Send the proposal as a page they just open.

Why a proposal should not go as an attachment

A proposal is the one document where you most need to know what happened after you pressed send, and an attachment tells you nothing. An HTML file arrives as a download the client has to open from their file system. A PDF flattens anything interactive, gets saved and forwarded in whatever version it was, and gives no sign that anyone read past the cover.

It matters more than it sounds. Across 375 client pages on Stacktree in the 30 days to 23 September 2026, 39% of recent pages were never opened at all, while 70% of the sessions that did open one reached the bottom. Clients read proposals once they open them. The work is getting it opened, and knowing when it was not.

Get the proposal as HTML from ChatGPT or Claude

If the proposal is still in a chat, ask for it as a page. Add this to your request:

Write this proposal as HTML. One self-contained file: inline CSS,
no external fonts or images. Put the recommendation and the fee on
the first screen. Give each part its own heading: the problem, the
scope, the timeline, the fee, the next step. It must read well on
a phone. It is for Dana Lee, CEO of Acme.

The fee on the first screen answers the question the reader opens it with. A heading per part is what lets the client approve the scope and question the timeline separately: Stacktree treats each main heading as a section to sign off. Phone-friendly matters because a proposal link is often opened on a phone between meetings. Prefer to start from a finished layout? The business proposal, project proposal and statement of work templates publish as a private link in one click.

Publish it and send one link per reader

Drag the file onto the dashboard, or connect ChatGPT or Claude and ask it to publish the proposal to Stacktree: it hands you the private link in the same chat. Then give each reader their own link: on the page's screen, type their name in Who is this for? and use Copy their link. The decision maker, finance and the person who will run the project each get an address that carries their name, and you can revoke any one of them without touching the others.

A passcode works on every plan, Free included. On Solo you can instead limit the proposal to @theirclient.com: a reader enters their work email and clicks a one-time link, and the page stops at the gate if it is forwarded outside the company.

Know who opened it before you follow up

On Solo and up, every named link records when its reader opened the page, so "did you get a chance to look?" becomes "Sam has read it, Dana has not." A connected assistant can call unopened_pages to list the people who have not opened what you sent an hour after it went up, newest first. Studio adds how it is read: time on page, scroll depth and where attention went, aggregate and anonymous rather than a recording of anyone. If the risk is that it never gets opened at all, send it with a one-minute page video whose picture goes in your email.

Take their changes on the page

Proposal feedback usually arrives as a reply-all with "small tweaks" and a screenshot. Here the client selects the words they want changed, chooses "Suggest an edit" and types the new wording. You see the old words struck through beside the new ones and accept with one click, which updates the same link and keeps the previous version. Anything bigger than wording becomes a comment pinned to the exact sentence, chart or image. Comments and suggested edits work on every plan, and a connected assistant can read them and make the changes for you. More on the loop: the client feedback loop.

Get the yes, section by section

When the proposal is ready, ask for sign-off. Each reader opens their link and chooses Approve or Request changes, for the whole proposal or for each section, with a note if they want. Every answer is recorded against the version they read. If you reword the fee after finance approved it, that section's approval lapses and they approve it again; a change of layout or color leaves approvals standing.

Sign-off is a timestamped record of who agreed to which version. It is not a legal e-signature. When the engagement needs a signed contract, send that through your e-signature tool once the proposal is agreed. Why approval deserves its own step: feedback is not approval.

Make it look like yours

Paid plans carry no Stacktree footer and can serve the proposal from your own domain, such as proposals.youragency.com, with your name, logo and color on the passcode screen. A client space gives each client one address where the proposal, and later the reports and handover, all live behind one passcode. If the file came out plain, the design pass rebuilds it to Stacktree's design standard in about a minute, same words, same link.