Payroll Options

About the project

Payroll Options was facing a growing challenge as competition from outside their industry began impacting their business. They weren’t losing clients to traditional competitors like other payroll bureaus or accountancy firms, but instead to software solutions such as Xero, FreeAgent, QuickBooks, and Sage. These packages had introduced payroll modules that appeared to be reliable, easy to use, and fully compliant with UK regulations, all at a much lower cost.

This posed a difficult choice for clients: pay a few hundred pounds a month for a proven payroll service with 30 years of experience, or a few pounds a month for software that promised to handle everything. As a result, Payroll Options saw a slow but steady decline in clients, a trend they needed to reverse.

With a well-established reputation for excellence, Payroll Options had worked with Beach for nearly 10 years. Beach knew the business, the audience, and were ready to step in with fresh ideas.

Challenge

The major challenge for Payroll Options was the threat posed by low-cost payroll software solutions. These packages offered clients convenience, ease of use, and regulatory compliance, making it difficult for Payroll Options to compete on price alone. Despite their long-standing reputation, the company was steadily losing clients, and this trend could not continue.

Their task was to communicate the value of their service to medium-sized businesses (with 25 to 200 employees), where the benefits of using an external payroll bureau would outweigh the perceived cost-savings of switching to software solutions.

Solutions

Data Utilisation:
The first step was to build a comprehensive database using existing data and new business contacts. Payroll Options focused on businesses with 25 to 200 employees, which they identified as the ideal size for an external payroll bureau. Any smaller, and businesses could handle payroll themselves; any larger, and they would likely have in-house payroll expertise.

Account-Based Marketing (ABM):
Building on the success of previous direct mail campaigns, the team adopted Account-Based Marketing and Marketing Automation to engage both existing and new clients. They targeted almost 10,000 businesses within a 50-mile radius, identifying four key roles within each company: Office Manager, HR Manager, Finance Director, and Operations Director. Each role had its own specific concerns—simplicity, service, efficiency, and reliability—so the team developed tailored campaigns for each group.

Staged Approach:
Since Payroll Options couldn’t handle a large influx of new clients all at once, the data was further segmented by location. This allowed them to manage responses in a controlled way, adjusting messaging based on feedback from earlier campaigns. After initial contact, each prospect typically required follow-up and up to three meetings before committing to the service. Most clients preferred to transition payroll services at the end of their financial year, making timing another key consideration.

Results:
The results were impressive. Payroll Options successfully replaced the clients they had lost, while also targeting larger businesses, which increased the overall value of their client base. Many lapsed clients also returned after struggling with software-based payroll solutions for six to twelve months. In a sector dominated by digital competition, the campaign proved that physical marketing—such as direct mail, brochures, and handwritten letters—could still generate significant results.