Making the switch to Apron is an exciting time for you and your clients. To help things run smoothly, we've put together this step-by-step guide covering onboarding and switching.
What's covered
Step 1: Create an Apron account for your firm
Add all of the members of your team who will be using Apron.
Not sure how? Get help from our team.
Step 2: Brief your team
Use the email template we've provided to craft a message to your team, letting them know what to do next.
Step 3: Onboard your clients
Add each client's company to Apron. Once added, they'll appear in the Practice Hub section of your account.
Step 4: Out with the old
Remove clients from your previous software once you've added them to Apron to avoid any duplication of data.
Step 1: Create an Apron account for your firm
First, if you haven’t already, create an Apron account for your firm and add all of the team members who will be using Apron internally. You can also determine who has Admin permissions (i.e. who can add clients).
You can use Apron for your own firm's bookkeeping and payments, too.
Step 2: Brief your team
Sending an email or memo to the team telling them about the switch to Apron can help with a smooth transition.
The email below contains suggestions for points you might wish to add, but you can copy/paste and edit this template as you like.
Header: We're switching to Apron for payments and bookkeeping
Hi [Team],
This is a heads-up to let you know that we're switching providers for our clients' bookkeeping and payment services.
The software is called Apron. It can be used for Invoice capture, payments (both local and international), and bookkeeping.
Payments and bookkeeping will now happen in one place: Apron.
Apron has the same functionality as [previous supplier] but with more powerful and efficient tools. With Apron, we can:
Capture documents such as receipts and invoices on the go via the app, email or WhatsApp. Apron Capture will automatically extract the data.
Import a bank feed directly from [Xero/QuickBooks] and upload documents against a transaction.
Check for unreconciled transactions and request missing paperwork from clients, thanks to Apron’s direct sync with our accounting software's bank feed.
Apron will be offered [free to all clients], saving them money and strengthening our business relationships.
You can read this Client-One Pager for a quick summary of what Apron does.
Keep an eye out for more information on how to add, notify and onboard clients. This needs to be completed by [date].
Note: You can also include a phased approach to stagger clients by cohorts.
Step 3: Onboard your clients
This step may be performed by one person or by each team member for their respective clients. Please note: Clients can only be added by a Practice Hub Admin.
Go to the Clients tab under your Practice Hub and click on the ‘+ Add client’ button in the top-right corner of the screen.
Provide your client’s company’s name and choose the Practice team members who will be working with this client.
Choose if you want to connect the client to Xero or QuickBooks or continue without accounting software.
Input the email address of the Business Owner - this is the person who will oversee the account from the client’s side.
The client will receive an email invitation to join Apron and input the company’s details. If you’d like, you can help your client onboard by providing their details upfront.
Note: You can resend the email invitation to your client at any time by navigating to your Clients - Pending clients section at Apron and clicking on ‘Resend invite’.
When your client accesses Apron via the invitation link, they will be prompted to sign up and complete the activation of their account.
Once your client completes the sign-up process, the account will become active.
Below is an email template which you can use to inform your clients about switching to Apron. You can adapt it according to your needs:
Header: Get Your Apron On: [Action required by _]
Hi [client name],
We’re writing to let you know that we are changing our bookkeeping and payments software.
The software is called Apron. It can be used for invoice capture, payments (both local and international), and bookkeeping.
Payments and bookkeeping will now happen in one place: Apron.
Apron has the same functionality as [previous supplier] but with more powerful and efficient tools. With Apron, we (and you) can:
Capture documents such as receipts and invoices on the go via the app, email or WhatsApp. Apron Capture will automatically extract the data.
Import a bank feed directly from [Xero/QuickBooks] and upload documents against a transaction.
Check for unreconciled transactions and request missing paperwork from clients, thanks to Apron’s direct sync with our accounting software’s bank feed.
Apron’s software will be offered [free to you], saving you [ ] per month starting [ ] 2025.
We recommend exploring what Apron has to offer by reading their handy Client One-Pager.
Let us know if you’d like a demo of Apron by confirming your availability.
Step 4: Out with the old
To avoid double payment mistakes, once you’ve completed the onboarding process for a client and they are successfully uploading/sending documents to Apron, you’ll need to remove their account and cancel their subscription with their previous supplier.
Log into your client’s account on their previous provider’s app or website.
Ensure all documents/payments are out of the inbox and either published or archived.
Go to the Archive and export all data as a ZIP file (just in case we need to find something that was not published to Xero or QuickBooks).
Log into the firm's [Xero/QuickBooks] account and change the client's contact information from the previous invoicing email to the new Apron email (you can find this email in Apron: Settings > Direct emails).
If clients have an auto-forward set up or suppliers send documents directly to [ ], ask them to change this to Apron ASAP – they can use the company-wide email address for this.
Navigate to Settings on the side panel, select ‘Direct emails’, and you will view the unique company direct email and share this with the client.