REDOING TIME-TO-VALUE FOR HI-BOOKS' USERS FROM 27 STEPS TO 6 THROUGH PRODUCT-LED GROWTH CONSULTING
Hi-Books is a new entrant to the online accounting space with a drive to compete against QuickBooks and Zero et al.; it’s a system designed by accountants for accountants, emphasising the corporate accountant (internal) and the high street single or multi-partner practice.
The Problem
The PLG workshop aimed to look at two critical issues for Hi-Book's customer acquisition strategy. Those were:
- The sign-up process and how we can reduce steps to improve the customer experience - whilst giving the business the data it requires
- Pricing strategy
The desired outcomes:
- Customer experience:
- A reduction in steps to time to value whilst focusing on platform engagement and applied data from a user.
- Using the system's current capabilities to reduce friction – a reduction in manual data entry.
- To push the user into activating connection or adding data by 1) bank account connection 2) invoice creation or 3) receipt scanning - with an interactive checklist.
- Application of the correct nudge process via emails.
- Pricing strategy: As this was still up for debate and the team didn’t have a comprehensive grasp of pricing models, the goal was to upskill them on the options available to determine which could be the best fit for the business so they could test these with their customers.
The Solution
An in-depth outcome-driven workshop. Once the team ran BIAS through the current process, it was apparent changes could be made using the system’s intuitive 3rd party APIs; these could be rearranged to shorten the registration process and align with current PLG standards.
So, we reinforced the need to focus on the user's needs rather than what the platform wants the user to share. A 27-step guide to the full functionality isn’t what anyone wants unless you are a competitor scoping out the platform for competitive advantage.
We established that the platform offers three most valued features: registering your company, scanning a receipt, or setting up an invoice. We suggested that users be presented with these options early in onboarding.
Once users choose what they want to achieve, custom interactive checklists are introduced to ensure that users not only view the product but also take action to engage with it.
Furthermore, we moved any non-critical data capture to the other end of the users' onboarding experience, ensuring minimal friction and maximum adoption potential.
The Result
Hi-Books walked away with a clear path to redesign their front-end and customer onboarding experience, moving to outcome-focused onboarding. There are three key things that you can do on the platform:
1) Set up your company
2) Go straight to setting up an invoice
3) Scan a receipt to document spending.
The original design made the user walk around the entire system regardless of their end goal. The redesign will now focus on where the user needs to be and take them straight there.
The leadership team also went deep into pricing models and strategy with BIAS. They left with a thorough understanding of what wouldn’t work and several options they are currently testing with clients to determine the best fit.
They are considering further GTM strategy support, including sales enablement.
