Danielle Fish, TaxAssist: “Smart Messenger is the only email marketing platform we’ve come across that is able to handle the complexity of our campaign needs – and we’ve tried a few!"
Introducing TaxAssist Accountants - A Smart Messenger Client
Headquartered in Norwich, Norfolk, TaxAssist Accountants is a national network of accountants with over 400 locations across the UK, delivering accounting and tax services to independent business owners. The company is a franchise operation and recently expanded its business to Australia, Canada, Ireland and the USA.
TaxAssist works with a many different types of clients, including start-ups, sole traders, partnerships, limited companies, landlords, contractors, freelancers and individual taxpayers. Alongside their core accounting, bookkeeping and tax planning services they also have a useful network of additional service partners who help businesses with business finance, employment law, financial planning and debt recovery services.
Email Marketing Challenges
As a franchisor with a large network of accountants, a diverse customer base and a broad range of products and services, it is vital to TaxAssist they have an effective marketing communications platform to support their franchisees and end customers. Email campaigns, which are a key element of TaxAssist’s marketing activity, are managed centrally by the company’s marketing team using the Smart Messenger email marketing platform provided by digital marketing agency, 101.
The data for TaxAssist’s email campaigns is owned by its franchisees and collated at head office in accordance with data processing regulations. Central campaign management enables TaxAssist to present consistent messaging and branding when delivering campaigns across the whole network. At the same time, emails must be personalised to each recipient and their local TaxAssist accountancy service.
TaxAssist’s Marketing Manager, Danielle Fish explains:
“Smart Messenger is the only email marketing platform we’ve come across that is able to handle the complexity of our campaign needs – and we’ve tried a few!
“We started using Smart Messenger in 2018 when we were looking to improve and streamline our email marketing. A key requirement for us when selecting an email marketing platform was functionality that would allow our central marketing team to send emails to clients on behalf of our UK-wide franchise network and for those emails to appear to come from clients’ own local accountants.
“With Smart Messenger, we can very easily personalise each email on a location-by-location basis, so it feels to the recipient that their local accountant has written to them personally. In fact, the email has been carefully crafted and sent from our head office, ensuring a high level of consistency in branding and messaging for all TaxAssist clients.”
Getting started with Smart Messenger
TaxAssist’s marketing team, in common with all Smart Messenger clients, received full training in how to use the platform. They also receive ongoing support from a dedicated account manager and are encouraged to call or email whenever they need help or advice on any aspect of the system.
Danielle continues: “We found the Smart Messenger platform very easy to use, right from the start. We were given plenty of time for our initial training and the Smart Messenger team have been really excellent with their support for us. Holly is brilliant and the customer service is faultless. Any time I need help, they are only a phone call away. On rare occasions when they can’t answer a question immediately, they will always go and find the solution for us.”
Engaging Clients & Driving Business
TaxAssist sends out monthly newsletters and around four campaigns a month using Smart Messenger. Most campaigns focus on client relationship management matters, while some campaigns target prospects.
According to Danielle, Smart Messenger was particularly useful for TaxAssist during the pandemic, helping to keep clients engaged and driving business:
“Smart Messenger really came into its own during the height of the pandemic when TaxAssist needed to communicate en masse, very quickly, in accordance with government mandates. At one point we were sending out two email updates each week. We built some good links through those regular emails. They led to an increase in referrals and reviews, generating new business for us despite the difficult times.”
In 2021, TaxAssist expanded its use of Smart Messenger across the other four geographical territories in which it operates: Australia, Canada, Ireland and the USA.
Future Plans
Looking ahead, Danielle is considering how TaxAssist could benefit even further from Smart Messenger’s full suite of marketing tools, which includes form builders and email automation.
“Smart Messenger is packed with great features and the next step for TaxAssist is to explore its email automation tools. Automation could help us to drive more engagement and get even closer to our clients through carefully tailored communications and automated email flows. It’s reassuring to know that when we’re ready to get started on this, the 101 team will be on hand to help us every step of the way," concluded Danielle.
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