How to Offer Payment Plans in Dubsado

One of the questions I hear most often is something along the lines of…

“Is there a way to send a proposal to a client and have them choose between multiple payment options?”

Unfortunately, there’s not a native way to do this currently. However, there are some work around options for how to offer payment plans in Dubsado.

Payment Plan Option #1 – Create Multiple Versions of your Proposals/Workflows

If you offer a “Pay in Full” option and a “50/50” option for payments (for example), create proposals and workflows to match those options. Then after you’ve discussed everything with your client and they’ve told you which option they want (or you’ve decided to only show them one option), simply apply the appropriate one and go from there.

So for example, if they want to pay in full, apply the “Pay in Full” workflow. That workflow would send a proposal with ONLY the pay in full option for them to select. Once that full payment is received and after they sign the contract (if that’s when payment is due), then the rest of the workflow will finish out your process without waiting for another payment to come in.

On the other hand, if the client wants to pay 50% up front, apply the “50/50” workflow. That workflow would send a proposal with a payment schedule that only requires 50% of the total payment up front. Dubsado will only be “looking” for 50% of the invoice to be paid before it runs the rest of the workflow. Then sometime later in the workflow (or based on the 2nd due date of the payment plan), send the client their final balance to be paid.

This option is probably the simplest to create. However, it assumes your client will know which payment plan they want before you even send them a proposal.

Payment Plan Option #2 – Create Multiple Versions of Your Package

In this scenario, if you offered the same “Pay in Full” and “50/50” options for payments, you’d need to create different packages to match those options. Set each package priced at 100% of whatever the first payment needs to be. So if the total price of what you’re selling is $1,000, create a “Pay in Full” package priced at $1,000. Next, create a “50/50” package priced at only $500.

In your proposal, add both packages as options that the client can choose from. Set the initial payment plan to collect “100% of the remaining balance” (in other words, 100% of whichever package is chosen). So if the client chooses the “Pay in Full” package, they will be required to pay 100% of $1,000. But if they choose the “50/50” package, they will be required to pay 100% of only $500.

The workflow will run as soon as the invoice is “paid in full.” This is because the client has satisfied that first payment (100% of whatever package they chose). For clients who choose to pay in full, no other invoices are required. The workflow can run without needing to wait for more payments. However, if they chose the “50/50” package, you’ll need to manually add the remaining balance. You can either add it to the same invoice or create a 2nd invoice and send it later on in the workflow (or send it manually as appropriate).

This option is a little bit “trickier” to create and has a manual piece to it. However, it’s the closest thing to having a “native” option for how to offer payment plans in Dubsado.

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