What Consumers Look For In a Small Business
Corporations may be getting bigger, but it’s still small businesses that drive the USA. Some 99.9% of businesses in the US are classed as ‘small businesses,’ and they also account for nearly half of the country’s employees.
Still, despite the positive statistics, it’s just a fact that small, brick-and-mortar businesses face unique challenges. There’s the rise of eCommerce, for starters, and the small matter of intense competition from other businesses.
One effective strategy for improving foot traffic, boosting sales, and enhancing customer retention is to give consumers what they are looking for. If you can tick all the boxes, then they’ll have no reason to look elsewhere.
So, what do consumers look for in a small business? Let’s take a look.
Care and Detail
Customers don’t want to give their money to just any old business. They want to give it to businesses who demonstrate that they care about their business, their products/services, and the customer.
While wear-and-tear, clutter, and unswept floors might not seem like a big deal, they all contribute towards creating a poor impression. After all, it presents an image that the business simply doesn’t care — and if it doesn’t care about its image, then what else doesn’t it care about?
Attractive Front
A small business could have the best products in the neighborhood, but if the external area isn’t up to scratch, then it’s unlikely that a passing consumer will decide to walk through the front door. A well-put-together front really can make the difference between snagging yourself a sale and losing a potential customer.
Putting together an aesthetically pleasing front doesn’t involve reinventing the wheel. It’s just about doing the basic things correctly. That means replacing damaged signs, using a battery powered lawn mower to keep any grassy areas neat and tidy, and periodically updating the window display. It’s good practice to look at the front of your business once a month and ask, ‘what would a stranger think of this if they saw it?’ — this approach can help you to see things that you might otherwise miss.
Positive Reviews
Even for brick-and-mortar businesses, reviews can be a powerful tool that can really help drive business growth. Consumers typically search on Google and Google Maps when they’re searching for products and services, and in areas where there’s high competition, it’s often the number of good reviews that determines which businesses are shown first. You can increase your chances of being shown first by encouraging your happy customers to leave a positive review — while it can feel a little awkward to ask, most customers will happily oblige if you explain how important it is to your success.
Consistent Service
Finally, customers look for consistency. They want to receive the same standard of product and level of service every time they walk through the door. Even seemingly small things, like sticking to your opening hours, can make a difference — there’s nothing that’ll frustrate a customer more than arriving at your business only to find that it’s unexpectedly closed.
