What Gusto Gets Right About DIY Services

We’re wrapping up month 2 with Gusto . After saying a long overdue farewell to PayChex, it was only natural to feel some anxiety over what would happen next. There was no need to worry. Not only was the transition smoother than hoped for, but we also discovered an unexpected Gusto benefit.??

What quickly became obvious is these folks built an intentional DIY product with customer-first thinking as the foundation.

What does customer-first design thinking mean?

There is a fundamental difference between a service that is designed for DIY (Gusto) and one that offloads work to the customer disguised as DIY (PayChex).?

To illustrate, let’s compare how these 6 basic services are designed and delivered. If you are considering a new DIY service, these ideas might kickstart your creativity.

1. Deliver the obvious

The 2023 W-2s were nowhere to be found on the PayChex portal. I finally had to use the search box to uncover them tucked away in some obscure place. It was January 2024. That’s when customers look for tax forms.

It should be this simple.

2. Make it easy to do what they signed up for

Payroll processing is the feature that brought us – and probably most customers -- to Gusto.

An email reminder with a link goes directly to the payroll reporting page after login. It’s literally a single button click to complete payroll. An email confirmation is immediately sent including all of the necessary financial details.

PayChex is 2 or 3 clunky screens to select the checks to process. Once completed, you are given 15 minutes to change your mind. (Gusto supports changes until bank funding is done.) There is no email confirmation or financial details provided by PayChex.

3. Deliver supporting information after customers complete a task

For payroll reporting, the next thing a customer needs to do is record payroll in their accounting system and ensure the bank funds are available. Gusto automatically provides both online and email details for cash requirements and a line item breakdown immediately.

With PayChex, it's off to more screens to get the reports and download them.

4. Simplify recurring tasks

When tasks such as payroll reporting are done on a regular schedule, eliminating a repetitive task shows you understand how the customer feels about this time suck.

Gusto provides their handy Payroll Autopilot feature that eliminates this recurring manual task. For payroll that doesn’t change from one period to the next, this is a useful timesaver. ?

5. Anticipate what customers want to learn about next?

It’s a fact that we don’t know what we don’t know.

Services that help customers discover solutions to problems they didn’t know to ask about highlight customer-first thinking. ?This is an opportunity to showcase additional services without being salesy.?

6. Remind customers why they made the right decision to buy from you

Drip emails -- when done thoughtfully -- are a practical way to stay in front of your customers. Balance how to make the most of what they’re paying for with introducing a service or tip they might not know about.?

For example, an email last week announced Gusto’s new Cash Account feature for employees. It’s a benefit I would never have thought about but clearly someone at Gusto was thinking for me.

Anticipating what a customer – and their employees/users/partners ?– will value and then including it as part of an ongoing service is smart.

PS: We're not a partner, affiliate, or reseller of Gusto. Just a satisfied customer with an experience worth sharing.

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