QuickBooks Live Experts: Rebrand

The Problem

QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping launched as a service for small business owners without accountants—focused on helping them manage their books or clean them up for tax time.

From those early insights, we identified a clear gap:

• Many customers didn’t want to pay for full-time bookkeeping services.

• But they still wanted the reassurance of access—the ability to reach out to a bookkeeper when they needed help.

This insight led to the development of lighter-touch services like Guided Setup and Assisted Bookkeeping, designed to balance affordability with on-demand expertise.

When we prepared to expand access to accountant-attached users—a segment previously excluded—we faced unexpected resistance. Members of our Accountant Council felt the move breached trust.

• Perception issue: The service had been positioned at QuickBooks Connect as non-competitive to accountants.

• Naming issue: Even the word “bookkeeping” in the product name felt like a direct competitive threat to their business.

The Solution

To move forward without alienating accountants, we rethought both naming and positioning. I partnered with PMs, legal, and marketing to:

• Shift the service identity from “QuickBooks Live Bookkeeping” to “QuickBooks Live Experts”—emphasizing expertise and confidence rather than competition.

• Reframe messaging across product surfaces, marketing, and call scripts to highlight that Live Experts support small business owners, not replace accountants.

• Adjust copy to stress collaboration and empowerment, positioning QuickBooks Live as an extension of the accountant relationship.