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42: Squarespace Invoicing Review: is it worth a try? · ThinkInsideTheSquare

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: If you offer one-on-one services, like website designs or consulting or anything that requires an invoice, you're probably familiar with the feeling of juggling a million tasks at once.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: You're chasing down project details, firing off emails to clients and you're hoping that invoice that you sent ages ago just magically gets paid Sound familiar.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: If you're tired of that constant hustle to stay organized and get paid on time, there is good news.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: My friend, squarespace has introduced a brand new feature designed to be your secret weapon Squarespace invoicing.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: In this episode of Think Inside the Square, you'll get an overview of this new feature so you can decide if it's the right program to start using for your own business.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Think Inside the Square, a podcast full of tips and tricks to help you create a Squarespace website that you're proud of.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, becca Harpain, squarespace expert and creator of InsideTheSquareco.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: In this episode we're talking about Squarespace invoicing, a brand new feature.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: I'll be breaking down how it works, how to set it up and some of the reasons that you might want to give it a try.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: For a transcript of this episode, along with the links to any resources mentioned, visit insidethesquareco forward slash podcast.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: The term Squarespace is a trademark of Squarespace Incorporated.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: This content is not affiliated with Squarespace Incorporated.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Full disclosure here.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: My friend, I have not set out a client invoice in a few years.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: I made the transition to full-time educator around 2021, and I do invoice some of the companies that I do contract work for, including Squarespace itself, but I don't regularly invoice clients like I used to Before I was a full-time Squarespace educator.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: I definitely had my fair share of frantic scrambles searching for client emails, project notes and whatever invoice I swear was overdue.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Squarespace invoicing could have really helped me out back in the day, so in this episode, I'm going to share the reasons of why I would use it and the reasons why I wouldn't, so you can make an informed decision for your business.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: First and foremost, it's free for us Squarespace users.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: There are payment processing fees associated with your client paying the invoice using Squarespace payments or any other form of payment, but that's a cost of doing business.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: The actual feature itself, the invoice creation and the project management it's a part of your Squarespace subscription already yes, even personal plans.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: It also integrates directly with your website and it can have your logo right on the invoice.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Now, being an artist and a designer myself, my first question about this new feature was how do I make it pretty?
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: Squarespace invoicing gives us a few options for creating branded invoices and they have a few pre-designed templates that you can customize with your logo and your color scheme.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: And they have a few pre-designed templates that you can customize with your logo and your color scheme.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: But these design settings are connected to the global email styles that work with customer notifications.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: That means it is not the full suite of options that we have for our website.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: You're limited to font packs and setting default colors.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: Sadly, my favorite font, poppins, is not on that list.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: I have literally changed email service providers to keep my font, so this would be a big setback for me if it weren't for the direct integration into everything else Squarespace.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: So if you're super picky about fonts like me, stick with me here.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: You still might want to give it a try, even if these invoices won't look perfectly on brand.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: One of the features of these invoices is that we can associate them with project milestones, associating specific costs with parts of a project and seeing outstanding invoices at a glance on a client's profile this project management tracking.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: It's built right into the invoices feature and it can help you manage your projects effectively to make sure that everything stays on track.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: That was something I used to really struggle with when I used multiple systems to invoice my clients.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Squarespace invoicing really streamlines that process.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: Now let's talk about the bottom line getting paid for your work the whole point of sending an invoice right.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: Your clients can pay invoices directly through your website and this invoice integrates seamlessly with Squarespace payments so you can manage everything in one place.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: Now, at the time of recording this, squarespace payments is available in the United States, but it's unclear when it's going to roll out to other countries.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: I'll link to the official support article in the show notes so you can check that out for the most up-to-date info.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: So again, squarespace invoicing the feature.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: It's included with all Squarespace plans.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: You don't need to pay any additional fees to access this invoicing tool or the project management associated with it.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: You only pay the standard processing fees associated with receiving payments.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: Now this is a big reason that Squarespace invoicing could be incredibly cost effective for service-based businesses.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: You don't have to pay for another software program and figure out how to integrate it with your domain and your email and all that magic.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Now, I'm not a salesperson, but let's say you're sold on this feature and you're ready to give it a try.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Before you dive in headfirst, I want to talk to you about the process.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: This is a podcast, so I'm going to keep it high level and save that tech tutorial stuff for my courses and videos.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: Okay, invoicing itself is designed to be user-friendly, but I want to make sure you genuinely feel confident using it from the get-go.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: So let's break this down.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: The first step to using invoices is to connect a payment solution like Squarespace Payments to your website.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: If you haven't connected a payment processor yet, you need to do that first.