Client Loyalty for
Accounting Firms
Five Growth Opportunities You
Might Be Missing
© Copyright 2014 Inavero, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Net Promoter, NPS, and Net Promoter Score are trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, and Fred Reichheld.
CLIENT LOYALTY FOR ACCOUNTING FIRMS
5 Growth Opportunities You Might
Be Missing.
How do you plan to drive growth to your firm this year? A recent Inavero study of
more than 300 accounting firm clients identified 5 opportunities for accelerated firm
growth using the value your firm is already creating, but might not be capturing.
1.
Rethink the role of marketing and business development at your firm.
Just 2% of accounting firm clients trust the marketing messages about your
firm. It’s time to rethink how we communicate to clients and prospects.
2.
Identify strategies for clients based on their current satisfaction.
It’s imperative to know how satisfied individual clients are with your service
and to build strategies based on their level of loyalty.
3.
Spice up your process to make accountants look like heroes.
Nobody talks about boring service. Marketers can help their accountants deliver
memorable experiences by looking for ways to spice up the service delivery
process.
4.
Activate the real power of referrals.
Most firms underemphasize the impact they can make on the most credible
form of marketing – word of mouth referrals.
5.
Increase the impact of your testimonials.
Just 3% of accounting clients have recently been asked for a testimonial.
Unleash the impact of testimonials with more targeted and technology-driven
campaigns.
© Copyright 2014 Inavero, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Net Promoter, NPS, and Net Promoter Score are trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, and Fred Reichheld.
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OPPORTUNITY #1
Rethink the role of marketing and
business development at your firm.
Just 2% of prospective accounting clients trust marketing and advertising when
judging the quality of an accounting firm (figure 1). If traditional marketing is no
longer effective, how do you break through with your story? The answer is that you
don’t. Instead, accounting firm marketers must encourage and inspire the story of
their firm’s unique value through those who are credible; their existing clients.
The role of marketing must evolve beyond traditional strategies to help loyal clients
easily share their remarkable stories about your firm. Not a simple task, but it’s
certainly a key to unlocking the full potential of your existing client base and worth
the effort.
Figure 1. Resources that clients trust when gathering
information on an accounting firm they may hire.
94%
A referral from a friend or colleague
Testimonials from their current clients
57%
Third party awards (Best Places to Work,
Best of Accounting, etc.)
32%
27%
Affiliation with respected trade associations
User-generated online reviews (Yelp, Google, etc.)
22%
17%
The firm’s website
9%
The firm’s employees
Marketing or advertising about the firm
2%
0%
20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
© Copyright 2014 Inavero, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Net Promoter, NPS, and Net Promoter Score are trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, and Fred Reichheld.
3
OPPORTUNITY #2
Identify strategies for clients based
on their current satisfaction level.
The key to growing your existing client-base starts with categorizing accounts based
on their satisfaction with your firm. Use a simple yet effective 3-question satisfaction
survey using the popular Net Promoter Score® (NPS®) methodology1. The average
score for accounting firms is 31% (Figure 2).
How do improve the satisfaction of your clients? The answer starts and ends with the
responsiveness of your accountants. Clients who always have calls or emails returned
within a day score their firms nearly twice as high as those who work with less
responsive partners. Equally important is how proactive you are in communicating
how you’ve saved your clients money.
Figure 2. 2014 Accounting Industry
Client Satisfaction Benchmarks
Net Promoter Score®
75%
‘World Class’ client satisfaction is 70% NPS
51%
50%
31%
20%
25%
0%
Accounting
Industry
Overall
Satisfaction
LeadContact’s
Satisfaction
with Firm
Day-to-day
Contact’s
Satisfaction
with Firm
© Copyright 2014 Inavero, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Net Promoter, NPS, and Net Promoter Score are trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, and Fred Reichheld.
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OPPORTUNITY #3
Spice up your process to make
accountants look like heroes.
