Boring or Difficult?

[DuaneJackson]

I've been thinking about the headline we use with all KashFlow marketting. Until recently it was

Accounting software designed for you, not your accountant.

Someone here made the very valid point that you want it to be for your accontant as well as you so that s/hes happy with you using it and that this could potentially be off putting.

With that in mind and inspired by Nigels love of alliteration I've recently gone with

Becuase Bookkeeping Doesn't have to Be Boring

Now I've thought about it some more - what's the main thing you hate about doing the books, besides it being boring? That's it's difficult to do?

I was thinking of going with

Bookkeeping has never been so easy

I think this one really sells the ease of use, which is one of our USPs.
I really need to make my mind up and stick with something becuase we have a lot of print adverts going out soon and I want them to be consistent. What do you guys think?

[crus]

KashFlow, simply powerful!

D

[bwglaw]

I would have to agree with the last one...book-keeping has never been so easy.

I would suggest getting a PR Consultant on board. We used one to advise us on our straplines etc


Jonathan

[ebonybailey]

Kasflow Made for the end user

- means its simple to use

[DuaneJackson]

Oooh, you sound like a computer programmer Michael, not a sales person. You can't call people 'end users'!

Thanks Jonathon and Crus. I'm sure Andy at 10 Yetis (who does all our PR) will be reading this in a minute and will call or email me about it. Saves me phoning him : )

[crus]

Pleasure Duane,

just remeber the royalties if you use it! ;-)

D

[MorethanWords]

Alliteration always works - don't know why, it just does.

The thing is, does your product take the boringness away?! Numbers are boring full stop (to me) whether you have great software or not. It has to sum up your usp in one simple sentence.

I think the 'end user' comment by Ebony Bailey is on the right track, but not quite right as it isn't 'salesy' enough.

What about something simple like Kashflow - making life simple or is that too general?

[DuaneJackson]

I think it might be too general.

It does take the boringness away from it according to our users. Some say they now enjoy doing their accounts and use words like 'fun' but I think they're a bir barmy.

Numbers are boring - but when you grpahically displya what those numbers mean in terms of the growth of your business and how effective your various forms of marketting are they become interesting again.

I really want something to quickly sum up our USPs, without coming across as being an over simplified package. I want to appeal to those looking for something 'simple to use' but not alienate those looking for something that can deal with nominal codes etc.

Painless, easy, simple, fun, not grey.

[ebonybailey]

sorry, thats what my clients talk about when discussing the software.

what about a less techy approach like 0110100110!!

that has a nice ring to it!!

or Kashflow - as used by the mafia money laundering rings!!

Just kidding - how abbout

On Demand Finance

[bwglaw]

I think it would be good to creep in a reassurance of people's fear of using software because that is a reason why people use human book-keepers

* easy to use
* won't bite!

etc

Jonathan

[Janebert]

I'm a bit late to this thread, but I'd like to make the distinction between a strapline and a headline.

The headline is the first thing your reader sees at the top of your ads, webpages, direct mail etc. and would probably change depending on the medium and the target market for that campaign. It serves the purpose of grabbing the readers attention and promising a benefit to reading the piece, or invokes curiosity etc. Pithy, alliterative headlines are not the order of the day if you want to make sales.

A strapline, on the other hand, serves a different purpose and is something you're going to have to live with for quite a long time if it sits next to your logo, gets printed on your software boxes etc. A strapline should be a pithy oneliner with cadence. It is a "meme" - a memorable soundbite that can easily be transmitted from one person to another.

I would recommend you get advice from a marketing consultant on this.

For an example of the two - see my website - www.attractioneers.com - the strapline is below my logo, but the headline is "Free Marketing Kit for ...."

Hope this helps,

Jane :)

[Urban Space]

Becuase Bookkeeping Doesn't have to Be Boring

Careful!

Liam

[DarrenC]

It's true I ACTUALLY enjoy doing my bookkeeping using Kashflow :O ... and it's easy.

[DuaneJackson]

Good point Jane. Our straplin is actually "Money Matters" and we'll be sticking with that.

So it is actually a headline I'm talking about here.

Also very true that it should be selected based on where we are marketting. I think we will generally use the "bookkeeping has never been so easy" and use others where appropriate.

Thanks all - apart from Liam, no idea what that was all about! : )

[WakingDragon]

Accounting is tedious and complicated, but a necessary part of any business. Trying to convince people that its isn't boring just doesn't make sense to me and would not interest me (we recently changed our accounting package).

What I looked for was (in order of importance)...
1. Less admin for us (i.e. easy/quick to use)
2. Less admin for the accountant (i.e. cheaper)
3. Flexible
4. Compliant
5. Good, easy reporting

Could you not instead look at how businesses can concentrate on their core functions rather than wasting time and energy on a tedious necessity? That would have got my attention.

[DuaneJackson]

Good points, all taken onboard, but...

could you be convinced that the right analysis of your figures would help you in other areas of the business, such as marketing, choosing suppliers, etc?

