Clear makes tax experiences less taxing with Salesforce

 

Clear is putting customers first by delivering seamless and consistent experiences on its tax filing platform.

Founded in 2011, Clear (formerly ClearTax) is a fintech SaaS company trusted by 4,000+ enterprises, 1,00,000+ tax practitioners, and over five million Indian taxpayers. The company is on a mission to simply finance transformation, and help decision makers create a connected finance ecosystem.

Clear’s suite of services across accounts payable automation, tax and compliance lifecycle management, as well as treasury and secretarial compliance automation helps CFOs enable the digital transformation that modern finance teams need.

“We’re a B2B SaaS company with a very clear objective – to make taxes and compliance easier for our customers,” says Archit Gupta, Founder and CEO, Clear.

To Clear, customer-centricity means offering every enterprise a simple, seamless, and consistent experience on their platform.

“A customer’s goal becomes our internal goal,” says Gupta. With this customer focus helping Clear grow quickly, what the leadership team looked for was a platform to help them scale.

 
 
“With Salesforce, we’ve invested in customer-centricity, so that we can offer our customers the best experiences.”
Archit Gupta
Founder and CEO,
Clear
 
 

Bridging data silos

When the Enterprise division of Clear approached Salesforce, they had grown 5x in six months. But with customer data scattered across spreadsheets, teams struggled to deliver consistent customer experiences. Internal collaboration was also a challenge without a common CRM platform. Key account managers needed an integrated and real-time customer view to deliver better service.

“Customers loved the experience of our online GST filing platform – but they sometimes needed technical support,” says Gupta. “Our goal was to proactively identify their struggles and offer timely help.”

Clear began looking for a single, unified platform that would help them scale up customer support, while also enabling sales and service teams to deliver a consistent customer experience.

So, why did they choose Salesforce?

“Because we truly do walk the talk – we put our customers first,” says Gupta. “With Salesforce, we’ve invested in customer-centricity, so that we can offer our customers the best experiences.”

 
 

Boosting customer satisfaction, revenue with automated and efficient sales processes

Today, Clear is using Salesforce to automate and streamline their sales cycle. Teams can now fulfil customer needs faster and with less friction.

Through deep system integration, leads from Clear’s platform flow straight into Salesforce where they are acted upon quickly. Teams can also prioritise sales opportunities, track conversions, and manage entire deals through to closure. Predictive intelligence based on historical sales data helps teams prioritise deals for optimal conversions.

Based on the terms of each deal, Clear platform users are also granted a user license with a clearly-defined duration, user cap, and other limitations. This helps prevent platform overuse.

“Earlier, our licenses were managed manually – which meant that we didn’t always know when they had expired, or if the user cap had been breached,” recounts Gupta. “But after automating that process, license renewals have been on-time and up-to-date.”

With data flowing in from Clear’s platform to Salesforce, teams have complete visibility into how customers are using each product. So, when a license is up for renewal, pricing is easier to calculate.

“We’ve seen a 2x increase in the renewal rate, thanks to improvements in license management,” says Gupta.

Meanwhile, customer onboarding and communication have also been streamlined. So, if a customer has a question about payments or invoicing, their email is automatically routed to the finance department for faster resolution. Similarly, any breaches in SLAs are automatically escalated to the next level.

“We’ve put in a number of processes to manage customer issues quickly and transparently,” says Gupta. “Even billing will eventually be automated. So, customers can have a smooth experience at every touchpoint.”

 
 

2x

 

increase in the renewal rate with better license management

Working smarter with a unified CRM platform

With a single customer view, sales teams are more tuned in to customer needs. Plus, they’re better able to identify cross-sell and upsell opportunities.

“We're seeing our account managers engage smarter, close deals faster, and offer customers more relevant products,” says Gupta.

At the backend, streamlined approvals and automated workflows supercharge employee productivity. “All our teams across sales, operations, legal, and support are collaborating easier, now that they have a unified platform,” says Gupta.

Clear has also built an online community for its channel partners and distributors using Salesforce Experience Cloud.

“We now have a complete channel management solution that makes it simple to onboard partners, and monitor channel sales,” says Gupta.

 
 

Differentiating service experiences with ‘clear’ customer visibility

Apart from sales, Clear’s entire service cycle is managed on Salesforce Service Cloud.

“Having a single source of customer truth helps us support customers better throughout their filing journey,” says Gupta. “With data integrated from the Clear platform, we know exactly where the customer is stuck, and can proactively offer assistance.”

Salesforce is closely linked to JIRA to help the engineering team respond faster to technical support tickets. Service agents are also empowered with knowledge articles to resolve customer queries quickly.

“Today, 98% of our tickets are closed within defined SLAs,” says Gupta.

At multiple touch points, the company sends out email surveys to capture customer satisfaction (CSAT) and net promoter scores (NPS).

“We’re constantly looking to improve and deliver the best possible service,” says Gupta. “With more processes automated and streamlined, we can easily scale up service whenever required.”

 
 

98%

 

of service tickets closed within SLAs

 
 

Charging ahead with confidence

Next on the agenda? Augment service with chatbots that offer live support. Customer queries captured via these tools and other support channels will be consolidated on a single platform for faster ticket creation and resolution.

“The end goal is to have a unified view of customers across all channels of engagement,” says Gupta. “This way, we can deliver the connected and personalised experiences that customers deserve.”

With the right investments in technology, they’re all set to achieve their goals.

“We’re making it easier than ever for customers to manage their finances, and improve their relationship with money,” says Gupta. “That wouldn’t be possible without platforms like Salesforce helping us understand and support customers better, every step of the way.”

Give your customers a spectacular experience across sales and service.

 

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