Never before has this even been possible…

The context: ‘The World is changing, and so is the way business is done.’

Mobile Apps are currently the most affordable, effective and productive tool for accountants to reach and interact with existing and future customers. Never before has it been possible to be so close to your clients and prospects 100% of the time.

Your App will go with them wherever they take their smartphone or tablet… From bedroom, to boardroom and ballroom to bathroom. This creates an opportunity for client engagement and prospecting that’s worth leveraging.

For example, a Push Notification (a message sent via the App to your App users) will generate on average a 97% ‘open’ rate. By comparison, an email will generate an ‘open’ rate of 4%, if you are lucky.

Let’s put that another way… Push Notifications are easy to write, take a seconds to send and generate a 93% higher open rate than emails!

That means the next time you want to send a message to your clients and prospects, you can do it all in less than a minute, and with a very high degree of certainty that it will be read. From year-end reminders to important budget information, financial or practice news, it can be sent to all your users via your App in seconds.

85% of your clients use Smartphones, tablets and Apps

Think about it for a moment… How many of your office staff, friends and family use a Smartphone or tablet? iPhone, iPad, Samsung, HTC – whatever the make. Almost everyone? AND SO DO YOUR CLIENTS AND POTENTIAL CLIENTS!

In a survey we commissioned during 2013 with AccountingWeb, we found that over 85% of the average accountancy firm’s clients used Smartphones, tablets and Apps.

With PC sales declining and Smartphone/tablet growth booming in the UK, this is a one-sided story. Everywhere you look, people – your potential customers – are using a tablet or Smartphone.

So it makes real commercial sense to use the technology they are familiar with to make contact with them. Especially when you can achieve it at such low cost and without any implementation required from you.

Back in the 1990s people wondered why they needed a website. Today, it would be crazy to operate without one. We see the same response to Apps today. It’s all very ‘new’ and therefore a little ‘unknown’ but it’s also a great opportunity for firms that are willing to launch an App.

“OK I get the stats, but what can an App actually do?”

Before considering the benefits of launching an App for your firm, let’s look at what an App can actually do. What is an App capable of delivering and what features does it have?

The App represents a low-cost client communication ecosystem that delivers a wide range of benefits for you and your clients.

• 16 powerful calculators developed to answer run-of-the-mill daily questions: Dividend versus Salary, Corporation Tax, Income Tax, Should I Incorporate?, Increased Profit, Contractor, IHT, APR, Stamp Duty, Inflation, VAT, Payslip, Loan, Company Car, Mortgage, Savings.
• Key Accounting Dates and Latest Tax Rates
• Photo Receipt Management – never chase a client for receipts again!
• GPS Mileage Tracker – Helping your clients and making accounts simpler
• Links to client portals, secure document exchange, online payment gateways etc.
• Latest Finance news updated ‘In App’ automatically for you
• Link to your blog with auto-update in real time
• Content about your firm, your services and your team
• Push Notifications – your users get important messages, alerts, news, and updates from you on their device. Using an ‘In App’ scheduler you can automate your Push Notifications for the month, a quarter or the entire year in advance.
• Real-time precious metal tracking

Plus additional features for firms using Social Media

• Social Media integration including links to LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ etc
• Skype integration

Your App will be unique to you and carefully branded so it has your colour theme, logo, unique icons and home screen design.

The features of the App are so strong that users return to it time after time. Unlike a website that is information based, your App provides a set of features to simplify specific and important tasks.

We’ve also have seen the App win new clients, get shared en masse, generate referrals, win awards, generate free PR and gain unprovoked client praise.

“What are the benefits to us as a firm?”

The benefits to your firm in launching your own App are considerable. And that’s because an App is currently the most affordable and effective way to reach, interact and impress customers and prospects alike.

You can break the benefits down into the following 6 categories:

1. Content

Traditionally, firms have provided important information to clients on a regular basis. It used to come in the form of a printed tax card, then via websites and now it’s all-available ‘In App’.

Only now, App technology means it’s far more than a static tax card, it’s all the content your connections need, updated in real time (no re-print costs) and without any effort required from you (no emails, no posting, no hassle).

And thanks to comments from tens of thousands of end users, we know this content is being incredibly well received.

