Sure Consultancy and Accounting
Gaining new clients for a small, passionate accounting business competing in an already crowded field
Every year businesses fail to file their accounts on time and face fines as a consequence. Keeping on top of finances can be time-consuming, confusing and often stressful when deadlines are fast approaching. As a newly established company, Sure Consultancy and Accounting pride themselves on providing affordable and high-quality services to freelancers, start-ups and small to medium-sized businesses in a timely and ethical manner.
The Challenge
Sure Consultancy and Accounting founder Evelyn set up the business with a genuine passion for accounting which has grown since watching her mother sort the books as a child. As a new company competing against hundreds of established accounting firms, SURE needed a way to gain new clients whilst promoting their commitment to providing a unique personalised service.
Whilst our stakeholder had ideas about how the business could grow, we were tasked with conducting user research to understand how individuals currently manage their accounts, how the process works when using an accountant and what were the key problems they encountered when sorting their finances. We had to identify the best way to attract new clients before designing a product that would help the business start building long-lasting client relationships.
My role
I was part of a UX design team that undertook shared responsibilities throughout the project.
The process
Based on the challenge and the time-frame we had to deliver, we used the double-diamond framework when approaching the project.
Duration: 1 week
Tools used
User research, survey, interviews, competitor analysis, personas, experience mapping, Figma, wire framing, digitising
Uncovering the problem
Discover
Stakeholder Meeting
Who are Sure Consultancy and Accounting?
To get things started, we needed to learn more about who Sure Consultancy and Accounting were, their main business objectives and what key values they held as a company. This would give us a better idea about how the company distinguished itself and whether there were any issues that were currently hindering the process of acquiring new clients. In our stakeholder meeting we focused on a few key areas: current clients and services, what packages and training opportunities were offered, and what expectations there were from us.
“I’m here to protect and take care of their money”
What did we find out?
Sure Consultancy and Accounting was professional, credible, detail-orientated whilst also being open-minded.
However, the business faced 3 key challenges..
Gaining new clients
persuading those seeking accounting help to choose SURE over well-established firms, and encouraging those already with an accountant to switch
Discovering revenue channels
finding alternative ways to grow the business and build its unique selling point through training services and tiered packages
Building a marketing strategy
that works harder to attract new people and showcases the businesses commitment to tailoring their support to individual clients
Survey & Interviews
Who are SURE’s potential clients?
Now that we’d got a good understanding of SURE’s business goals and the challenges they faced, the next step was to conduct user research. We wanted to learn about how people currently dealt with their finances, how they would choose an accountant and the problems they currently faced during the process. This would give us an indication of who SURE’s target audience would be and to establish where there were opportunities to gain new clients.
Survey
We had 32 participants complete our survey which was comprised of 7 questions.
What were the results…
Over 60% of participants were self-employed
Roughly 50:50 split between managing the business finances themselves or having an accountant
Price and convenience were the two main reasons they did they finances this way
Over 50% of participants were more likely to change the way they handle their finances than not
Interviews
Next, we conducted 29 interviews with a range of freelancers, self-employed, one-man limited company owners and small business owners.
Once we’d established how they managed their business finances, we wanted to understand why they chose this current financial set-up, their behaviour if choosing to employ an accounting and what would make them change how they managed their finances in the future.
What did they say?
“You want an accountant who understands your business”
Personalised service
people want their accountant to have a deeper understanding of their business; this is so the service and advice they recieve is tailored to their needs
High level of trust
finances can be a very personal thing for each individual; they want to feel reassured their finances are being managed in safe and timely manner
Influence of referrals
when finding or changing accountants, the first action to take is to ask for recommendations from someone they know and trust
In-depth Competitor Analysis
Who are Sure’s Competition?
With a better understanding of key business objectives and what was important to an individual when using an accountant, we wanted to see who SURE’s direct competition were and what they were offering. We compared multiple variables such as prices, services, training, qualifications and softwares used. We also wanted to analyse individual websites, looking at their layout, ‘about’ pages, live chat functions and social media links.
A lot of the websites we found were corporate or gave little indiction of being accounting firms
The best ones had simple home pages, easily accessible links to getting a quote or receiving a quote, and had non-stock imagery that conveyed a sense of a personalised service.
