Just over 82% of shoppers will pay more now to support small businesses! The pandemic sparked concern in consumers’ minds for local businesses. Customers decided that they would rather support the local mom and pop shop than the massive corporation. Even more impressively, these consumers have shown that they are willing to support small businesses at their own expense. Consumers often recognize the excellent service and quality that they get from local businesses, and they are willing to pay a little extra for it.

So now the question is: Is your small business offering the outstanding service and quality that your customers are expecting? Here are a few questions to help you evaluate your own efforts.

How quickly do you respond to your customers?

When your customers reach out to your business, how quickly do you respond? Do you have automations or customer services teams in place to immediately respond to consumer messages? Chances are that if your customers have to wait for a while, they will just go somewhere else. 

Is it convenient for customers to interact with your business? 

Is your business information easy to find? Do you have a significant presence on Google and major social media platforms? Can customers chat with you directly from your website? Can customers text you? Do you remind them when it is time to receive your services again? Can you easily let them know when you have a sale going on?

Is your customer service excellent?

How focused is your business on providing amazing customer service? What does your business reputation look like online? How many 4 or 5 star reviews do you have on Google? Do you ask every customer to leave you feedback so that you know how you can improve and so that other consumers know how amazing your business is? 

Your answers to these questions say a lot about whether or not your small business is the kind that local consumers are willing to support. In today’s world consumers have so many options and that makes it very difficult to compete on price. What hasn’t changed, is that consumers are still willing to give their loyalty to the business that gives them the most perceived value!