
Why Web-Based Accounting Software Will Never Work - bodegajed
http://bodegasale.tumblr.com/post/8496720604/dying-app-bodega-sale-a-web-based-bookkeeping-app
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thinkcomp
I don't think it's true that it will never work. For one thing, most of the
large enterprise accounting packages are web-based, and plenty of people use
them (and pay a pretty penny for the privilege).

We've been developing the web-based accounting backend that now powers
FaceCash (<https://www.facecash.com>) since 2001, and we also found it hard
(read "impossible") to sell as a startup that no one had heard of. However,
once we built it into the payment system, we started to have all kinds of
businesses interested in using it. It's more of a marketing problem than
anything else.

As for focus, we've deliberately ignored countless VCs who have insisted that
we do one thing and one thing only. Accounting software needs to be robust in
a wide range of areas for it to be usable. If you can do Accounts Payable but
not Accounts Receivable, what you have is a product that no one wants.

~~~
blutonium
It is working, just not for them. I use Quickbooks Online, Freshbooks and
LessAccounting (rather disputing "They will never (99.9% never) try to replace
their current accounting system"). I do SMB stuff. My primary accountant
insisted on moving to Quickbooks Online _five years ago_. 100% web-based ever
since and nearly everyone I know does the same, even if they're just making
earrings.

Looking at their site, it seems like they don't have a compelling product to
market. Add in that their tied to Shopify and don't solve most of the
accounting problems that small businesses face, and it's not hard to see why
their sales are bad.

------
rokhayakebe
1) Do not be too hard on yourself. Regardless of what you tell me, I can
guarantee you haven't done much marketing since launch. So keep pushing.

2) 1 year is a hell of a long time to invest in something. You need to be
pushing 3 to 4 apps per year in order to get a chance at creating something
that gets traction.

------
bradleyland
Users need a reason to move. Our company uses Quickbooks Online because we're
a geographically diverse company. Going web-based means we can all access our
accounting software without having to maintain infrastructure that supports
secure remote access.

So there's our reason. We chose Quickbooks because it solved our remote access
problem without diverting IT resources from focusing on our product, and we
chose Quickbooks specifically because that's what the accounting staff were
familiar with.

One of the best marketers I ever met told me that marketing was: "...being the
guy at the bottom of the hill selling shovels after an avalanche." When he
first said this, I thought it was silly. I thought he was just a rambling old
man, but the more experience I've gained selling SaaS, the more I've realized
he's right. It's such a simple concept that it's easy to overlook.

So how do you do this in practice?

First, you need a compelling reason for people to use your product. You have
to know your customer and understand their pain points. Address as many as you
can with your product. Then, make that fact known in your marketing material.
Tell the story of how your product is going to take away that pain. Make sure
that message is told up front.

Next up, you need to be ready at the bottom of the hill when the avalanche
comes. This is probably the hardest part, and there are many different
approaches. Advertising, direct sales, referral programs, affiliate programs,
you name it. The key is, the user needs to literally stumble over your product
at the moment they're ready to buy. To go back to the avalanche analogy, how
hard do you think it is to sell a shovel to a man when he's standing neck deep
in snow, and he turns around to see your shovel booth?

Based on this, let's have a look at your home page copy:

===========

[1] Professional Bookkeeping Software For Shopify Stores

[2] * Ready-to-use with no messy installations * Automatic inventory and sales
tracking * Easy to use expense tracking

[3] Free plan available for single user. Only $9.95 a month per additional
user. No contracts, no obligations, you can cancel anytime.

[4] Install Bodega Sale

[5] More Info

===========

The following critiques aren't empirical. I'm not necessarily saying you
should make changes everywhere I point something out, but these are
perspectives to consider. Many of the points will be balanced by counter
points. You'll need to find the right balance in implementation.

1 - This H1 content appears to be well optimized for search terms. It does a
good job of telling me what the software is, but doesn't really compel me to
buy or show any connection to my needs.

2 - If I'm being brutally honest here, there is nothing about these items I
find compelling. Unfortunately, I'm not a Shopify customer, so maybe inventory
or sales tracking is a big pain point for Shopify customers, but that sounds
like pretty basic functionality. Rule of thumb: never list features as a
selling point. Tell a story that your customers will relate to. Do you use
Shopify? Do you know lots of people who do? What challenges do they face? In
their every day lives with Shopify, what tasks/problems do they have to slug
their way through that you can alleviate. Identify those problems and tell the
story in three short bullet points.

3 - There's nothing explicitly wrong with this last paragraph, but it sounds a
bit like a last ditch effort to get someone on board. To break the paragraph
down, you send three messages: free, cheap, leave any time. These points
address a customer's resistance based on a sense of obligation, but they don't
sell the product. I call these an "at least you won't" clause: "Hey, you may
not really need this product, but at least you won't have to stick with it if
you don't like it." This is never the strongest place from which to sell. If
you're going to use the word free, use it as a hook to lead a user to the next
step.

"Free plans available. See our complete list of plans and pricing."

Where "plans and pricing" is a link to your detailed plans and pricing page.

4 - When I click this link, I'm hit with bold text that says, "Starting at
$9.95 a month." What happened to the free plan I was promised? This is a major
user trust issue, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's a major source of
conversion failure. The byline "This application offers a limited free trial
period" is smaller, low-contrast, and in italics, which makes it more
difficult to read. This looks like the Shopify app store page, so you probably
can't control these elements. Rather, I'd suggest you adjust your messaging on
the other end to avoid providing a false expectation.

5 - Wall of features! Customers do want to know what your product contains,
but right now, you're leaving it to them to figure out "why" they'd want your
product. That's a risky position. You give them plenty of reason to say no.
When you provide a user with a list of features, you invite them to review
your product with their own internal checklist. Anything on their checklist
that your product doesn't have is going to count against you. You have to
provide the information, and some customers are going to give you the
checklist treatment regardless, but you should provide as many compelling
emotional reasons to buy as possible. This will give them a counter-reason to
their failed expectation of _feature X_.

===End of critique.

Like I said, these are all my perspectives. Our company sells a SaaS financial
tool (more procurement than accounting) with a heavy professional services
component. We do business with some big name retailers and financial services
firms, and we sold to them when everyone else was telling us we'd get no where
chasing whales. I'm very lucky to work with a sales team that really
understands how to relate to customer needs. That single aspect is the
greatest lesson I've learned in this iteration of my career.