As a marketer, you may feel like the client experience is outside of your control, yet
you have more influence than it might seem. Start by mapping the client lifecycle
and ask these two questions: What are the key moments of truth for our client
experience, and what can we do within our process to make a client’s day a little
brighter?
Loyal accounting clients are
4x more likely to get service
that exceeds their expectations.
A simple example is the delivery of corporate tax returns. This is a key moment for
clients, often accompanied by apprehension, and at times unpleasant financial
surprises. How much goodwill could you create with a process of delivering a coupon
for a free lunch at a local restaurant and a message showing your professionals are
empathetic to the stress inherent to this time of year? Simple, inexpensive, and
repeatable. What can you implement that will make your accountants look like
thoughtful heroes? Remember, sometimes the best marketing isn’t even viewed as
marketing by clients and prospects.
© Copyright 2014 Inavero, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Net Promoter, NPS, and Net Promoter Score are trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, and Fred Reichheld.
5
OPPORTUNITY #4
Activate the real power of
referrals.
If there is a tool available to us that is trusted by 93% of potential clients and impacts
the decisions of half (figure 3), wouldn’t we want to focus our resources in that area?
Professional service firms have long understood the value of referrals, yet for many,
they represent a bit of an enigma. The following three points identify how to
proactively grow referrals for your firm.
1. 
Ask for it. Sounds obvious, but Inavero research found that only 7% of clients
were asked for a referral in the past 6 months.
2. 
Pay it forward. Refer new business to your firm’s current clients. Clients who
received new business referrals from their accounting firm in the past 6 months
were twice as likely to suggest their firm to a colleague.
3. 
Make it easy for your clients to tell your story.
Figure 3. Top 3 resources that influence a prospective
client’s decision on which accounting firm to hire.
Referral from family,
friends, or colleagues
50%
Referral from other
trusted service provider
36%
They have a strong reputation
in my marketplace.
30%
0%
20%
40%
60%
© Copyright 2014 Inavero, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Net Promoter, NPS, and Net Promoter Score are trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, and Fred Reichheld.
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OPPORTUNITY #5
Increase the impact of your
testimonials.
Testimonials are often easier to produce than referrals. However, Inavero research
found that just 3% of clients were asked to provide a testimonial for their primary
accounting firm in the past 6 months.
To streamline the process of tracking down client testimonials, ask only your most
loyal clients and try to incorporate the testimonial capture into an existing program,
such as a survey or other wide scale outreach initiative.
Once you’ve built a library of testimonials, think more strategically about how to
leverage them. Industry-specific testimonials are most influential (figure 4), though
testimonials that specifically focus on issues relevant to a prospective client can be
uniquely effective in persuading them to consider your firm.
Figure 4. What causes a testimonial to be influential?
Shared by someone in my industry
72%
Addresses an issue important to me
56%
Shared by a highly regarded company
55%
Quality of the other testimonials
45%
Covers a topic I am currently dealing with
44%
The number of testimonials a firm has
11%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
© Copyright 2014 Inavero, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Net Promoter, NPS, and Net Promoter Score are trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, and Fred Reichheld.
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WHO IS INAVERO?
We make satisfaction surveys
simple.
Rooted in service quality research for accounting firms, our proprietary online
surveying software leverages the Net Promoter® Score methodology to help you easily
measure your client’s satisfaction. Additionally, you can capture testimonials to
increase new business, discover how you stack up against your competitors, and earn
an award for exceptional service quality.
Satisfaction Survey 101:
Download Inavero’s guide to accounting firm satisfaction surveys for free at
www.inavero.com/nps-guide
Notes for this Guide:
Net Promoter Score®, NPS® and Net Promoter® are registered trademarks of Fred
Reicheld, Satmetrix and Bain & Company.
For more information, go to
www.netpromoter.com.
1
© Copyright 2014 Inavero, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Net Promoter, NPS, and Net Promoter Score are trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, and Fred Reichheld.
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© Copyright 2014 Inavero, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Net Promoter, NPS, and Net Promoter Score are trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, and Fred Reichheld.