Muse Ember: Why Tallyroom trials don't convert

Scorecard

The analysis

Findings

1. Assisted setup, not a shorter trial, is the largest overall lever: not having time to set up is the top weighted main reason for non-payment and is concentrated in the small businesses that dominate the lapsed population.

   High confidenceBase 460

   Unweighted, 18.7% cited didn't have time to set it up. Weighted to population size mix (55% 1-9, 35% 10-49, 10% 50-249) this is 21.6% (0.55x27.4 + 0.35x15.9 + 0.10x10.0), about 355 of 1,640 lapsed teams. Among 1-9 firms it is 27.4% (base 168) vs 10.0% for 50-249. 24 of 109 open-text answers mention setup time, 15 of them from 1-9 firms.

2. Cutting the trial from 30 to 14 days would very likely reduce conversion, not lift it. There is essentially no evidence that trial length or forgetting caused non-payment.

   High confidenceBase 460

   Q2: trial too long 0.2% (1 respondent), trial too short 1.5%, forgot trial was running 3.7% (base 460). Open texts repeatedly say the trial ended before setup was finished, e.g. setup took longer than the trial allowed, ran out of trial before finishing setup. Shortening would remove the time respondents say they lacked.

3. Head of product question - Sage demand is real and strong inside the Sage segment, but narrower overall than the unweighted headline suggests because larger businesses are over-represented in the sample.

   Medium confidenceBase 460

   23.7% of all respondents say they need Sage integration before paying (base 460, 95% margin of error about 3.9pp). Weighted to population size mix it falls to 18.1% (0.55x7.7 + 0.35x28.0 + 0.10x40.9). Inside Sage users (base 117), 85.5% need Sage and 58.1% cite no integration as main reason, vs 3.3% of Xero and 0.9% of QuickBooks users needing Sage. FreeAgent shows the same pattern on a smaller base (72.7% of 33 users, 7.2% overall).

4. Finance director question - connecting to their software would not convert most integration-blocked teams at £6 per user per month on stated intent, before any intention-behaviour gap.

   Medium confidenceBase 93

   Among the 93 respondents whose main reason was no integration, 61.3% said fairly/very likely to pay £6 if connected (Q5 net likely). That is 38.7% unlikely/neutral. Applied to the weighted 16.3% citing no integration as main reason, stated likely payers are only about 10% of all lapsed teams. Q5 was hypothetical, asked of everyone using accounting software including Xero/QuickBooks users already connected, and anchored at £6.

5. Price matters, mainly as per-user structure for occasional users rather than a proven size-based price gap, and a blanket cheaper plan is not evidenced as the fix.

   Medium confidenceBase 460

   Too expensive is main reason for 15.9% unweighted, 16.6% weighted (base 460). 20.4% say they need per-company pricing in Q3, and many open texts say paying for every seat when only a few claim was the blocker. The 1-9 (19.0%, base 168) vs 50-249 (15.5%, base 110) too-expensive gap is 3.5pp and not statistically significant at 95% (z about 0.75). Among too-expensive citers only 23.3% said likely to pay £6 if integrated (base 73), indicating integration alone does not resolve price objection.

6. Approval workflow is a material secondary barrier that assisted setup should address, especially for larger teams, and it is not solved by any of the four headline options alone.

   Medium confidenceBase 460

   12.6% cite approval workflow didn't fit as main reason (21.8% for 50-249 vs 7.1% for 1-9), 22.0% say they need custom approval chains in Q3, and 15 open texts describe MD-only, verbal/batch, paper-first, multi-approver and external accountant approval mismatches.

7. A large minority are not convertible by integration, setup or price fixes, setting a ceiling on any single lever.

   Medium confidenceBase 460

   Q3: 36.5% need none of the listed items (51.6% of Xero users). Q2: 10.0% decided they didn't need it, 8.7% chose another tool, 6.3% cite mobile app problems, with 12, 8 and 10 open-text mentions respectively. These teams need a different value proposition or will not convert.

8. Unweighted totals overstate integration/Sage demand and understate setup demand; all population projections must use size weighting.

