Survey Reveals Small Businesses Continue to Thrive in U.S. Economy

Small businesses play a key role in today’s economy and account for 30 million U.S. businesses. This week is National Small Business Week, dedicated to recognizing the critical contributions of America’s entrepreneurs and small business owners.

A recent study conducted by cloud services providers 8x8 found that smaller businesses are providing impressive levels of customer care and as a result, increasing the likelihood that consumers will patron their businesses.

The survey polled 1,000 consumers in the U.S. aged 18 and older about their shopping preferences and why they choose to shop with a business. Over half of the respondents said they find themselves using small businesses for their needs “several times a month or more.”

Reasons for their likelihood to shop with smaller companies versus the larger competition include a better overall experience, more personalized engagement and higher levels of responsiveness that they don’t get with bigger organizations.

Thanks to the cloud, the playing field has been leveled and today’s small businesses are thriving with the same tools once only available to businesses that could invest in large scale technologies.

Samuel Wilson, Senior Vice President of Small Business and eCommerce at 8x8 commented, “The digital marketplace has equalized the playing field, so standing out hinges on creating individual customer relationships. It’s an area in which small businesses have historically thrived. The greatest opportunity for small businesses, judging by the results of our study, is turning that expectation around personalization on its head. By leveraging data and analytics, tailoring every touchpoint has never been easier – small businesses need to lean into that strength.”

Eighty-six percent of the survey respondents also said they would be willing to pay for goods and services if it meant getting better customer experiences.  though they wouldn’t necessarily leave after one poor experience, they did say they’re grateful when a good experience is had so much so that 57 percent would even leave the small business a good review about it while they wouldn’t do the same for a larger brand.

Wth cloud communications solutions, small and medium businesses have access to everything they need to engage with customers and meet them on their channel of choice. And can do all of this at a fraction of the cost of on-premise systems.

Edited by Maurice Nagle