Do you really know what your clients think about your firm and the services you provide? Is this based on gut instinct or because, having not received any feedback, you assume that all your clients are happy? Accountancy client surveys must ask the right questions before we can be sure we know what our clients think about us.
At its most superficial level, a client survey gives you an insight into your clients’ thoughts about your firm. However, when surveys are carried out more extensively, they can help shape the future of your practice.
Why should you carry out an accountancy client survey?
The reasons for conducting a client survey are numerous, including the following:
- Understanding what your clients really think about the service they receive from you.
- Highlighting any issues they may have, so you can do something about it (before they vote with their feet!)
- Ascertaining what aspects of your service they most value and what areas (if any) they think you need to improve.
- Identifying new services they may need or that you could cross-sell to them.
- Finding out if they are happy to refer other people and businesses to you.
- Using comments made during the survey in future marketing communications to help attract new clients.
Client surveys are instrumental in gauging clients’ views when the firm has undergone a period of change, such as mergers, key people leaving/retiring, changes in fee levels, internal restructuring, etc.
Types of accountancy client surveys
There are several methods for collecting client feedback:
Phone surveys
These can be particularly beneficial when using a third-party researcher. Our experience has shown that clients tend to be more honest and open with their answers if they don’t have to give feedback to their primary contact or someone employed by the firm. Phone surveys enable more detailed, qualitative questions to be asked, enabling the client to ‘open up’ about their experience. The main benefit of the phone survey approach is that an experienced researcher will know when to probe for further information, which can be particularly useful if an issue has been identified and more information is needed to clarify the situation.
Phone surveys tend to get a good response rate, as clients are more likely to allocate time to speak to a researcher than reply to an email, printed, or online survey. However, depending on your budget, you may have fewer responses to phone surveys than you would achieve from an online or email survey.
Online or email surveys
These surveys lend themselves to asking respondents to rate you on different aspects of your service or to ask only a few questions to gather their feedback. Scoring and multiple-choice answers with an option to provide additional commentary work best. The survey can be contained within the email or emailed as a link to an online survey using platforms like Survey Monkey.
Email or online surveys tend to achieve a 10-15% response rate, although if you offer an incentive to complete the survey, such as vouchers or the chance to win a prize in a free draw, the response rate can increase to 30% or higher.
The ability to drill down for more information is markedly reduced, so you rely on the respondent to provide as much detail as possible. However, you can get them to ‘tick a box’ to let you call them to discuss their answers in more detail.
Printed surveys and scorecards
Many of these surveys are sent out with the accounts, reports, or invoices to ask clients to score on various areas. These surveys are a great way to get a quick snapshot of the firm’s performance. The downside is they require the client to send their scores/comments back to you, which can drastically reduce the response rates. Also, because they a usually just a quick ‘check-in’ with clients, they don’t allow for more detailed questioning or opinions.
The benefits of accountancy client surveys
There are numerous benefits to running an accountancy client. Firstly your clients get a chance to air their views, which they may find difficult face-to-face. Plus, any feedback from the survey that prompts the firm to make positive changes will also benefit them. A third benefit is feeling important to their accountant, in as much as the accountant wants to hear their views.
From the accountancy firm’s perspective, you will better understand how your clients perceive you, how the firm should develop, what changes need to be made (if any), and how the future firm should look. Survey feedback can help shape your future service offering, pricing, internal systems and procedures, and marketing and referral processes.
Momentum for Professionals has recently carried out both phone and email surveys on behalf of our clients. If this is of interest to you, please call 01822 833300 to discuss further or email vicki@momentumforprofessionals.co.uk.