Tax Tables, Key Financial Dates, 16 Powerful Calculators, Your key practice info, Financial News updated by us, Precious Metal Tracker

This is content your connections will love, and it’s all available instantly from their Smartphone or tablet, wherever they are in the world. You can reach them not only where they work, but wherever they are 24/7.

What’s more, you’ll save hours of your team’s time by solving simple questions and queries ‘In App’.

2. Three tools that have the power to improve your firm’s efficiency

Keeping track of client business mileage, managing client receipts and chasing clients for information are three of the BIG unnecessary resource drains on any accountancy firm. They are also unnecessary frustrations for clients who find it difficult to keep a manual track of journeys and who lose receipts. Thanks to the App there are now far better, intuitive solutions.

Photo Receipt Manager, Mileage Tracker, Income Tracker

All done ‘In App’, your clients can manage income, expenditure and mileage and export the information to you at the touch of a button at selected intervals.

Many of our existing App customers have confirmed that just one of these 3 tools has been enough to pay for the App many times over.

3. Get closer to your clients and prospects

Never before has it been possible to be as close to your clients and prospects.

Your App will go with them wherever they take their Smartphone or tablet. From bedroom to boardroom and ballroom to bathroom. Your on-the-go clients will be impressed that you’ve taken the time and effort to keep in touch via your App – and better relationships will always benefit your firm.

Get closer to your clients, Reinforce your visibility and brand, Increase accessibility, Support your clients better, Develop loyalty and save time.

4. Communication – Send in Seconds, Enjoy a 97% open rate, and improve relationships

For the majority of firms, communicating with customers can be a real effort. Many still send trusty old letters in the post, wasting time, effort, money and resources. Maintaining email databases and writing emails can also take up a lot of time. But when there is a far more efficient, time effective, and well received form of communication, it seems a little ridiculous not to use it as part of your strategy.

A Push Notification is a short message that App clients can send out to all their App users. It takes seconds to write, it’s sent instantly and automatically lands on all your App users’ Smartphones or tablets.

Better still, a Push Notification will generate on average a +97% open rate. By comparison, an email will generate an open rate of 4%, if you are lucky.

Think about it for a moment! In seconds, you can reach your App users, without any extra cost and with much less effort and time than any other route to market, while enjoying the highest open rates of any current form of marketing!

Let’s put that another way… push notifications are easy to write, take seconds to send and generate a 93% higher open rate than emails!

And now, thanks to a handy in-built scheduler, you can schedule your messages for a month, a quarter or even a whole year in advance.

5. Win new clients and generate a rapid ROI

Most firms would be happy for a 2 x return on investment. Launching an App has achieved that in its first week for some clients.

Launching an App generates leads for you in 3 different ways: Increased Referrals, Direct Enquiries, App Promotion.

Thanks to a very carefully tried, tested and proven Marketing Launch Pack, you can also benefit from all the tools needed to get a great ROI from your App. It includes QR codes, Push Notifications, messages, emails, website copy, letter templates and much, much more.

6. A BIG talking point

One of our customers said “Our new App has been a big talking point with both clients and prospects. It’s such a professional yet relaxed way to show everyone how we are different from other firms without ‘selling’. We simply give them one of our App flyers, they get the App free and we can then communicate with them in a modern and incredibly simple way”.

Giving away a ‘Free App’ is a very powerful message. It implies:

And remember, all this is available at such a low level of investment.

Why taking action now is important

It’s easy to see from the list above what the power of mobile Apps can offer your firm. But it’s equally important to understand why your firm needs to take action now.

Registering today for your free App demonstration will leverage all of the benefits above, and allow you to benefit from this new technology as an early adopter.

Already, it’s a highly trusted solution for accountants, with hundreds of firms using it and 25,000+ end users. It’s also promoted or endorsed by CIMA, ICAS, ACCA, ICPA, AIA, 2020, Accounting Web and many others.

By registering for your free demonstration now you can benefit from:

• Launching your App while there is significant demand and limited supply
• Building your App user base whilst enjoying minimal competition
• Securing your firm name in the App store – this will become increasingly important
• Benefitting from the App technology at its lowest price, as features and integration expand, prices will go up.
• Benefitting from early exposure, PR, Awards etc. as an early adopter of App technology