Claude Fable 5.2: Why Tallyroom trials don't convert

Scorecard

The analysis

Findings

1. Head of sales: do not cut the trial to 14 days. The survey gives no support for 'too long, teams forget', and the largest group of lost teams ran out of time rather than interest.

   High confidenceBase 460

   As main reason, 1 of 460 (0.2%) chose 'trial too long' and 17 (3.7%) 'forgot the trial was running', against 86 (18.7%) 'didn't have time to set it up' and 7 (1.5%) 'trial too short'. In the open text nobody mentions forgetting or excess length; 24 of 109 describe setup time, and 9 of those say the trial ended before setup was finished (T022, T073, T131, T146, T263, T340, T371, T431, T460). Forgetting is probably under-reported, since people who forgot are less likely to answer a survey, but even tripled it would sit below setup time.

2. Setup time is the largest addressable loss, and it sits mainly with small teams on software we already connect to. Assisted setup is the only one of the four options that needs no build and no price cut.

   Medium confidenceBase 460

   18.7% unweighted (86 of 460). Weighted to the lapsed-trial size mix it is 21.6%, about 355 of 1,640 teams, ahead of price (16.6%) and missing integration (16.3%). It is 27.4% among 1-9 employees (base 168) against 10.0% among 50-249 (base 110), a significant gap. About 70 of the 86 are Xero or QuickBooks users (24.7% of 182; 22.5% of 111). This is a stated reason; whether help with setup actually converts these teams is untested.

3. Head of product: Sage demand is real but concentrated, and smaller than the headline figure. About 1 in 4 respondents, or about 1 in 5.5 of all lapsed trials once weighted, say they need it. Almost all of that demand is existing Sage users, and for a majority of them it was the deal-breaker.

   Medium confidenceBase 460

   23.7% need Sage (109 of 460, ±3.9 points); weighted to the population size mix, 18.1%, about 300 of 1,640 teams. Among Sage users (base 117), 85.5% need it and 58.1% (68) gave missing integration as the main reason. It is the most specific unprompted theme in the open text, with 15 of 109 answers. Two limits apply. First, 42% of Sage users gave a different main reason and 28.2% also want custom approval chains, so integration is necessary but not always sufficient. Second, respondents name Sage 50, Sage 200, Sage Business Cloud and Sage Accounting, so 'a Sage integration' may be several builds.

4. Finance director: the survey cannot say how many will pay. It gives a ceiling. Six in ten of those blocked by integration say they would be likely to pay £6 per user, and only a quarter say 'very likely'.

   Low confidenceBase 93

   Among the 93 whose main reason was no integration, 61.3% are fairly or very likely (57 people, roughly ±10 points), 25.8% very likely (24) and 25.8% unlikely even with the integration. This group mixes Sage (68), FreeAgent (11) and other software (14). My rough sizing: about 267 integration-blocked teams per 90-day cohort (16.3% of 1,640), of which roughly 185-195 are Sage. Stated intent gives a ceiling of about 115 Sage teams. Counting only 'very likely' gives about 50, and I would plan on 30-60 until real commitments are tested.

5. Do not quote the 37.6% 'likely to pay' total from Q5. The question was put to everyone, including Xero and QuickBooks users, for whom Tallyroom already connects and who still did not pay.

   High confidenceBase 460

   The Q5 base is all 460, of whom 63.7% (293) use Xero or QuickBooks, so the premise 'if Tallyroom connected to your software' is already true for them. Only the 'no integration' column (base 93) is interpretable. The table also gives no split by software, so Sage-specific intent cannot be isolated.

6. A cheaper plan is weakly supported. Price is the third reason and does not vary by size, and the complaint is more about paying per user for people who rarely claim than about the £6 level.

   Medium confidenceBase 460

   'Too expensive' is 15.9% (73 of 460), 16.6% weighted. It is 19.0% among 1-9 against 15.5% among 50-249, which is not significant (z about 0.8). 20.4% (94) say they need per-company pricing. Of 23 open-text price comments, about 13 object to the per-user or per-seat model and several say a flat fee would have been fine (T343, T402, T059, T208, T322, T355). A lower per-user price would also cut revenue from teams that pay today.

7. Approval-workflow fit is a meaningful loss that none of the four options addresses, and it appears strongest in larger teams. The needs are varied, so 'custom approval chains' would fix only some.

   Low confidenceBase 460

   12.6% main reason (58 of 460); 21.8% among 50-249 (24 of 110) against 7.1% among 1-9. 22.0% (101) say they need custom approval chains. The 15 open-text answers split between multi-step or conditional approvers (T180, T392, T455, T247, T010), batch sign-off (T161, T300) and sign-off outside the app by email, paper or verbally (T013, T077, T117, T216). The size pattern depends on a company-size variable that looks unreliable.

8. About 1 in 5 lost trials are not winnable by any of the four options: they decided they did not need an expenses tool or chose a competitor.

   Medium confidenceBase 460

   'Decided we didn't need it' is 10.0% (46) and 'chose another tool' 8.7% (40), together 18.7% of 460. The open text has 12 no-need answers, typically very small claim volumes or a company card, and 8 naming competitors (Pleo twice, Dext, Rydoo, Soldo, Expensify, Webexpenses, Emburse). This is a lead-qualification issue rather than a product one.

9. FreeAgent and other packages are a secondary long tail. FreeAgent demand skews to the smallest firms, and the bases are too small to size it.

