Sustaining Growth

QuickBooks Merchant Services creates a powerful cross-sell Web site.

Client: QuickBooks Merchant Services

Web site: www.quickbooksmerchantservice.com

The Opportunity

Brave, New Virtual World

QuickBooks Merchant Services (QBMS) gives small businesses the ability to accept credit cards. They quickly outgrew their limited space on QuickBooks.com, bumping against restrictive templates and not-frequent-enough release schedules. And while the group had done a couple e-mail campaigns, they lacked an effective means of tracking conversions.

QBMS needed the flexibility to build out its core offering, to create an effective sales and support mechanism, to track e-mail campaigns, and to quickly test and implement changes. In short, they wanted to create a robust e-commerce strategy.

And they wanted a partner who could help them usher in this new channel.

Servo's Solution

First Things First

Servo worked with the QBMS team first to define the goals and objectives, not just for the Web site, but for the overall program. Customer needs, the competitive landscape, core "reasons to believe," sales targets, brand positioning, and messaging were all put down on paper. The resulting "QBMS Program Brief" gave (and still gives) a clear direction to Product and Marketing managers, as well as to other creative agencies.

Creating a Brand Experience

"Trusted" is an adjective not normally associated with the merchant service industry. QuickBooks, by contrast, is the most trusted name in small-business financial accounting software. Servo made sure that every element of the QBMS Web site enforced this brand differentiator.

The result is a Web experience unique in the merchant services industry: a professional-looking Web site from a trusted name, built from the user's perspective, with clear, upfront pricing. User-study results, customer testimonials, comparisons with industry averages, and other trust-based messaging, are used throughout the site. All underscore the uniqueness of QBMS' "reasons to believe."

In addition to the pervasive calls-to-action (e.g., 800-number and "Apply Now" buttons), "call us anytime for help" messaging is also omnipresent, as are demos, training material, and examples-at-work.

Built to Scale

As QBMS has grown, Servo has been there to help them. Just as the business has added new processing options, the customer's decision-making process has grown more complex. Servo continually reviews and reworks the site to ensure a continued clarity-of-content and ease-of-navigation. Focus groups are used each time a major iteration is in the works.

Customized Content Takes QBMS to the Next Level

Servo helped QBMS attain a new level of sophistication by developing an effective content-serving system, with end-to-end tracking capability. QBMS now has the power to test targeted content based on a number of factors, such as:

• Referring/originating URLs.
• Online campaign test cells.
• Customer source codes.
• Repeat visits.

The user is tracked from initial contact through application submission.

Multiple campaigns are ongoing (including several e-mail campaigns Servo created for the group). Clear tracking and reporting means no confusion whatsoever among campaigns or test cells.

The Results

The site quickly became the major acquisition channel for QBMS, accounting for 54% of its sales.

Servo continues to work with QuickBooks to test and improve the effectiveness of QBMS.com, with ongoing testing and performance reviews. A recent refresh of the site increased the number of applications an additional 34% month-over-month.