Kashoo is a leader in online accounting software and has been in the market for over 10 years. They built the first iPad accounting app in 2010, and in 2014, they debuted their first iPhone accounting app. They’ve continued to build on a suite of accounting software products since. And in 2020, they launched the TrulySmall accounting platform. 

The Kashoo team was originally using the legacy product Autopilot Journeys. After the release of the TrulySmall product line over a year ago, they moved to Ortto to better manage their customer journey pipeline.

The team needed to employ strategies that would help customers quickly see the value of their products. And they chose the Ortto platform, in particular, because of our custom activities feature and subscription payment management integrations.

TrulySmall was designed after Kashoo’s team realized that traditional accounting solutions were ignoring a vital market segment. They call these “truly small” businesses. These are businesses that have just started out. Often with no accounting or bookkeeping background. Across the board, the problem for these entrepreneurs was simple:

Offerings from companies like Xero or Intuit’s Quickbooks were over-engineered and cost-prohibitive. 

Take traditional accounting processes and simplify them. 

With the help of open banking and machine learning, the team created a product that connects with the user’s business bank account and automatically categorizes every transaction. 

Now, users can see all their data and reports without suffering through manual updates, categorizations, reviews, or reconciliations. 

(In under five minutes!) 

The result? Time-savings, for one. But more importantly, a reliable, hassle-free accounting solution that small business owners will love to use.

TrulySmall’s focus is also set on breaking down the accounting process into simpler modules for their users. That’s why they built TrulySmall Invoices - for no-fuss invoicing. And they’ll also be releasing TrulySmall Expenses in 2022. 

TrulySmall Invoices is for people just starting out, typically freelancers or contractors who want to send invoices to their clients. The tool enables businesses to send invoices, accept payments, and track income and client activity. TrulySmall Invoices is free up to a user’s first 5 invoices. 

TrulySmall Invoices also features a “Pay Now” button that accelerates payments. Kashoo’s research shows that, on average, businesses who include their Pay Now option are paid twice as fast!

Most users of TrulySmall aren’t generally ready for a full accounting software solution. But, when they do get there, Truly Small’s Accounting will seamlessly integrate their existing user data into their more comprehensive accounting platform. 

“TrulySmall Invoices is a great place for sole traders and small businesses to start. As they grow, they will need a full accounting solution, and that’s why the customer journeys we have designed Ortto are so important,” said Angel Zheng, Marketing Director at Kashoo and TrulySmall Accounting.

The Kashoo team was originally using the legacy product Autopilot Journeys. After the release of the TrulySmall product line over a year ago, they moved to Ortto to better manage their customer journey pipeline.

The team needed to employ strategies that would help customers quickly see the value of their products. And they chose the Ortto platform, in particular, because of our custom activities feature and subscription payment management integrations.

Ortto’s custom activities feature helps Kashoo track what matters to their business. 

The team at Kashoo have implemented a number of custom activities for their TrulySmall platform, so they can see when users have sent their first five invoices, as well as when those invoices get paid. These are critical features that allow Kashoo to better manage their customer relationships. And, more importantly, congratulate them on reaching business milestones!

“We wanted our custom activities in Ortto to mirror different actions that our clients would take within our software. These custom activities are all tied to key events in the TrulySmall user journey,” said Angel Zheng, Marketing Director at Kashoo and TrulySmall Accounting. 

Users see immediate value realization when they are able to see what they've invoiced, as well as when their invoices are being paid. And the custom activities and journeys set up in Ortto play a key role in keeping the TrulySmall brand top of mind for Kashoo’s customers.

Using a nudge marketing campaign strategy 

New TrulySmall Invoices users are nudged along with the help of an Ortto campaign. If they’ve sent one invoice, but not a second within 45 days, the journey kicks in to nudge them along:

“We want our true small business users to realize what automating their invoices and invoice payments can do for their business. For starters they are twice as likely to get paid; the customer journeys we have set in Ortto help us do that,”  said Angel Zheng, Marketing Director at Kashoo and TrulySmall Accounting.

Another nudge Trulysmall has added to their customer journey is the free estimates email. With TrulySmall Invoices, customers can send free estimates, which is a key differentiator for their platform.

The open rates on many of these emails are close to 40%, which is well above the industry average of 21.56% for the business and finance sector*. Not only that, Kashoo have also seen their conversion rates increase after implementing our nudge campaigns. 

Nurturing users from an invoice-only tool to a full accounting platform

As Kashoo started building out the connection between TrulySmallInvoices and TrulySmall Accounting, they needed to determine the right time to send their users an email nudging them to consider TrulySmall Accounting’s more comprehensive features. From there, they introduced a free year-long subscription to TrulySmall Accounting at another point in their user journey.

“The process has been really rewarding because we are able to nail down these specific actions and specific behaviors we want to target along the user journey, “  said Angel Zheng, Marketing Director at Kashoo and TrulySmall Accounting.

Another key component of their nurture strategy comes via user education and delivering relevant content for small business owners. When a user hits the custom activity,  ‘joins TrulySmall Invoices,’ they are able to explore content covering topics from time management to work-life balance. The team at TrulySmall have started, grown, and sold 12 small businesses - so they know the struggle of waking up at 3 AM for a mission, or putting the kids to bed before starting your second shift. 

Another post-conversion nurture campaign the team is offering is educational content tailored towards more specific accounting functions. Think: managing accounts receivable, GAAP fundamentals, or managing expenses. As part of this journey, they also remind users of key pain points. One that always stands out is most small businesses’ over-reliance on Excel, which provides no backups, fees, and a steep learning curve! 

*Average open rate of 21.56% for business and finance sector | Email Marketing Benchmarks and Statistics | Mailchimp