   High confidenceBase 460

   Sample size mix is 36.5% 1-9, 39.6% 10-49, 23.9% 50-249 vs population 55%, 35%, 10%. Integration main reason falls from 20.2% unweighted to 16.3% weighted; Sage need falls from 23.7% to 18.1%; setup rises from 18.7% to 21.6%. Ranking changes after weighting, with setup first, price 16.6% and integration 16.3% next.

Open-text themes it coded

No integration with accounting software 22Didn't have time to set up / setup took too long 24Too expensive / per-user pricing 23Approval workflow didn't fit 15Decided they didn't need it 12Mobile app / receipt scanning problems 10Chose another tool 8

The survey it planned

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

1. S1

   Are you the admin of a UK-based team whose Tallyroom trial ended in the last 90 days and did not convert to a paid plan?

   One answer
   • Yes
   • No

   Continues if Yes

2. S2

   How many employees does your company have?

   One answer
   • 1-9
   • 10-49
   • 50-249
   • 250 or more

   Continues if 1-9; 10-49; 50-249

3. Q1

   Which accounting software does your company currently use most for its finances?

   One answer
   • Xero
   • QuickBooks Online
   • Sage
   • FreeAgent
   • Kashoo
   • Spreadsheets, such as Excel or Google Sheets
   • No accounting software
   • Another accounting software
4. Q2

   How much did you or your team use Tallyroom during the trial?

   Scale

   Scale 1-5: Not at all to A great deal

5. Q3

   How easy or difficult was it to set up Tallyroom for your team?

   Scale

   Scale 1-5: Very difficult to Very easy

   Judges: assumptive

   Assumes the team attempted setup. Respondents who never attempted it still see this question and have no applicable response.

   It assumes the respondent tried to set up Tallyroom. Q2 allows 'Not at all' use, and there is no 'did not set it up' option, so non-users are forced to rate ease.

6. Q4

   Which of the following were reasons your team did not pay for Tallyroom? Please select all that apply.

   Any that apply
   • The price of £6 per user per month was too high
   • It did not integrate with our accounting software
   • It was missing a feature we needed
   • Setting it up took too much time or was too difficult
   • We did not have enough time during the trial to evaluate it properly
   • The trial was too long and we lost interest or forgot about it
   • We chose a different product
   • We no longer needed an expenses tool
   • We did not get the budget or approval needed to pay
   • We had technical problems during the trial
   • Another reason
7. Q5

   Which one of these was the main reason your team did not pay for Tallyroom?

   One answer
   • The price of £6 per user per month was too high
   • It did not integrate with our accounting software
   • It was missing a feature we needed
   • Setting it up took too much time or was too difficult
   • We did not have enough time during the trial to evaluate it properly
   • The trial was too long and we lost interest or forgot about it
   • We chose a different product
   • We no longer needed an expenses tool
   • We did not get the budget or approval needed to pay
   • We had technical problems during the trial
   • Another reason
8. Q6

   Which of the following, if available during your trial, would have been important to your team? Please select all that apply.

   Any that apply
   • Integration with my current accounting software
   • A bank or credit card feed
   • Mileage and travel claims
   • Per diem and allowance claims
   • Automatic extraction of receipt details
   • Custom approval workflows
   • Support for multiple currencies
   • Integration with payroll or human resources software
   • Another integration or feature
   • None of these
9. Q7

   If one of the following had been different during your trial, which would have been most likely to lead your team to pay?

   One answer
   • Integration with our accounting software
   • Assisted setup and onboarding
   • A lower price per user per month
   • A shorter 14-day trial
   • I would not have paid in any case
   • Something else
10. Q8

    Which statement best describes the length of the trial for your team?

    One answer
    • We did not have enough time to evaluate Tallyroom properly
    • We lost interest or forgot about the trial before it ended
    • We had enough time to make a decision
    • We did not use the trial enough to judge whether to pay
    • The length of the trial did not affect our decision
11. Q9

    To help us check that responses are being read carefully, please select 'I am reading carefully' below.

    One answer
    • I am reading carefully
    • I am not reading carefully
    • I do not know
12. Q10

    In your own words, what was the single most important reason your team did not pay for Tallyroom, and what, if anything, could Tallyroom have done differently?

    Open text
    Judges: double-barrelled

    It asks for two things, the main reason for not paying and what Tallyroom could have done differently, in a single open response.

    Asks for both the single most important reason they did not pay AND what could have been done differently in one open question.