Texting and a shared inbox
Clients text the office,
not your cellTexts off your own cell
AccrueNest is texting for tax preparers and US accounting firms of 1 to 10 people: two-way texts on your office line, with email, site chat, WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram sharing one inbox. A client's 5:30 a.m. text waits there for office hours, and your personal cell stays out of it.AccrueNest is texting for tax preparers: texts on your office line, plus email and chat, in one shared inbox. Your personal cell stays out of it.
- Replies show for everyone at the office, owner too
- Opted-in clients only
Live in 14 daysMonth to month, no setup fee
- Whole team on each thread
- Alerts the moment an inquiry arrives
- Saved replies for repeat questions
- Extension reminders to opted-in clients
- Email, chat and social messages too
- Texting starts after they agree
Clients text whoever gave them a number last year: the owner's cell, a preparer's personal phone, the seasonal admin. With AccrueNest they text the firm, every answer comes back from that same line, and it's read by whoever is at the desk today.
A text before sunrise.
Every text shared.
Each thread has an owner the office can see.
Through the season
Season texts, to the right list
Each one leaves on your line, only for clients on the opted-in list, and answers return to the inbox.
In mid-January one text goes to last year's return clients on your opted-in list: the organizer is ready, here's the link, and here are this year's drop-off hours. Answers land on each client's own thread.
Clients whose documents are still out on April 10 get one text: send the rest by the 13th, or your firm files an extension. Every answer comes back to that client's thread for a preparer to pick up.
In late September, opted-in clients on the Extensions list receive a single text naming October 15, with a booking link for a sit-down or an upload link for what's missing.
Where texting helps most
Texts the front desk sends every week
Intro calls
Reminders before every meeting
Someone books an intro call for Thursday at 10. A confirmation reaches their phone on your office line right away, a reminder comes Wednesday, and one more arrives an hour ahead with the Zoom link. If Thursday stops working, they answer the text, and the front desk moves the meeting from that same thread without a phone call.
- Reminders arrive as texts and emails at the times you set
- Answers to a reminder land on that person's thread, not voicemail
Missing documents
A text that names what's still missing
The organizer went out in January, and by March the K-1 is still out, along with two 1099s. When something is still missing, a text names it and brings the client back to the form to send it. No password stands in the way: the link opens on their phone. What clients upload or tell your firm is encrypted, used only to serve your firm and not sold to anyone.
- Reminders repeat by text and email until every item arrives, then stop
- Questions come back to whoever owns that return's card
New inquiries
Weekend ad forms answered inside a minute
Someone clicks your Google ad on a Sunday night, fills in the form and ticks the text box. Inside sixty seconds your firm's reply offers times for an intro call, and the preparer who handles new clients gets an alert.
- The text goes out only when the form's consent box for texts was ticked first.
- Google and Meta are told when they book, so your ads learn what works
Monthly clients
The receipts reminder on the 8th
Bookkeeping clients get a text on the 8th: bank statements and receipts are due by the 10th, with the upload link. Questions about a charge come back to the same thread, where your bookkeeper answers between other work.
- Monthly statements and receipt photos arrive from their phones
- Each monthly client keeps one running thread all year long
Review requests
Asking for Google reviews, with consent
When a return goes out or the year's books are closed, each client who gave consent receives a short text linking to your Google reviews, whether they loved the work or not. Our replies to reviews say nothing about whether the reviewer was ever on your books, and nothing about any return, balance or tax matter.
- Sent only to clients who gave their consent first
- Reviewers receive nothing for posting one, ever
Included too
- WhatsApp on each thread
- Replies from the staff app
- STOP replies opt them out
- Office closure texts
- PDFs and pictures, either way
- Templates for each season
Each message stays with its client
A text, an email and a Facebook message from the same person sit on one card, beside their calls, meetings and documents, so anyone who opens the card sees the whole story.
Felix Ardmore Asked for Saturday drop-off hours; answered with a saved reply.
New textWhat it works with
- Reports Texts sent, answers received and meetings booked from a text, counted by week.
- Phones The number clients text is the same one they call, and both show on one card.
- Local search results Someone who spots your firm on Google Maps can text the number listed there, and it arrives in this inbox.
- Website Questions typed into your site's chat land here too, and a person answers them.
- Ads Each Facebook or Google ad inquiry carries its campaign name onto the card, and a reply text follows at once.
- Consultation booking Paste your calendar link into a reply and the client picks a slot.
- Reviews Clients who consented get the review text on the line they've saved as your firm's.
Your season's texts, loaded before the demo
Send us the kickoff, the missing-documents nudge and the extension reminder your office uses. We save them as templates before the call, open the shared inbox and explain the carrier registration that comes before your first text.
Quieter personal phones
Cornelius B.Owner of a CPA firm, Columbus Zero textsto my own cellClients had my cell from years back. Now they text the office, and I read their messages at my desk instead of at dinner.
Ezequiel M.Enrolled agent, San Antonio 1 numberfor the whole officeClients write to us in Spanish about as often as English. Whoever's at the front answers from the office number, and each conversation stays on their card.
Annika L.Owner, bookkeeping firm, Minneapolis Monthlyreceipts by textReceipts used to come in as forty texts to my phone. Now the reminder goes out on the 8th and the photos arrive on each client's thread.
Marguerite D.Office manager, New Orleans Assignedevery new threadI assign every new text to a preparer, so no client gets two different answers from us in one week.
Prakash S.Tax preparer, Edison, NJ Sharednotes on each threadWhen a client texts a photo of a letter, I see it on their thread, and my notes stay there for whoever picks it up next.
Thuy N.Client services lead, tax office, Houston One sendextension reminderThe extension reminder reached every opted-in client in one send, and each answer came back on that client's thread.
Texting questions
About texting your clients
Search for registration, WhatsApp or the inbox.
6 questions
Can we text clients from our number?
Yes. Your firm's own line sends every text, and replies return to the inbox your staff share. Carriers register your firm for texting first, which can take a few weeks.
Which clients can we text, and when?
Our texts and AI messages go to people who gave your firm their number and agreed to be contacted, and to no one else. Your forms carry two consent boxes: service and marketing.
Will email and chat sit with the texts?
Yes. A person's emails, site chats and Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp messages share a single thread with their texts, so nobody checks four apps to answer.
Can several staff read and answer?
Yes. Everyone you give access sees each thread and who answered it. Assign a thread to one preparer, leave notes the client never sees, and each new message alerts the person it's assigned to.
Do clients download anything to text us?
No. Clients text your number from their own phone, like any other text.
Can we text 500 clients about the extension deadline?
Yes, if they opted in to texts. Newsletters and reminders go only to people your firm chooses, and a list that sells more than return preparation follows your firm's own consent rules for tax return information.
Try searching
Questions about texting?
Email Imogen at sales@accruenest.com with the texts your office sends most, or a question about consent.
Imogen PritchardAccount manager
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