Set Up Your New AdvicePay Account in 6 Simple Steps
All of the features available below are available on our Professional plan. While users on the Essential plan will not have all of the options described, you can still use it to get up and running quickly! More information on our plans can be found here.
In This Article:
Welcome to AdvicePay! We're so glad to have you. 😀
We have so many great features and customizations available within your AdvicePay account that you may be wondering, "Where do I even begin?"
Never fear! We're here to help you get set up in the quickest, smartest way possible. By using the guide below it's possible to start issuing billing to clients within an afternoon.
(Yes, it really is that simple!)
To kick things off, we highly recommend checking out our AdvicePay Professional Demo -- if you haven't already. This in-depth video is an excellent way to get a full tour of the app!
🗣 Craving a more personalized experience? To get registered for an upcoming live demo of the app where you can dig into more detail and ask questions, we invite you to register right here.
As you complete the following steps, you'll be guided through our most helpful Advisor Knowledge Base tutorials for new users. All of the below -- and more! -- can be found anytime right from the app by clicking on the lifesaver "beacon" as shown below:
Step One: Configure your Firm and Account Settings!
The very first place to begin personalizing your AdvicePay account is by adjusting your settings. To get started, head over to Firm Settings.
Here we've highlighted the most popular areas to be customized before issuing invoices to clients:
- Uploading a Custom Logo
- Adding Additional Info to Invoices (e.g. a company address or phone number)
- Adding a Custom Disclosure
- Invoice Date Ranges: In Advance or In Arrears
- Fee Calculation on Invoices (for help on creating a fee calculator, check out Using the Fee Calculator)
- Description of Services
Next, head to Account Settings:
Under Invoice we recommend reviewing the following:
📍 For a quick demo on how to add some these features, check out this video!
Step Two: Review and Adjust Email Notifications
AdvicePay has a variety of email notifications available for both clients and advisors!
Visit Firm Settings > Emails & Notifications to add a legal disclosure to emails or a BCC recipient for all emails sent across your firm account:
When you're ready, we recommend jumping on over to Account Settings > Emails & Notifications to look at our system notification emails:
📍 Click here for a demo on managing the above settings.
Step Three: Add Admins (and Advisors if needed)
On Professional you can add unlimited Administrative users at no extra cost! Each additional Advisor with login permissions costs $50/month.
To get help with billing and bookkeeping, you'll want to add Admin and/or Analyst users to your account. Head to Firm Settings > Company, scroll down to Admin Users and select Add Account:
- An Admin user can do (almost) everything you as the Account Owner can do, such as invite clients, request payments, cancel invoices, delete clients, and export reports.
- An Analyst user can only view activity on the account, as well as export reports. They can't take any action or make any changes!
Read here for more detail: Adding Administrative Users to Your Account
If you need to add other Advisors as well, begin by navigating to Advisors > Invite New Advisor:
Here's how to invite Advisors, as well as a breakdown of all our Advisor permission types. 😀
Step Four: Add eSignatures
We have two options available to ensure you get all your documents signed in a compliant workflow that's streamlined for you and painless for clients. They're included in your Professional plan at no extra cost! You can choose between our built-in eSignature system powered by Dropbox Sign, or link us to your existing DocuSign account.
To enable either option, navigate to Firm Settings > eSignature and click Enable eSignature.
Using Dropbox Sign? Dive in here.
Using DocuSign? Head here.
Alternatively, if you're not quite ready to implement eSignatures right now, you can skip this part! It can always be incorporated later.
Step Five: Introduce your Clients to AdvicePay
When introducing new technology to clients, thorough yet simple communication can make all the difference between a stellar client experience and one that is just so-so. We can help with the transition of adding AdvicePay to your firm!
Here is a sample email to use when introducing your clients to AdvicePay. Feel free to use it as-is, or simply take bits and pieces of it to incorporate into your firm's existing messaging.
Many advisors like to send clients the following one-pagers as well (clicking on the links below will initiate a PDF download):
Finally, we recommend letting clients know they can always reference our client-side Knowledge Base to get help for common "how-to" questions or contact our team at support@advicepay.com!
Step Six: Add Clients and Start Billing! 💵
Tip: Once all of your customizations in your account are completed, one of the very best ways we've found to become comfortable with AdvicePay is to set up a test client account. With this test client you can experiment with requesting a payment, go through the steps of paying an invoice to yourself, and even experience how payouts work. 💥
To get started, we generally recommend that you do the following together when you're ready:
To add a new client and request payment in a single workflow that takes less than 1 minute, we've got you covered! Start by going straight to Invoices or Subscriptions in your sidebar and click Request Payment.
Select the + Add New Client link in the Client drop down to add your new client, then proceed to finishing the payment request.
If you want to add upfront payments to your subscription requests for increased efficiency, check out how to bundle a subscription and one-time invoice!
Need to reach us?
We know it can sometimes be intimidating to implement new technology into your business. With AdvicePay it doesn't have to be! Our friendly customer support team members are standing by to help with all of your questions (so you can spend less time on your tech and more time helping your clients live their best lives). 😍
Our support here at AdvicePay takes place over email. We offer speedy help Monday through Friday between 9 am - 5 pm MT, working hard to reply to everyone -- yes, that includes your clients! -- within 60 minutes or less. In most cases you'll hear back from us much sooner!
(Trust us: you won't find any "we'll get back to you in a few days" messages around here.)
Getting in touch with us is super simple: you can always reach us at support@advicepay.com or in the app. Just click the beacon in the bottom right-hand corner:
