Nusii Review: Proposal Software to Win More Freelance Clients

Why Freelancers Need Dedicated Proposal Software

If you're a freelancer or small agency owner, you already know the sales process can make or break your business. Getting proposals out quickly, making them look professional, and tracking whether prospects actually open them — these details directly affect your revenue.

Nusii is the proposal software I use at his own digital marketing agency, and it's the tool featured in his SkillJet course "Closing the Deal." The course covers the entire sales process from initial calls through negotiation and upselling, but this review dives deep into how Nusii itself works and whether it's worth adding to your toolkit.

You might be wondering why you'd need a standalone proposal tool when your CRM probably has some kind of proposal feature baked in. Think of it this way: if you're a web designer, you might manage your project workflow in Trello, but you'd never actually build a website inside Trello. CRMs are the same — they're great for managing relationships, but their tacked-on proposal features often leave a lot to be desired. A dedicated tool like Nusii is purpose-built to make your proposals look polished and close deals faster.

The Nusii Dashboard: Revenue Tracking and Pipeline Forecasting

The Nusii dashboard gives you a clean overview of your sales activity across three key metrics. First, you get your total sales revenue — deals that have already closed. Second, there's estimated pipeline revenue, which looks at your pending proposals and factors in your acceptance rate to forecast incoming revenue. That pipeline feature alone is genuinely useful for planning cash flow.

The third metric is your proposal acceptance rate, calculated from how many proposals you've sent versus how many were accepted. It's straightforward math, but having it front and center keeps you honest about your sales performance.

Below those numbers, the account activity feed shows a real-time timeline of proposal interactions. You'll see when someone opens your email, views the proposal, signs it, or — hopefully not too often — rejects it. The proposal stats section rounds things out with a broader analytical view of your sending activity.

Managing Clients and Prospects

The clients section in Nusii is really more of a prospects list. Every person who will receive a proposal gets entered here, and it's worth filling out their profiles thoroughly. The reason is that Nusii's template system uses dynamic variables to auto-populate client details — first name, business name, phone number, location — directly into your proposals. If those fields are empty, your templates won't personalize correctly.

Each client profile includes standard contact fields plus some thoughtful options. You can set the currency per client, which is helpful if you work with international prospects. There's a language selector for multi-language proposals, a time zone setting (important because Nusii tracks when emails and proposals are opened), and a PDF page size option for clients who print proposals to share with stakeholders.

The client overview screen also shows proposal history, activity tracking, and total revenue generated from that client. If you're sending multiple proposals to the same company over time, this historical view is genuinely useful for understanding your relationship at a glance.

Building Templates That Save Hours

Templates are where Nusii really starts earning its keep. The idea is simple: build a well-crafted proposal once, then customize it for each new prospect in minutes instead of hours. Nusii provides some starter templates for different industries — consulting, marketing, video production, catering — but you'll want to create your own.

The template editor is organized into sections, each functioning like a block in a page builder. A typical proposal might have six or seven text sections covering things like a welcome letter, scope of work, timeline, and terms. The editor includes standard word processing features: bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, alignment options, numbered and bulleted lists, blockquotes, and hyperlinks.

You can embed images with drag-and-drop, resize them by grabbing corners, and control text wrapping. There's a handy image replace feature that swaps one image for another without disrupting your layout — surprisingly rare in proposal tools. Tables are straightforward to insert and populate, and you can even embed YouTube videos directly into a section, though linking to YouTube generally provides a better playback experience for your clients.

Dynamic Variables and Reusable Sections

Dynamic variables are what transform a generic template into a personalized proposal without manual editing. Using double curly bracket syntax, you can insert placeholders for the client's first name, full name, email, city, website, and other profile fields. When you assign a client to a proposal, those variables automatically populate with the correct information.

This is especially powerful in welcome letters where you want a personal touch. Instead of manually finding and replacing "Hey [Name], we love working with businesses in [City]" for every proposal, the variables handle it automatically. It's a small thing, but it eliminates a common source of embarrassing copy-paste errors.

Reusable sections take the modularity a step further. Any section you create inside a template can be saved as a standalone reusable block. For example, if you sometimes offer hosting services but not for every client, you can save a hosting section and drop it into proposals only when it's relevant. The sections live in their own library and can be edited independently of any specific template.

Pricing Sections: Fixed, Recurring, and Optional Add-Ons

Pricing sections look similar to text sections but include structured line items with amounts. Each line item can be set as a fixed cost or a recurring monthly fee. You can add multiple items within a single pricing section and toggle a subtotal at the bottom to show the combined cost.

Where this gets strategic is with optional sections. You can mark a pricing section as optional, which lets the client choose whether to include that service. For example, your base proposal might include a $5,000 website design as required, then offer a $15,000 online course creation package as an optional add-on. When the client views the proposal, they can click to include or exclude optional services, and the total updates in real time.

This approach to tiered pricing is elegant because it doesn't overwhelm the prospect with separate proposals. They see the core offering, understand the add-ons, and make decisions on a single page. The final view clearly breaks down required costs, optional selections, and any recurring fees — giving both you and the client a transparent picture of the engagement.

Creating and Sending a Live Proposal

Building an actual proposal from a template takes just a few clicks. You select a client, name the proposal, and optionally set an expiration date. That expiration date is worth using — it creates urgency for the prospect to respond and protects you from someone accepting a proposal weeks later when your availability and timelines have changed.

Once you select your template, everything populates with the client's information and your pre-built sections. You're free to customize anything without affecting the original template. The preview mode shows what you'll see internally, but there's a separate client-facing preview that strips away all the Nusii interface elements.

From the client's perspective, the proposal is clean and professional. They can scroll through sections, select optional add-ons, see a running total, and accept with a drawn signature. They also have options to reject, request more information, or save as PDF. The cover image, overlay colors, and branding all come together for a polished presentation that takes minimal design effort on your part.

Account Settings: Branding, Domains, and Email Verification

The settings section controls your account-wide defaults and branding. You can set your default currency, language, time zone, and paper size — all of which can be overridden at the client level. Tax can be automatically applied to all proposals if needed, and you can invite team members so multiple people can create and send proposals under the same account.

Custom domains are a standout feature. You can replace the default nusii.com domain with something like proposals.yourcompany.com by adding a CNAME record to your DNS. This white-labeling makes it look like you have a custom proposal platform built specifically for your business.

Email deliverability is another area Nusii handles well. You can verify your sending domain with DKIM settings, which significantly improves the chances that your proposal emails actually reach your prospect's inbox rather than landing in spam. The notification system alerts you every time someone opens your email or views your proposal — useful for timing follow-up conversations, even if it occasionally means getting pinged seven times when someone is just scrolling through their inbox.

Branding customization lets you adjust button colors, fonts (from a preset list), section title colors, and header images. You can choose between a "modern" template with header imagery or a stripped-down "classic" layout. There's hex code support for colors in the branding section, though oddly the proposal overlay color picker lacks it.

Integrations and API Access

Nusii connects with several popular tools to fit into your existing workflow. Slack integration pushes notifications so you don't have to rely solely on email alerts. Stripe integration lets clients pay directly from the proposal, eliminating the need for separate invoicing — though you can still invoice separately if you prefer to keep those workflows distinct.

For live engagement, Nusii integrates with chat tools like Intercom, Continually, and Gist, enabling real-time conversations with prospects while they're actively reviewing your proposal. CRM integrations with Pipedrive and HubSpot keep your sales data synced across platforms.

If your preferred tool isn't natively supported, Nusii offers webhooks, a developer-friendly API, and Zapier integration. The API option is particularly relevant if you build software products and want to create a custom integration, while Zapier covers most automation needs for non-technical users.

Final Verdict: A Focused Tool That Does One Thing Well

Nusii earns a 9.0 out of 10 for doing exactly what proposal software should do: help you create professional-looking proposals quickly without requiring design skills. The template system with dynamic variables, reusable sections, and structured pricing makes it possible to go from sales call to sent proposal in minutes.

The main trade-off is limited design customization. All Nusii proposals look quite similar — there's no way to dramatically change layouts, heading styles, or create truly unique visual designs. But that consistency is also a strength. Every proposal that goes out looks clean and professional by default. Dave notes that clients consistently compliment the polish of his proposals, assuming he spent significant time crafting them.

Areas where Nusii could improve include adding hex code support to all color pickers, offering more template layout options (portrait/landscape, different heading styles), and enabling template sharing between accounts. These are minor gripes for a tool that nails the fundamentals of proposal creation, tracking, and client management.

Watch the Full Video

Prefer watching to reading? Check out the full video on YouTube for a complete walkthrough with live demos and commentary.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Nusii?

Nusii is a proposal software tool designed for freelancers and small agencies. It helps you create professional proposals, track when clients view them, and get electronic signatures for faster deal closing.

How does Nusii help freelancers win clients?

Nusii provides professional proposal templates, real-time notifications when clients open your proposal, and e-signature capabilities that reduce the time between sending a proposal and getting hired.

Can Nusii track when clients view proposals?

Yes, Nusii sends notifications when a client opens your proposal and tracks which sections they spend the most time reading. This insight helps you follow up at the right moment.

How does Nusii compare to other proposal tools?

Nusii is simpler and more focused than enterprise tools like PandaDoc. It is designed specifically for freelancers and small teams who need clean proposals without complex workflow features.

Does Nusii include electronic signatures?

Yes, Nusii includes built-in electronic signatures so clients can approve and sign proposals directly within the platform without needing a separate e-signature tool.