Hello fellow HoneyBookers!
I feel like I’ve seen this topic come up a few times lately and wanted to share some insight.
So, you may be wondering when to use a lead form over a smart file. Or maybe you have a lead inside of a project already and when you send them a lead form it creates a whole new project.
Yes, the most obvious difference is that you can share a lead form with leads outside of your HB account (meaning they don’t currently have project), and smart files can only be sent within a project.
But the biggest thing you should keep in mind when creating lead forms vs booking type smart files for your workflows, is that a lead form is used for exactly that, for leads, and not current clients or even those “leads” already inside of your account. Why? Because having someone fill out a lead form that already has a project is essentially making them fill out a new contact form since lead forms are basically bulked up versions of contact forms. Contact forms (and now lead forms) are used to intake leads. So if a lead is already inside of your HB account, you don’t need to intake them again, meaning you don’t want them to complete a lead form.
So now you may be wondering “but I have my whole booking/scheduling process created in a lead form. How do I get them to book/schedule a call if I’m not supposed to send a lead form?” If you are ready for a lead connected to a HB project to book you or schedule a call, you would send them a smart file version of your lead form instead. This will allow them to do all the same things you were wanting in the lead form, but without treating them as a new project...because if they complete the lead form, it will create a brand new project because HB thinks this is a new lead.
I hope this explanation helps you to better determine when you use a lead form over a smart file, and maybe even why you keep getting new projects created.
Definitely comment below if you have any questions or additional thoughts on this.
