Howsmall businesses improve theconsumer experience

Small business is bigbusiness. Thoughit’seasy andnot necessarilyinaccurate to associate small businesseswithMainStreet, small-and medium-size companies areplayersinthe international trade arenaaswell.

A2015 report from theU.S. Census Bureau found that small- andmedium-sizedcompanies comprised 97.6 percentof all identifiedexporters and97.2 percentofall identifiedimporters

Small businesses cancompete in both thedomesticand internationaltrade arenas foravarietyof reasons, notthe leastofwhichis theexperience they provide fortheir customers.While they maynot have themarketing muscle to competewithlarge corporations, many small businesseshaveperfected theart of providingtop-notch experiences fortheir customers by embracingseveralstrategiesthatmakeconsumers feel appreciated

Improvedcustomerservice

Nearly everyconsumerhas hadto contactaretailer or service provider regardingapurchaseatone point or another. Contacting alargecorporation canbe a difficultexperience forconsumers,who often must answerseveraltelephone prompts before they can be connectedtoahuman being. Small businesses typically do notask customers to clearsuchhurdles before theycan getintouch with an actual person Thatmakes theprocessofcontacting customerservice lesstime-consumingand aggravatingand more enjoyablefor customers

Responses

Small businesses areinbetterposition to respondto negative experiences or reviews, particularly onlinereviews, becausethey have fewercustomersthanlargecompanies whofieldhundredsifnot thousands of complaints perday.Studies have shown that customersappreciate responsesfrombusinessestheypatronize.A2018onlinereviews survey from Review Trackers found that 53 percentof consumersexpecta response to negative reviewswithin aweekofposting their reviewsand aredisappointedwhen they do notreceive aresponse. Unfortunately, the same survey foundthat63percentofreviewers have neverreceivedaresponsetoareview.Smallbusinesses arein aunique position to respondtoonlinereviews, andprovidingsuchresponses canturnapotentially negative consumer experience into apositive one. What’s more,because online reviewsand responses arepublic, prospective customerscan read acompany’s response andknowthatownerswanttheir customers to have as positive an experience as possible

Personalization

Many large companieswon’t customizetheir products, as their financial successis typicallyrootedin howeffectively theycan scaleto thousandsofcustomers perday,ifnot more.Solargecompanies have lessincentive to work one-on-one with customers. Small businesses arenot beholden to scale, which givesthemthe flexibility offer more unique products, includingcustomizeditems

The consumer experience is often more customer-friendlywithsmall businessesthanlarge corporations. Thatwell-earnedreputationisjustone of many reasonswhy small businessesare thriving in today’s economy. •