If chasing down client payments is eating up your time—or just driving you nuts—you're not alone. Automating payment collection is supposed to give you your time (and sanity) back, but it only works if you set it up right. This guide is for freelancers, small agencies, and anyone tired of playing bill collector. I’ll break down how to set up automated payments in Betterproposals, what to watch out for, and how to avoid the classic mistakes.
Let’s skip the fluff and get straight to getting paid.
Why Automate Payment Collection?
Before we get into the how, a quick gut check: should you even bother with automated payments? Here’s the honest take.
Automated payment collection is worth it if:
- You send multiple proposals a month and hate following up on invoices.
- You work with clients who forget (or “forget”) to pay.
- You want to get paid faster and spend less time in your inbox.
It’s probably overkill if:
- You close 1-2 deals a year and know every client personally.
- Your work requires highly-custom payment terms that never fit the templates.
If you’re in the “worth it” camp, let’s get into it.
Step 1: Connect Your Payment Provider
Betterproposals doesn’t handle money directly—they plug into payment processors like Stripe and PayPal. You need one of these accounts set up first.
What You’ll Need
- A Stripe or PayPal account that can accept business payments.
- The login credentials handy (it’s worth double-checking you can actually sign in).
How To Connect
- Log into Betterproposals.
- Go to Settings (the gear icon—it’s not hidden, for once).
- Find Integrations and look for the payments section.
- Click Connect next to Stripe or PayPal.
- Authorize Betterproposals to access your account.
Pro Tip:
If you’re deciding between Stripe and PayPal, Stripe tends to have lower fees, and it’s much less likely to randomly freeze your account for “verification.” If you don’t care about international payments, Stripe is usually the less headache-inducing option.
What to Ignore:
Don’t bother with the “manual payment” option unless you like chasing checks. That’s just a fancy way of saying “we’ll remind you to do it yourself.”
Step 2: Set Up Payment Terms in Your Proposal Template
Now that you can take payments, you need to tell Betterproposals how and when to collect.
Editing Your Templates
- Go to Templates in your Betterproposals dashboard.
- Open the proposal template you use most (or create a new one).
- Look for the Payment or Pricing Table block—this is where the magic happens.
- Enable Accept Payments (usually a toggle or checkbox).
- Set your payment terms:
- Collect full payment upfront: Good for small projects or new clients you don’t fully trust yet.
- Deposit and balance: Standard for larger projects. You can set a percentage or flat amount for the deposit, and the rest on completion.
- Milestone payments: For multi-stage projects, you can set amounts tied to deliverables.
Honest Take:
Don’t overcomplicate this. Most clients expect either a deposit or full payment upfront. Milestones sound nice but only make sense for big, multi-month projects. If you’re doing $500 logos, just get paid up front and save yourself the admin.
Step 3: Add Payment Options to Your Proposals
When you send a proposal, you’ll have the option to enable payment collection. This is where you decide which payment methods the client can use.
- Create your proposal as usual.
- Scroll to the payment section.
- Choose which payment methods you want to accept (Stripe, PayPal, or both).
- Set any additional terms (like due dates or late fees).
What Works:
Giving clients options is good, but don’t overwhelm them. If you know your clients mostly use credit cards, stick to Stripe. If you have a client who only trusts PayPal, turn that on for them. You can enable both, but just know you’ll be dealing with two platforms’ fees and dashboards.
What to Ignore:
“Bank transfer” links or “offline payment” notes—unless you’re working with old-school clients who physically mail checks, these just create confusion and manual work.
Step 4: Test the Setup
Don’t just trust that it works—run a test. You don’t want your client to be your guinea pig.
- Send a proposal to yourself (use a different email if you can).
- Walk through the process as if you’re the client. Fill out the fields, hit accept, and try the payment link.
- Make a small payment using a real card (you can refund yourself later).
Things to Watch:
- Does the payment link actually go through?
- Does Betterproposals mark the proposal as “accepted” and “paid”?
- Do you get notified (and does the client get a receipt)?
Pro Tip:
Check if the payment shows up in your Stripe or PayPal dashboard immediately. If it’s missing, something’s wrong. Fix it before you send real proposals.
Step 5: Automate the Follow-Up (But Don’t Rely on It Alone)
Betterproposals can send reminders if a client hasn’t paid. This is handy, but not foolproof.
- Set up auto-reminders: In your payment settings, you can have the system send nudges (e.g., “Hey, your payment is due”) after a few days.
- Customize the message: Don’t use the default robot-sounding text. A real-sounding message gets more responses.
- Still follow up personally: If the payment is overdue by more than a week, pick up the phone or send a direct email. Automation helps, but people ignore automated emails all the time.
What Works:
Automated reminders catch honest mistakes and forgetful clients. They rarely move the needle for clients who are actively avoiding payment.
What to Ignore:
Don’t set up reminders every 24 hours. That’s just annoying and will get your emails filtered as spam.
Step 6: Keep an Eye on Fees and Payout Times
Automated doesn’t mean instant—or free. Both Stripe and PayPal take a cut (usually around 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction) and may hold funds for a day or two.
- Stripe: Usually pays out in 2 business days (sometimes longer for new accounts).
- PayPal: Instant to your PayPal balance, but transferring to your bank can take a day or two.
- Betterproposals: Doesn’t take an extra cut—they just connect you to the processors.
Honest Take:
Fees are unavoidable. Build them into your pricing. If you’re losing sleep over $15 on a $500 invoice, raise your rates. Don’t nickel-and-dime clients with “processing fee” add-ons. It just looks tacky.
Step 7: Keep Your Process Simple (and Don’t Over-Automate)
It’s tempting to automate everything: reminders, thank-you notes, follow-ups, even “client onboarding.” But more automation means more things can break.
- Automate payments and reminders.
- Handle disputes, custom terms, and big clients personally.
- Review your setup every 6 months—payment processors change rules, and so do your business needs.
What Works:
Automation is a tool, not a replacement for real communication. Use it to cut out the boring stuff, not the important stuff.
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Iterate as You Go
Setting up automated payment collection with Betterproposals isn’t rocket science, but it does take a bit of patience and testing. Start with the basics: connect your payment provider, set clear payment terms, test the flow, and automate follow-ups. Don’t get sucked into overcomplicating things with too many payment options or fancy templates.
Get paid, skip the headaches, and remember: you can always tweak your process as you learn what works for your clients (and what just creates more noise for you).
If you hit a snag, don’t waste an hour searching forums—just test, adjust, and keep moving. It’s your business, not a science project.