   Low confidenceBase 33

   7.2% need FreeAgent (33 of 460), about 9.1% weighted. Among FreeAgent users (base 33), 72.7% need it and 33.3% (11) cite integration as the main reason. Users of other packages (base 17): 82.4% (14) cite integration, spread across KashFlow, Clear Books and others.

Open-text themes it coded

No integration with our accounting software (15 Sage; 3 FreeAgent; 4 other packages) 22No time to set up / setup took too long 24Too expensive / per-user pricing does not suit us 23Approval workflow did not fit how we sign off 15Mobile app and receipt scanning problems 10Chose a competitor 8Decided we did not need an expenses tool 12

The survey it planned

2 screening questions and 10 questions, as the model wrote them.

1. S1

   Which of these best describes your part in your company's free trial of Tallyroom, the expenses app?

   One answer
   • I set up or managed the trial for my company
   • I used Tallyroom during the trial, but someone else set it up and managed it
   • I was not involved in a Tallyroom trial
   • I don't remember a Tallyroom trial

   Continues if I set up or managed the trial for my company

2. S2

   What happened when your company's Tallyroom free trial came to an end?

   One answer
   • We took out a paid Tallyroom subscription
   • We did not take out a paid Tallyroom subscription
   • Our trial is still running
   • Don't know

   Routing Shown only if S1 is: I set up or managed the trial for my company

   Continues if We did not take out a paid Tallyroom subscription

3. Q1

   Including yourself, how many people work at your company in total?

   One answer
   • 1 to 9
   • 10 to 49
   • 50 to 249
   • 250 or more
4. Q2

   In your own words, what was the main reason your company did not take out a paid Tallyroom subscription after the trial? A sentence or two is fine.

   Open text
5. Q3

   Which one of these comes closest to the main reason your company did not subscribe to Tallyroom?

   One answer
   • It did not connect to our accounting software
   • It was missing another feature we needed
   • Setting it up took more time or effort than we could give it
   • Our staff or managers did not take to using it
   • It was difficult to use
   • It did not work reliably (for example, errors reading receipts)
   • The price was too high for us
   • The trial was too short for us to finish evaluating it
   • We got busy with other things and the trial ran out before we had tried it properly
   • We chose a different expenses app
   • We decided our existing way of handling expenses was good enough
   • We do not have enough expenses to need an app
   • Someone else (for example an owner, director or our accountant) decided against it
   • We still intend to subscribe but have not done so yet
   • Other (please specify)
   • Don't know / can't remember
6. Q4

   Apart from your main reason, which of these, if any, also played a part in your company not subscribing? Please select all that apply.

   Any that apply
   • It did not connect to our accounting software
   • It was missing another feature we needed
   • Setting it up took more time or effort than we could give it
   • Our staff or managers did not take to using it
   • It was difficult to use
   • It did not work reliably (for example, errors reading receipts)
   • The price was too high for us
   • The trial was too short for us to finish evaluating it
   • We got busy with other things and the trial ran out before we had tried it properly
   • We chose a different expenses app
   • We decided our existing way of handling expenses was good enough
   • We do not have enough expenses to need an app
   • Someone else (for example an owner, director or our accountant) decided against it
   • We still intend to subscribe but have not done so yet
   • Other (please specify)
   • There were no other reasons
   • Don't know / can't remember
7. Q5

   How easy or difficult was it to set Tallyroom up for your team (for example, adding staff, choosing who approves expenses, and connecting your accounting software)?

   One answer
   • Very easy
   • Fairly easy
   • Neither easy nor difficult
   • Fairly difficult
   • Very difficult
   • We did not try to set it up
8. Q6

   Which of these, if any, did your team need but could not get from Tallyroom during your trial? Please select all that apply.

   Any that apply
   • A connection to our accounting software
   • A connection to our payroll software
   • Mileage claims
   • Company card transactions brought in automatically
   • Receipts in foreign currencies
   • More than one level of approval
   • VAT recorded the way we need it
   • Paying staff back directly through the app
   • Reports on spending
   • Other (please specify)
   • Nothing we needed was missing
   • Don't know - we did not use it enough to say
9. Q7

   Which accounting software does your company mainly use?

   One answer
   • Xero
   • QuickBooks
   • Sage Business Cloud Accounting (online)
   • Sage 50 (desktop)
   • FreeAgent
   • KashFlow
   • Zoho Books
   • Our accountant keeps our books in their own software
   • We use spreadsheets or no accounting software
   • Other (please specify)
   • Don't know
10. Q8

    Thinking back over the 30-day trial, when did your company reach its decision not to subscribe?

    One answer
    • In the first week
    • In the second week
    • In the third or fourth week
    • After the trial had ended
    • We never made an active decision - the trial simply came to an end
    • Don't know / can't remember
11. Q9

    For trying out Tallyroom properly in your company, was the 30-day trial...

    One answer
    • Much too short
    • A little too short
    • About right
    • A little longer than needed
    • Much longer than needed
    • Don't know / no opinion
12. Q10

    Tallyroom costs £6 per user per month. For your company, is that...

    One answer
    • Much more than we would be willing to pay
    • A little more than we would be willing to pay
    • About what we would be willing to pay
    • Less than we would be willing to pay
    • We did not get as far as considering the price
    Judges: leading

    The price scale is unbalanced: it offers two categories above willingness to pay but only one below, giving greater emphasis and differentiation to the view that the price is too high.

    The price scale is unbalanced. It has two 'more than we would pay' points ('Much more', 'A little more') but only one 'Less than' point and no 'much less' option. This tilts answers towards 'too expensive' and could overstate the case for a cheaper plan.