Offer tailored services to clients and track your revenue and milestones throughout the project

If you sell specialized services to clients on a project-to-project basis, like photography, consultation, or website design services, you can manage these projects and your clients in the Invoicing panel. Here you can track revenue, review upcoming project milestones, and send invoices and payment reminders.

Tip: This guide is about the invoices you send to clients. For information about the billing invoices you receive from Squarespace, visit Reviewing your Squarespace account invoices.

Collect leads

Add a contact page or section to your site so leads can get in touch with you. Choose from one of our pre-built layouts designed to help you evaluate prospective clients by asking questions like:

• How did you hear about us?
• What’s the date of your service delivery?
• What’s your budget?

You can edit the pre-built fields to suit your needs.

When potential clients fill out your form, you’ll receive an email, and their form submission will appear in the Contacts panel. To review a form submission:

1. Open the Contacts panel.
2. Select Form submitters from the dropdown menu in the top-left.
3. Click a contact to review the details.
4. Click Form Details to review a list of forms from that contact, and click the title of the form to open their submission in Squarespace.

To respond to a lead, reply to the email you received about their form submission. To start tracking important notes and milestones, create a new project.

Tip: You can also connect a third-party tool like Mailchimp and Google Sheets to collect form submissions.

Create a new project

A project is where you'll capture and review the important details of your ongoing relationship with a client, send invoices, and keep track of your deliverables. To create a new project:

1. Open the Selling panel, click Invoicing, then click Projects.
2. Click New in the top-right corner, then select Project.
3. To create a project for an existing client contact, search for them by name or email. If they’ve already submitted a form through your website, you can check the box beside their form submission to attach it to the project, then click Continue.
4. Or, to create a new client contact, click Add new client. Enter the client’s details, then click Continue.
5. Edit the project name and click Create project.

This creates a new project attached to the client’s contact information. You can only connect one contact to a project.

Manage projects

The Invoicing panel displays all your projects in the Projects page. Click a project to review these project details:

• Project total - The revenue you’ve collected from the project to-date.
• Recent activity - The last action you or your client took on the project.
• Next milestone - The next incomplete deliverable in your milestones.
• Notes - Thoughts, reminders, and other details you want to remember.
• Milestones - Important dates and tasks.
• Invoices - Payments you’ve requested and received.
• Form submissions - The client’s responses to your contact form.

It’s not possible to reassign a project to a different client at this time.

Add project milestones

Project milestones are the main touchpoints and tasks of the project. For example, if you’re a wedding photographer, you might add milestones for your initial meeting, when the final payment is due, the ceremony, and the deadline for returning the final prints to your clients.

To add a project milestone:

1. Under Milestones, click Add milestone.
2. Add a description, like Wedding day.
3. Select the date.
4. Click Save.

To mark a milestone as complete, check the box beside it. To edit or delete a milestone, hover over it and click the pencil or trash can icon.

Send an invoice

Note: Before you begin, ensure you’ve connected a payment processor to your site, that your business information is up-to-date, and that you've set up any applicable tax rates. If you're sending invoices for physical items, ensure you add flat rate shipping or local pickup options to your store. If you don't have a flat rate or pickup option, or if you only offer carrier calculated or weight-dependent shipping, your clients will be unable to progress through the checkout process and pay their invoices. 

On any Squarespace plan, you can send professional invoices that are personalized to your brand. When you’re ready to send an invoice:

1. On the Invoices page, click Create invoice. You can also create an invoice from the Projects page by clicking New and then Invoice.
2. In the menu that appears, you'll have the option to select an existing client or add a new client who will receive the invoice.
3. Edit the invoice name, due date, and optional memo.
4. To add line items, click Add line item, enter the name of the service, select the product type, and enter the quantity and cost.
5. To charge sales tax, check the box beside Add applicable taxes to item at checkout. This option displays after you set up tax rates. Sales tax is calculated at checkout based on your customer's billing address.
6. Repeat steps four and five for each line item. Each line item adds to the invoice total. When you’re finished, click Done.
7. To apply a discount, switch the toggle on beside Apply a discount, click % or $ to set the discount type, then enter the discount amount.
8. Click Styles to match the invoice email to your site’s branding. To learn more about styling emails, visit Customer email notifications.
9. When you’re ready to email your client, click Send, then click Send again in the confirmation window.

If you sell physical products and have set up shipping rates, customers will be charged for shipping at checkout based on their billing address.

Invoice payments have no transaction fee, but are subject to payment processor fees, which vary by payment solution.

Collect a deposit

To collect a deposit from clients, create one invoice for the deposit, and a second invoice for the remaining balance after they’ve paid the deposit.

How clients pay invoices

When a client receives the invoice via email, they can click Pay invoice to enter their payment information on a secure payment page. After they pay, they receive a confirmation email. The invoice is marked as Paid automatically on the project page, and their payment appears in the Orders panel. It’s not possible to mark an invoice as paid if clients pay separately.

Remind clients about an invoice

To re-send an invoice to a client:

1. Click the … icon beside the invoice.
2. Click Remind.
3. Click Submit.

Manage invoices

To cancel a sent invoice:

1. Click … beside the invoice.
2. Click Cancel, then click Cancel invoice to confirm. Clients can’t pay a cancelled invoice.

To delete an invoice draft before you’ve sent it to a client:

1. Click the … beside the invoice.
2. Click delete.
3. Click delete invoice.

To edit and re-send an invoice:

1. Click … beside the invoice.
2. Click Edit.
3. Make changes, then click Update & send.

Keep in mind, it’s not possible to reassign an invoice to a different client, even if the invoice is still a draft. To assign an invoice to a different client, cancel or delete the invoice and create a new one.

Refund a payment

To refund a payment:

1. Click the … icon beside the invoice.
2. Click Refund.
3. Click Issue Refund.

Delete a project

Before deleting a project, ensure it doesn't include any invoices. It's not possible to delete projects that have unpaid or canceled invoices. To delete a project:

1. Open the project, scroll down, and click Delete project. 
2. Check the acknowledgement box, then click Delete project. 

Deleting a project doesn't delete client contacts or form submissions. Deleted projects can't be recovered.