No matter what your firm sells, the bottom line is that you’re also selling a service – one that requires client interactions at key touch points to get the job done.

But a good client experience goes beyond just great service. The client journey with an accounting firm includes their entire experience from the point when they find your website to the final invoice you send them. It’s also the most important part of a larger client retention strategy.

In this article, we’ll walk you through how to map out the client journey, and five things to look out for to improve service at each point along the way.

Mapping the client journey at your accounting firm

Client journey mapping starts with your client persona: who are they? What motivates them to reach out to you?

Next, think about how they find you. Usually they might start at your website, but they might also find you at an industry event, on LinkedIn, or somewhere else you regularly get clients. Then, they might have a discovery call with you, and (if all goes well) a contract to sign. You’ll work together, and then you might send them an invoice and follow up.

A basic example of a client journey might be:

• Website
• Discovery call
• Onboarding process
• Project
• Invoice
• Follow up

In this journey, there are six general phases of the client experience, probably with multiple touchpoints in each one. For each major touchpoint, try to answer the following questions:

What is the client feeling?

What do they want/need?

Given the answers to the above two questions, is there anything I can do to improve their experience at this touchpoint?

For example, during the discovery call, your client is likely feeling uncertain, or is maybe comparing your service to other firms to make a decision. They probably need complete information and indicators of trust that make them feel confident working with you.

You might improve this experience by adding a branded follow-up email with a brief rundown of the services you deliver, fees, and suggestions for how to proceed.

Below are five things that you might consider doing at each touchpoint to add the mint on the pillow that puts your service above and beyond your competitors:

1. Cultivate trust

As Satya Nadella says, “Consistency over time is trust.” At each stage of the customer journey, you should aim to build trust with a consistent brand presence and predictable service.

For example, you could make sure your website is easy to navigate, with visible certifications. You might decide to invest in a better camera setup to put your best foot forward in remote discovery calls, or make sure your invoices speak to your brand.

2. Collect customer feedback

Great online reviews will help your marketing efforts – but they often won’t give you the detail you need to really grow your business. In order to do that, you’ll need to find a way to actively collect customer feedback.

If you attach customer feedback to one of the touchpoints on their journey, you can:

• Ensure that every customer’s opinion is heard (and leave them feeling like their opinion is important to you)
• Measure customer feedback quantitatively with things like Net Promoter Score
• Identify new areas for improvement you hadn’t thought of

When you’re mapping the customer journey, it’s ideal to collect feedback during your follow-up communication to capture their whole experience.

3. Offer self-service 

There will be a lot of points in the client journey where the human touch is critical – onboarding, for example – but there are some other points where self-service is ideal. For example, having a way for clients to automatically pay you is a small touch that makes your service extra convenient.

For larger clients, you might even consider something like a client portal where they can check the progress of their work with you, access past records, and send communications securely.

4. Tell them who you are

Your clients don’t just want accounting – they also want someone they enjoy working with. This is doubly true if you’re offering longer-term advisory services. 

This could be as simple as having a team page on your website with photos, bios, and a company mission statement. You could also consider having team members take turns making explainer and how-to videos to boost your social media presence while helping prospects understand what your team would be like to work with.

5. Set boundaries

At every step along the way, there’s also the potential to attract difficult clients. Having boundary-setting embedded into the client journey is a must for heading difficult behaviors off at the pass.

While encountering difficult people is inevitable, some clients just don’t understand what is reasonable to expect – so laying it out clearly at each step will help keep both of you aligned.

A better client experience means a better network

Improving the client experience is about more than just friendly service. It’s also about your website, payment methods, invoices, communication channels, and all the other little things that add up to make or break their experience of your firm.

And the effects are about more than just client retention: a better client experience creates the weak ties that can help the word spread through their networks, too.

With tools like ProCharted, you can help your whole team create better client journeys by standardizing tasks for each project and uploading all their files in one place. Get started with your 30-day free trial today and make 2024 the year to supercharge your client service!