will deliver it.  Make sure the email has the correct smart field link inside it!  I almost always choose to add to portal and email to client.  


Select the trigger.  If it’s the first step in the workflow, you will want to choose AFTER WORKFLOW STARTED or AFTER ALL PREVIOUS ACTIONS COMPLETE.  


The combination of triggers and forms is endless, and very determined by your unique client processes.  You may want to send a questionnaire 1 week before an appointment is scheduled, or 1 hour after a meeting.  It may go out as soon as an invoice is paid, or a contract is signed.  


*pro tip: send reminders with the trigger AFTER FORM NOT COMPLETE

2. ATTACH A FORM TO A DUBSADO SCHEDULER

Inside a workflow, you cannot send a form and a scheduler in the same email.  The reason for this is because of the Actions.  


You have 3 actions that relate to these steps: Send Form, Send Appointment Scheduler and Send Contract.  If you choose Send Form, you can only include ONE form, and you can’t combine a form and a scheduler.

What you CAN do, however, is send a scheduler, and attach a form to it.  From the client’s perspective, this is super seamless.  The client clicks a link to book, selects a date and time, and then presses submit.  They’re then taken to a page with a form or questionnaire. 


*pro tip 1: explain this process in the delivery email, so clients know to expect to fill out a form.  If they don’t know there’s a form there, they may just click submit and close without paying attention.  


*pro tips 2: if you utilize client portals, let them know they can save a draft in their portal and come back to it later! Make sure to activate the portal in a workflow and leave the link to it in the delivery email.


3. ATTACH A CONTRACT TO A PROPOSAL

This last way to automate is specifically for contracts only.  (And know that you can only have 1 official contract per project - any others will need to beunder the heading SUB AGREEMENT and sent as a reg form)

When you’re building a proposal, click over on the settings icon on the left.  Toggle on ATTACH CONTRACT and select the contract you need.  Now, when a client submits the proposal, they will be immediately taken to the contract.  Again, explain this step in the delivery email so they know what to expect!  I also take it a step further and add these steps to the bottom of the proposal near the submit button.


Pssst… you can also toggle on the invoice here and make this 3-step booking process completely seamless 🙌🏼

|02| SEND A DUBSADO FORM THROUGH THE CLIENT PORTAL

This is NOT USUALLY the most ideal solution, but it is an option, so I just wanted to throw it out there! If you utilize the client portal, you can simply add a form to the portal, and send the link to the portal to the client.  I think this could be a good idea if you have multiple forms and want to automate this entire process.

STEP 1: In a workflow, first ACTIVATE PORTAL.  Then add the action SEND FORM.  When the window pops up, you can choose to send the form in an email, add to portal, or both.  Only choose ADD TO PORTAL.  Repeat this step for each form you want to add.  

STEP 2: After all your forms are added to the portal, you will want to choose the action SEND EMAIL.  Select an email that will deliver the client portal link and password (this could be pre-written, but you can also write it on the fly).  Make sure to include instructions on what th eportal is and what’s waiting for them there!  

If your client ever saves a questionnaire as a draft, they can also be directed to find the form waiting form them here!

|03| SEND A DUBSADO FORM MANUALLY

No matter how automated your processes are, you definitely need to know how to send a form in Dubsado the old fashioned way - MANUALLY.  And there are actually TWO ways you can go about this:

  1. Click on the FORMS tab inside the client project.  Hover over the form you want to send (if it hasn’t already been added, select it from the drop-down), and click on SEND.  This will open up an email window.  Choose the pre-written email (if you have one) from the bookmark tab, tweak the content as needed, make sure form link is in there and hit send.


  2. Click on the EMAIL tab inside the client project.  Click SEND EMAIL to open up a new email window.  Click on the form link tab (next to the bookmark) and select the form you want to send.  Then click on the bookmark tab to select the pre-written email.  Make sure the form smart field link is in there.  Tweak copy if needed and send! 

*pro tip: If you ever need to send multiple forms to a client at once, this is the best way to do it!  The only other way to send multiple forms at a time would be to add them all to the portal and then send the link to the portal. 

TL;DR: Best practices:

  • Automate when you can

    • Send in a workflow

    • Attach to the scheduler

  • Combine forms with other steps when you can

    • Contract with proposal

    • Attach to a scheduler

    • Place in client portal, and then send one link to direct client to there.

  • Manually send when appropriate.

Whew! Now you should have a clear understanding of the different methods of sending forms in Dubsado, when to use each one and how to make sure they get completed. 

Moving forward, this should save you some time so you can focus on what you do best!  Now go forth and serve your clients + grow your business. ❤️🌱

Do you like a [free] challenge?

DIY your Dubsado in 5 steps 👇🏼👇🏼

  • 1 | Settings & Client processes

  • 2 | Packages & Discounts

  • 3 | Forms

  • 4 | Emails

  • 5 | Schedulers

Here’s what else you’ll get:

🎥 Video tour

🛠 Order of operations - building sections in the wrong order can make things much harder!

💾 Instructions & homework for each step

👯‍♀️ Access to a Certified Dubsado Specialist (hi that’s me! 👋🏼)

Best for those who…. are pretty tech-savvy and need someone to grab them by the shoulders and point them in the right direction.

Investment : free
See this gallery in the original post

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