HoneyBook: How to Accept Payments

Many businesses need to realize that branding includes every stage of customer experience. From the first interaction to the final payment, every point of connection creates and reinforces’ a business’ identity.

When it comes to remittance, extra care is needed to avoid the awkwardness and even pain that is sometimes associated with this step. Money is a personal matter, and compensation should be handled with care.

With HoneyBook, developing painless payment processes painless for you and your customers is easy. The platform removes the need for pestering and gives both parties a convenient, seamless business experience.

Read on to learn how to put HoneyBook to work for you in this vital part of your brand.

What are the benefits of HoneyBook payments?

HoneyBook’s Payment feature carries many benefits for business owners and customers. These include:

• 24/7 payment availability
• Mobile App to make payments anywhere
• Saves time for business owners through automations
• 1% transfer fee (one of the lowest on the market)
• SLL encryption for safe and secure transactions
• No hidden fees
• Objective communication and payment platform
• Automatic reminders

Best of all, you can enjoy these benefits through the easy, 3-step process outlined below. With HoneyBook, payments have never been smoother!

The first step in receiving payments is delivering an invoice to the customer. A good invoice is worth its weight in gold by providing clarity and objectivity for all parties about services and compensation. HoneyBook makes it easy to create and send crisp, clear invoices in seconds. Templates allow you to choose and customize your invoice’s structure, line items, font, sizes, and more. You can easily save and edit your templates for future use.

HoneyBook also avoids ambiguity and miscalculations by applying discounts, the transfer fee, and taxes rates for you. A professional, accurate invoice can boost a business’s brand by making your clients feel like they are getting a valuable, luxurious service (which they are) rather than like you’re nagging them for money.

Another great benefit of HoneyBook is that it allows you to customize your workflow to send invoices automatically. If you and your client agree to a recurring payment schedule, HoneyBook will send the invoices at the appropriate times so you won’t have to.

Every business situation is different, but HoneyBook allows you to tailor your invoices and payment schedules to meet the needs of individual clients.

Step 2: Collect payments

After the invoice comes the actual payment steps. HoneyBook’s platform makes this step pure bliss for business owners and customers.

HoneyBook takes all major credit cards as well as bank transfers. In turn, business owners can set up direct deposits to their bank. If you need to accept payments outside of HoneyBook (e.g., via cash, check, PayPal, Venmo, etc.), you can manually mark those transactions as “paid” within HoneyBook. Although payment processing times differ depending on the payment method, you can expect 2-3 business days for credit card payments and 7-8 business days for ACH/bank transfers.

The invoice reminders mentioned above come in the form of personalized emails from you (that you create in advance) and a secure link to the invoice. Clients can click the link from their mobile phone or laptop (with no login or password required) and use the HoneyBook platform to make their payments. Since clients can pay from any device, they are more apt to pay at their earliest convenience, which gives them peace of mind and gets resources to you as quickly as possible without nagging.

One of the best parts of this process is that, throughout the payment process, your clients get to see your brand logo and the payment screens that you’ve designed for them. HoneyBook’s platform gives you control over the look and feel of your business without you needing to be “on-call” for each step.

Step 3: Maintenance and reminders

While many people presume that business interactions stop after payment, HoneyBook knows that business relationships are more complicated than that.

For one thing, many business transactions are based on structured or ongoing payments. For these, clients can sign up for auto-pay, making life easier for you and them. With auto-pay, automations trigger email reminders sent at intervals to clients and payment status notifications sent to you. You won’t have to initiate, “pester,” or follow up with client reminders. Not only does this allow for faster admin, but it also fosters a better relationship between the humans involved (since HoneyBook acts as the objective third party in financial transactions).

However, “objective” does not mean impersonal. You can customize reminders for your client based on their personality and needs. You can personalize the language in the email, as well as the frequency of the reminders, depending on what will serve individual clients.

For another thing, HoneyBook also cares about your experience as a business owner. When you have your HoneyBook set up efficiently, you’ll get to experience the perks of your brand as well in that HoneyBook keeps track of your transactions for you in the form of a log that shows the following:

• Project name
• Invoice number
• Payment status
• Charge date

Whenever you need to, you can scroll back through your transaction history and even click on individual transactions for more information.

Additionally, HoneyBook integrates with quickbooks, easing your tax prep needs and allowing you to generate any needed reports. You can also benefit from HoneyBook’s reminder features by setting up personal payment reminders for yourself.

One last thing: while HoneyBook trusts that you and your client will have an excellent experience together, they also know that disputes happen. For these times, they offer dispute resolution services so you aren’t left alone as a business owner. How cool is that?

HoneyBook knows that when admin runs seamlessly and safely for you, you have more bandwidth to give your best to your clients.

What are the best practices for HoneyBook payments?

How can you ensure you’ll receive these benefits using HoneyBook as a payment platform? The following tips straight from HoneyBook will help you develop best practices for making an excellent client experience:

• Use clear subject lines in all communications (e.g., “Payment Reminder”)
• Start with the client’s name and a polite introduction
• Keep copy short, clear, and friendly
• Make all payment terms clear
• Include details on how to pay or a link to make an online payment
• Attach the invoice
• Automate payment reminders on a regular schedule

We want to add our own tip to this list: make sure your clients understand everything. Explain to them at the outset of your business agreement how payments work and how easy they will be through HoneyBook.

When everyone is on the same page and using HoneyBook’s straightforward, convenient platform, payments can be a painless (and even pleasant) part of the business process. Don’t be surprised if your clients want to work with you again.

Ready for your own seamless payment experiences?

HoneyBook makes payments a simple, secure, and seamless experience for your clients and you! With automated invoicing, payment reminders, and a detailed transaction log, businesses can move forward with minimal involvement from you.

If you’re ready to shift your energies from “pestering” your clients to offering the services you want to give them in the first place, Luneer Mgmt can help! Check out our free honeybook setup guide , or contact one of our outstanding team members to help you set up personalized invoices and reminders.

Don’t have HoneyBook yet? Great! Get your subscription at 50% off by using our affiliate link .

WRITTEN BY: KATIE BARNETT