[WakingDragon]

Yeah - totally. I understand that, but that isn't really even raised in your post or in the ad that is coincidentally being displayed down the right hand side of my screen at present.

That is a whole other level that you are not capturing. Top level reporting of key ratios is much more a story about "Do you know how successful your business is?" or "Are you selling to the right people?" and so on. If that is a major feature of your software you should be selling that IMO - taking the "consultancy" approach that this will help businesses improve their actions as well as handling the drudge of money matters.

Actually that was the primary reason we changed our package so that we could get more meaningful information out of the system about sales, client profitability and key ratios.

PS: How is the advertising working out for you on here? Getting any decent response?

[DuaneJackson]

Thanks, that gives me a lot to think about.

As for the advertising on here, it's performing as well as I expected it to. It's generating enough click throughs and sign ups for me to continue to renew it.

[daveashton]

Sorry to stick my or in but.....

Easy to use = only a few million other companies saying the same thing.

Boring= irrelevant, book keeping is a must and not a will do if I have nothing better to do.

so for the smaller companies out thier it needs to relate to them and thier concerns i.e.

· I need to stay legal and pay my taxes i.e. PAYE, VAT produce end of year accounts.
· If I even had a clue as to where to put ...... it would help and I don’t want to be perceived as an idiot
· I hope it has a help section that is actually some help!
· Can I run it on my home pc and work pc
· Can I spread the cost of payment?
· Does anyone provide basic accountancy help as well as help to work the software


Now lets think of a strap line that takes into account some of the above

[Janebert]

Duane,

What ad or lead generation activity do you need this headline for?

Is it this ad here -----------------------------> ?

(i.e. your banner ad on this site).

Whatever you do, make sure you TEST. Don't change the whole ad, just one element of it at a time (unless you know how to cope with multi-variate testing!).

Having said that, what this conversation seems to be revolving around is "what is the hook"? i.e. what will pique people's curiosity and get them to take your desired action.

If it's this ad here, then you need to ask these questions:

- who is my target market precisely?
- do they frequent this site?
- what is their problem? Are they fed up with their existing software, or do they just not have any software - different hooks apply - don't try to capture both audiences in one ad
- how are they feeling about their accounting? How do they talk to themselves about their accounting?


OK, I just clicked through. Are you talking about the headline on your landing page?

Personally, I'd say that your copy needs a complete revamp. You're not engaging my emotions or speaking to my problems. The first thing you say is:
"With KashFlow you can: Create professional invoices, customised with your company details"

But that's a case of "I should hope so"! and says nothing to me about my pain or problem, and is what I'd expect of any, much cheaper package. I have Quickbooks SuperUltraLite Edition for complete idiots that only cost me £70, and it does that.

Also, I don't particularly like the site design - it feels flat, cold and unfriendly, so I would be trying to leave the site as quickly as possible. (And if that's what the accounting interface is like, then I would feel very uncomfortable).

So I would suggest that you think about exactly who is coming to that landing page and what they're looking for.

- Start up business - "help me get my accounting right from the beginning and save on accountants and bookkeepers fees"
- Established micro-business with manual accounts "I'm sick of the drudge"
- Established micro-business with other software "My current software is a pain (e.g. Sage) and I want something easier" or "my current software is very limited and not giving me the information I want"
- Larger business "we need better management information in order to inform decision making and to find out where our profits are coming from"

And then write the copy accordingly with different landing pages. This may mean running different banner ads for different segments, but you'll see the payoff in much higher conversions.

By the way, on that landing page I didn't see where you said it was a web based system. Surely you should be explaining that (to manage expectations) and pointing out the advantages of that.

I also thought the "limited availability" of the free trial was disengenous - I don't believe you (because most software these days comes with a free trial so why would you pretend that you're going to take that option away when it will damage sales). You have to be careful with "take away" selling!

Finally, why should I pay you £149 and then an annual subscription when I can get Quickbooks for about that and no annual subscription, plus I retain total control because the data is on my system, not yours. Not only that, but I can probably fairly easily find an accountant who will work with my Quickbooks data. I think you need to answer these kinds of questions, as that is what is likely to go through people's minds.

Hope this helps,
Jane :)

[daveashton]

Lol

I lovge your reply some great points, not sure about your sig though!

[Mwebb]

I have a marketing campaign idea for you.

You could get Chantelle from celeb big brother to promote your product.

As she is from a band ( now that she has been told she is, as that is how her advisors will make most money) called Kandyfloss ( With a 'K') You could have her saying,

" It's like Cashflow, with a 'K'-while chewing gum and fiddling with her hair.

Your tag line could be..."Well if she can use it......."

Just a thought???!!!???

[Dawg]

Good bookkeeping has never been so easy

'Good' denotes the range, the depth, the professional expertise, 'easy' is your other main USP.

And 'good' rather than 'great', as you don't want to over egg an absolutely bloody amazing world beating uber accountancy package. Do you.

[Janebert]

Gotta love the "dawgy" branding!

Jane :wink: