Teaspiller wanted to really figure-out what clients needed from an accountant's website when choosing a firm's service.   We conducted a survey with 158 potential clients asking them to look at various practices' websites.  The results might suprise you.

What works on an accountant site?

• Certifications / Licenses.   Much like those beautiful plaques in your office, clients wanted to get the same reassurance of an office visit or phone call -- but on your site.    Make it clear how long you’ve been practicing with credentials.

• User reviews.   Clients wanted to save some time from checking references.    User reviews is just that  – a digital version of a referral.  

NOTE:  Don’t use fake or unattributed reviews / testimonials.  Clients didn’t like it when they saw a site with user reviews that didn’t look legitimate.   Try to show real pictures of your clients next to their testimonials or provide links to a client's Linkedin profile.

What doesn’t work on an accountant site?

• Online calculators.   Clients were coming to a practice for a premium service – not to play with tax calculators on a website.

• Monthly online newsletters.   While there might be evidence that newsletters retain clients, having newsletters on a website didn't really sway a client's choice.

• Online tax & accounting guides.   Similar to calculators, clients didn't really want to read through pages of accounting tips.

Other tips to think about …

• Resumes.   Be upfront and over communicate your experience.   The more transparency on your employees, the better.   Don’t let your clients search through the 4.5M+ accountant resumes on Linkedin to find another accountant.

• Contact info.   It’s amazing how many accountant websites hide contact information or make it very difficult to find.   Don’t let your client’s click around hunting for your number.  Put contact info upfront and center.

• Practice & Industry areas.    Clearly communicate what your practice focuses on – don’t  provide a long reading list of services and industries.  Clients often didn't believe that a practice could specialize across a long list of areas.

• Price.  Smart accountant marketers have figured out how to use price effectively.   If you’re not a premium accounting practice (or just tired of getting low quality clients), figure-out how to display some sort of pricing and fee information to attract the right clients.

• Portrait picture.   This was an interesting point.   Quality portraits of your employees instantly created a personal connection and reassurance that your client isn’t going to get lost in a big firm.   The word "personalized" was used often.

Conclusion

The best accounting websites optimize their sites for getting new clients.

• Communicate quality.    Clients need reassurance that you’re a great practice.   Make sure your site exudes quality – and saves clients time from doing any due diligence on your firm.   Real testimonials, license info, and resumes are extremely helpful.

• Simplify your accountant site.   Look at your practice’s website and get rid of 50% on what's not really being clicked.  You’ll be surprised how cluttered your site is now and how much cleaner it will look after.

Potential clients will find your firm more easily in the crowd of other accountant websites -- and decide even faster to use your firm's services.

Learn how Teaspiller used this data to create a new marketing tool for accountants:  http://www.teaspiller.com/accountant-marketing/