Is Anyone Struggling to Book Clients After Switching to Smart Files?

Hey ​@Heather Thompson! My name is Matthew and I’m a brand designer, biz coach, and HB Pro. What industry are you in? I’ve been using HoneyBook for about 5 years now so I totally have experienced adjustments from Legacy to Smart Files. Full transparency, I never noticed a dropped in conversions with Smart Files, only just my own adjustment to creating them and learning the new builder.

However, when we see client conversion drop-off that’s usually indicative of two things:

1. Tech
2. Messaging/Design

Tech

• Have you gone through your process as a user? For example, using your own email and going through their client journey to ensure there are not glitches. If there are, you’d want to check with Chat Support to make sure they fix the bugs
• Are folks opening your Smart Files? When you check the Activity feed or Files tab within your Project Workspace, does it show that they’ve viewed any pages yet?
• Are you using your own email or sending via the HB mailman email? You can check this within Settings > Integrations
• What is the subject line of the email the Smart Files are sending with? Always want to ensure it’s not getting flagged for spam.

Messaging/Design

• When we put your previous Legacy file next to a Smart File, what are the differences?
• In my own experience, I’ve noticed for my audience (entrepreneurs, independent biz owners, and medium organizations) like things super simply and straight forward. As such I’ve ensured that my messaging and design are dialed in for that experience:
  • I keep my messaging very pragmatic
  • I narrate every step of the journey – on the first page I tell them what to expect on the remaining pages, what’s required, optional, and/or what they will do after completing the file
  • Design-wise I make sure everything is legible and segmented into simple steps and quick wins

Question: if you’re willing, you can always drop some screenshots below of your new Smart Files and I’d be happy to offers some thoughts this week.

Hey!

I have not noticed a drop in bookings, but that might just be based around my industry. What I have noticed is a massive drop in efficiency because the new system is significantly less intuitive and much more complicated. As such it is very possible that something that was done automatically before now requires you to manually edit or adjust and that could be resulting in an impact on the client side. I am sure the changes were made, as always to “modernize and bring new tools to your finger tips to grow your business” but in my opinion they massively changed a working formula for my business and made my life significantly more difficult. I am convinced at some point it is going to result in an issue on my side or lead me to have to change platforms.

I hope your bookings increase and everything can work out!

Hey ​@Veronica Reilly! I’m Matthew—brand designer and HB Pro. Are there specific concerns or questions you have about the Smart File builder I can answer for ya? Or perhaps reasons things feel less intuitive? I ask because a few of my clients who had access to Legacy files felt this way at first and I’m genuinely curious how I could help :) 

​@Heather Thompson 

I’m not sure what part of the process you’re using smart files in, but…

In my past life, I was a presentation designer for Fortune 100 companies. One cardinal sin was people felt they had to have ALL of the things on a slide. They refused to take anything off those slides. It made for terrible presentations. 

Small businesses, proposals, and smart files are no different.

If sending in an initial “here’s more information” phase—professionals tend to put WAY more in than is necessary. Things the potential client doesn’t, and couldn’t, even care about yet. 

I’m guilty of it, too.

After ruthlessly cutting pages and information, I noticed a faster booking rate and a 100% completion rate on viewed files. 

The process needs to be simple.

It needs to be easy to understand.

And it has to take a little pressure off their life. (Making the decision easy.)

Those three things will win no matter how talented another company is, what their reputation is, how pretty their marketing materials are, and oftentimes, regardless of pricing.

So— 

Preview your file in the mobile view—if it’s too much to view there then there’s simply too much in the file. 

Lastly, do not make them verify who they are before viewing the smart file. Not even for a booking file.