How to send Squarespace Templates to customers after they purchase
So, you've created a Squarespace Template (great job! 🙌✨), you got your first sale, and now, it’s time to deliver your template to your customer… but what is the best way to get it to them?
Unfortunately, there’s no super simple process to automate template sharing just yet so a little bit of manual input is required, but to make your life easier, here’s the full step by step to our streamlined process of template delivery.
Step 01: Duplicate your template
Make a copy of your original Squarespace template site by duplicating it!
To do this, go to your Account Dashboard:
Click the three dots by the site you would like to duplicate:
Then select Duplicate Website from the dropdown:
Voila! The copied site will appear as the first site in your Account Dashboard, you’ll be able to tell by its site title ending in (Copy):
The copied site will start as a free trial - a 14 day free trial for any Squarespace member, OR a 6 months free trial for any Squarespace Circle member. This trial will transfer over to your customer.
Step 02: Check that everything has copied over correctly
9 out of 10 times everything will copy over perfectly! But on that off chance it doesn’t, a safe bet is to always have a quick look over your copied site.
In your Account Dashboard, simply click on your site copy to open it up and have a quick scroll through each page.
Want to know exactly what will copy over and what will stay behind? Check out this handy guide by Squarespace!
Step 03: Give your customer permission
You’ve checked everything and it’s looking 100% fab. Now, you’re ready to deliver your template 🎉 Here’s how:
In your copied site, head over to Settings:
Then, Permissions:
Here, click on Invite Contributor:
In the pop up, enter your customer’s name and email address, and toggle on Administrator. Then, click the Invite button:
Your customer will have their template delivered straight into their Squarespace account and will be able to start customizing as soon as they log in! They’ll receive a contributor invitation from Squarespace directly into their inbox:
Tip! Sometimes, your customer’s Squarespace account email address will be different to the email address used at checkout so make sure to get your customer’s Squarespace email somewhere along the checkout process so you can send your website template to the right Squarespace account. If they don’t have a Squarespace account just yet, that’s fine! They’ll be prompted to sign up once they click your invitation link.
Step 04: Send a confirmation email (optional)
Send your customer a confirmation email telling them that they can now access their brand new website template and start designing!
Although optional, we do find it helps streamline the whole delivery process and keeps our support inbox clear(er), which is what every small biz owner should be aiming for!
Some helpful info to include:
A link to their Squarespace invitation link (just in case Squarespace’s automatically generated email didn’t quite reach them).
Some info about how and where to log in or sign up to Squarespace.
Some info about their free trial period (how long it is and why they shouldn’t let it expire!).
And how to access any Template Resources or Tutorials you provide with your template.
Tip! If you are sending any tutorials or resources as part of your template, this can be done automatically through whichever checkout software you are using. If you're using Squarespace for your checkout, you could send a PDF Digital Product with more information about accessing these resources. Or, you could use Zapier to connect different softwares together.
Step 05: Check back and transfer over ownership
In a couple of days, or about once a week, check back on the template you have duplicated to see whether your customer has accepted their invitation. If they have, you will now be able to transfer the site’s ownership over to them:
Simply go back to your Permissions tab (Settings > Permissions) and select Transfer Ownership:
You’ll be prompted to enter your Squarespace login details, then from the drop down, select your customer’s name, click Continue, then Confirm. The site is now theirs!
Go back to your Account Dashboard. You’ll now be able to see a little person icon by the copied site, showing that you are now a contributor and no longer an owner. To remove yourself from the site and completely hand it over to your customer, click on the three dots, then select Remove Me. Ya done! You've successfully delivered your template to your customer!
Tip! Create a solid process for delivering your templates in a project management software so that when you start selling lots and lots of templates you can outsource this task to a VA!
For example, we have our template delivery process set up so that when someone buys a template, a task is automatically created within ClickUp. This task will have all of the customer and template details, as well as a due date, and gets automatically assigned to the correct person to complete (our VA!). Of course, this process will look different depending on what checkout software you use to sell your templates or what project management software you use for your business, but creating a streamlined process where you don’t have to be involved at all will make things a lot easier on you!
Want to open your own successful Squarespace Template shop?
Our course, Elevate with Templates, is an epic resource for web designers who want to develop, launch and sell Squarespace Templates. It’s a complete guide to starting your Squarespace Template shop from the ground up! Join the waitlist here so you can get notified when we launch next!
You can also signup for our FREE training while you wait. In this training we discuss all things web design, template shops, template design & more! We love our Elevate with Templates course, but we wanted to make sure we also had a free resource full of nuggets we’ve learned over the years. Sign up for the free training now!👇
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