Re-evaluating the problem
Define
Personas
Who are Sure’s potential clients?
Having compiled the data from our research, we wanted a better understanding of a client’s journey, from first realising they needed a new way of dealing with the business finances to making that first contact with SURE. To start, we created a primary and secondary persona. We gave these two key personas personal backgrounds, details about their business situations and what current issues they faced when dealing with the business finances; this gave a good reflection of who SURE’s potential clients would be.
Vijay, 25 years old (primary client)
About:
Runs a food truck business by himself and deals with all the finances
Goals / Motivations:
To further grow his business
To start hiring new employees in the next year
Pain Points / Frustrations:
He increasingly cannot find the time to do business accounts himself
He lacks more specific accounting knowledge as the business grows
but does not have the time to learn how
Does not trust many of the bigger, more institutional firms
Ashley, 45 years old (secondary client)
About:
Started a non-profit and has an accountant to manage the finances
Goals / Motivations:
To further grow her business & number of employees
Frustrations:
She is lacking tailored advice for her business
She is lacking team members who can suggest smart solutions for her business
She is lacking a personal service; her current accountant doesn’t take the initiative to approach her with improvements and suggestions
Experience Mapping
To understand the journey our potential clients would take, we drew out an experience map that followed both the physical actions they took as well as their emotional state.
By splitting our user journey into 4 section; realisation, start of research, research continued and first contact, this allowed us to break down the user journey and see how their experience throughout the process fluctuated.
“If you’re a small business like us, the most important thing is to feel like they really care about you”
What did we find out?
After mapping out the two journeys our personas would take (from realisation to first contact), we discovered there was a clear decline in the experience for both personas at the start of their research.
Whilst SURE had additional ideas to expand the business, such as training programmes, we decided our focus should be helping them gain new clients; both individuals currently without an accountant and those considering switch accountants. Our research indicated that whilst other business ideas could be expanded in the future, as the company had been established so recently focusing on the start of the user journey would be most beneficial.
Pulling this all together
Currently, individuals are…
Overwhelmed with too much accountant specific information
Lacking a sufficient understanding of the process of working with an accountant
Wanting to know and trust their accountant who is invested in their best interests
Therefore, SURE needs a way to…
Provide clear, concise and relevant information that does not confuse users with accounting ‘jargon’
Explain their process and packages simply and clearly
Display their personable service and provide credible testimonials
Problem Statement
What does Sure need?
SURE needs a structured, reliable and personable website that will showcase their services, because the majority of users rely on recommendations and want to know they can trust you.
Ideating a solution
Develop
Wire framing
Sketches
We started by sketching out low-fidelity wireframes of the website. It was important to develop a user flow that was easy to navigate whilst providing all necessary information in a clear and succinct format.
We would have liked to carry out user testing before taking our sketches into a low-fidelity prototype, however due to time restraints this was not possible. After agreeing on an initial wireframe and flow, we transferred this across to a low-fidelity prototype.
Taking it low-fidelity
Presenting the solution
Deliver
Stakeholder Presentation
With our high-fidelity prototype now built, we were ready to present our research, process methods and final solution back to the stakeholder.
The home page has a simple and clear layout so users can quickly see all the relevant information.
Additional information, such as location and certification in Quickbooks, can be seen straight away to highlight trust and accountability.
Users are given a visual step-by-step guide to how the process works from start to finish, providing a sense of support and reassurance.
The types of services they offer are clearly presented in a 3-tiered structure, with relevant information such as pricing for each
A clear button (in red) if a package doesn't fit users profile that directs them to book a free consultation
Testimonials strengthen trust and credibility
A more in-depth page on the founder Evelyn to reiterate the sense of a personal service
The most frequently asked questions provides additional support for users that are new to the process
Contact details, location and social media links in one place so users can quickly and hassle-free book a free consultation
What SURE thought
We presented our work back to the client showcasing our research and final solution which was met with overwhelmingly positive feedback from the stakeholder. They were particularly impressed with the level of detail in our research which backed-up our final designs and prototype.
The Next Steps
Improving Customer Service
A common industry problem, ensuring that SURE provides a good experience will increase customer trust and loyalty
Training Opportunities
Building a strutted training programme for both corporate and self-employed individuals
Increase Online Presence
Register for ‘professional finder’ websites and targeted Instagram posts