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: This will allow clients to pay their invoices directly through your Squarespace platform, saving them time and hassle two things that can prevent you from getting paid.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Now, once you've crossed that off your to-do list, you're ready to create your first invoice.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Again, everyone has this feature and it's free to try.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: Inside your main website menu on the left-hand side of your screen, you're going to see invoicing directly under scheduling.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: The first thing you need to do is specify who this invoice is going to.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: Now Squarespace automatically stores all of the contact information from anyone who submitted a contact form, so you can quickly add those details to an invoice.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: But you don't have to pick a real person, and I don't think you should not.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: For your first one, you'll see the option to add yourself as a test client, so start there.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: On the next screen, you'll be able to create a line item for every item or service and make sure you include the quantity or the invoice due date.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: It's important to be specific about each of the services or products provided and the fees, but this can be a little tricky using Squarespace invoices.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: The only text you can add to the line item itself is the title.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: There are no descriptions, but there is a memo space in the entire invoice.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Now I'm going to say something wild here.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: I don't think you should rely on automation to fill in that text, this memo space.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: This is a great place to get personal about the specific project and make sure the person paying the invoice is confident about investing in your services.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: So, again, there will be a memo spot for that, but each line item can have a title.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Now the invoice itself also has a title, and then you specify when it's due.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Is it immediately or on a specific date?
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: You can also add a discount line, and that discount can be a value or a percentage.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: Now, last but not least, you can click on the styles option to update the branding.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: The official support article and landing page say match your site's branding.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: But let's be honest, all you're matching here are the global email settings, which is very limited when it comes to fonts and other customizations.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Technically, the colors can match, so we're going to call that a win, okay, and your logo or site title that'll be placed on there automatically.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: All right, let's do a recap here about this new feature.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: Squarespace Invoices is a new feature that you don't have to pay extra for.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: It's already a part of your Squarespace subscription, even on a personal plan.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: You can use it to send invoices to your clients or anyone who's filled out a contact form, or even manually add a new client.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: You'll need to manually add a line item to their invoice and you can add a discount too.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: Leg it to the payment processor you already use on Squarespace so your client can pay it online and you specify when it's due.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Good reasons to use it.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: Again, it's free for Squarespace users.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: It integrates with your website, has your logo on it.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: It's one less software program to sign up for.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: That's a big win in my book.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: And you can duplicate an invoice and send it to a different client.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: So if you offer the same style of service, that could be a really helpful feature.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Now, the major downside is that you don't have that much flexibility when it comes to the design, the fonts and the layouts.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: They're really limited.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: So if design is a really big deal, invoices are not going to be ideal.
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: I also want to mention the elephant in the room here.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Squarespace is a website building platform.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Yes, they add cool new features all the time, invoicing being one of them, but when you try to be good at everything, you can't focus on being great at one thing, right?
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: As much as I love Squarespace and all the things that it lets us do as creative entrepreneurs, we have to keep in mind the fact that they aren't focused on becoming the best web-based invoice software program on the market.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Okay, maybe they are, but I feel like companies whose whole thing is one specific task, like project management, will spend more time and resources developing features for that specific task.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: Let's use Squarespace campaigns, for example.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: It's a good program that makes it easy to send emails to people who have filled out a form or purchased a product on my Squarespace site, but this program was launched in 2019, and I still can't have my precious Poppins font, so keep that in mind when evaluating the pros and cons of this new feature At the time of recording.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: This.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: Squarespace isn't dedicated to becoming the world's best invoice program.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: They're creating a feature to help us keep things in one place, and this feature could improve over time.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: For anyone that wants to send basic invoices and do simple project management, this program integration is one you don't have to pay extra for and I think it's worth a try.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed my objective opinion in this relatively new feature.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: There are some pros and there are some cons, but it's free to try it out, so consider adding yourself as a test client to see if you can make it work for your business needs.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed this episode of Think Inside the Square.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: I've got some resources in the show notes for you, so check those out at insidethesquareco forward slash podcast.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: This is episode 42, so that's insidethesquareco forward slash podcast forward slash 42.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for tuning in, and if there's a feature or concept you want me to cover in an upcoming episode, send me a DM on Instagram.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: I'm at thinkinsidethesquare and I would love to hear from you.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening and, most importantly, have fun with your Squarespace website.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: Bye for now.