When you’re running B2B sales, you know proposals are a time suck. Editing Word docs, chasing signatures, wondering if anyone even opened your email—it’s enough to make anyone grumpy. If you’re trying to speed things up for your go-to-market (GTM) team, you’ve probably looked at tools like Betterproposals. But does it actually help, or is it just another “all-in-one” platform that promises more than it delivers? Let’s get into the weeds.
Who Should Care About This Review
- B2B teams juggling multiple proposals a month
- Sales leaders tired of proposal chaos
- Ops folks who want better tracking, less admin, and fewer mistakes
- Anyone who thinks “just send a PDF” isn’t cutting it anymore
If you’re shipping out a handful of big, custom deals every month—or if your proposals are a bottleneck for your GTM team—this is for you.
What Betterproposals Claims to Do
Betterproposals pitches itself as a way to create, send, and track proposals all in one place. The big promises:
- Drag-and-drop proposal builder (no designers needed)
- Live links instead of PDFs (track opens and views)
- E-signatures built in
- Payments and integrations with CRM tools
- Analytics so you know what’s working
That all sounds great. But here’s what actually matters in day-to-day use.
The Real Pros: What Actually Works
1. Proposals Don’t Get Lost
Sending a proposal as a live link—rather than an email attachment—makes a real difference. You can see when someone opens it. You know if it’s been shared around. That kind of visibility isn’t just a gimmick: it helps you follow up at the right time and stops you from guessing if your proposal’s rotting in someone’s inbox.
Pro tip: Set up alerts for when your proposal is viewed. It’s a nudge to check in while you’re still top of mind.
2. Templates Save Time (If You Set Them Up Right)
Betterproposals comes with a bunch of templates. Out of the box, they’re… fine. Most teams will want to customize or build their own. If you invest a few hours up front making templates that fit your process (your brand, your pricing models, your T&Cs), you’ll save a ton of time later.
- Drag-and-drop editor is genuinely easy to use
- You can lock down sections so reps can’t mess with legal text
- Dynamic fields (merge tags) mean less copy-paste
But: If your deals are super complex or you need a lot of conditional logic, you’ll hit the limits of what templates can do pretty fast.
3. E-Signing Is Seamless
This one’s as simple as it sounds: clients can sign right in the proposal. No extra logins, no bouncing to DocuSign. If you’re used to chasing signatures, this alone is worth the price of admission. Signatures are legally binding (as much as any e-signature is), and you get a clear audit trail.
4. Analytics Are Actually Useful
You get real numbers on who opened, how long they spent, and if they forwarded your proposal. This helps you:
- Spot tire-kickers vs. genuinely interested prospects
- Follow up at the right time
- See which sections people care about (and which they skip)
It isn’t Salesforce-level reporting, but for most B2B teams, it’s enough.
Where Betterproposals Falls Short
No tool is perfect, so let’s skip the sales pitch and talk about the friction points.
1. Limited Customization for Complex Deals
If your deals are always one-off, have lots of pricing options, or require heavy back-and-forth edits, the template system can feel limiting. You can’t build out truly dynamic proposals with branching logic or build-your-own-quote configurators. There are some workarounds, but if you’re selling, say, complex SaaS or multi-product bundles, you may butt heads with the editor.
Workaround: Use merge tags and custom fields for the basics, but don’t expect it to replace a full CPQ (Configure Price Quote) system.
2. Integrations Are Decent, Not Deep
Betterproposals hooks into most common CRMs (HubSpot, Pipedrive, Salesforce, etc.) and tools like Zapier. But if you need real-time sync, two-way data flow, or custom workflows, you might be disappointed. Integrations tend to be “push” only (send data out, but not much comes in).
Heads up: Budget time for manual review if you’re expecting everything to just magically “talk” to each other.
3. Branding Can Be Tricky
You can slap your logo and colors on proposals, but if you’re picky about fonts, layout, or want something that looks wildly custom, you’ll hit the wall. The editor is simple, but not a design playground. If you need pixel-perfect control, or you have a designer who hates templates, expect some eye-rolling.
4. Pricing Adds Up for Large Teams
Betterproposals charges per user. For small teams, it’s reasonable. For bigger sales squads or if you have lots of “view only” users (legal, finance, etc.), it can get expensive fast. There’s no real seat flexibility.
How to Actually Use Betterproposals: A Step-by-Step Guide
Here’s how a typical B2B team can get set up and see value without wasting a week fiddling with settings.
Step 1: Map Your Proposal Process
Before you touch the software, sketch out your real proposal workflow. Who creates the draft? Who approves? Who sends? Where does the final version live? This’ll save you a ton of headaches later.
Step 2: Build Core Templates
- Start with your most common proposal types (e.g., SaaS subscription, service quote, pilot project)
- Use Betterproposals’ drag-and-drop editor to recreate your current docs
- Add dynamic fields for client name, pricing, terms, etc.
- Lock down legal sections so nobody “tweaks” the fine print
Pro tip: Don’t try to make a template for every possible deal. Cover 80% of use cases, fill in the rest as needed.
Step 3: Set Up Integrations (But Don’t Rely on Them)
- Connect your CRM if you have one
- Set up email notifications for views, signatures, and comments
- If you use Zapier, build simple automations (like “create new deal in CRM when proposal is signed”)
Remember: these integrations are helpers, not a total replacement for manual checks.
Step 4: Train Your Team (Briefly)
- Show how to create and send a proposal (should take 15–20 minutes)
- Walk through the signature flow
- Make sure everyone knows how to use merge fields and templates
Skip the deep dive—most people just need the basics.
Step 5: Launch and Iterate
- Send a few real proposals
- Get feedback from clients (“Did anything confuse you?”)
- Make quick tweaks to your templates and process
Don’t overthink it—just keep improving based on what actually happens.
What to Ignore (Or Not Overthink)
- Fancy video embeds and widgets: They sound cool, but most clients just want clarity and speed.
- Deep analytics: Nice for pattern spotting, but you probably don’t need to slice and dice everything.
- “Branding” tweaks: Most clients care more about substance than your exact shade of blue.
Bottom Line: Is Betterproposals Worth It for B2B Teams?
If you’re sending a few proposals a month and want to look more professional, track what’s happening, and get deals signed faster, Betterproposals is genuinely useful. It works best for teams who can live within standard templates, don’t need wild custom logic, and want to spend less time fiddling with docs.
Could you build this all in-house with a mix of Word docs, DocuSign, and CRM hacks? Sure. But you’ll spend more time on busywork and chasing signatures. Betterproposals isn’t magic, but it’s a solid tool for most B2B sales teams.
Keep it simple. Set up your templates, get the team using it, and tweak as you go. Don’t let the quest for the “perfect” process slow you down—good enough beats slow and complicated every time.