If you are a small business owner, you are spending a lot of time learning how to build your company. This is probably a lot more complicated than you anticipated, even if you got good counsel or went to business school. It can be tough, from the perspective of the business owner, to know what customers (current and prospective) are experiencing on their end of things. However, there are trends which can be observed. Here are a few common problems that customers have when dealing with new businesses. If you want to improve your business, make sure you are doing well in these areas. If so, you’ll have a lot of room to grow, faster than your competition who don’t do well in these areas.
- Non-Responsive Websites. This is seen a lot in the websites of young businesses. Responsive websites scale to the devices on which they are being used and viewed. Because there are so many different types and sizes of internet ready devices, responsive sites are expected by all of your customers. But some business owners make their own websites, and they don’t know how to make a responsive site. This could mean that if your prospective customers are trying to use your website on an iPhone, they will have to scroll and scroll, because the images on your site are sized as if they’re being used on a 17” desktop screen. Think of it like trying to read a recipe through a peephole. It’s very annoying. Make sure your website is responsive, and all of your prospective customers will be able to view your information, no matter what device they use.
- Slow or Confusing Shipping Terms. Many small and medium sized businesses use services like A2B Fulfillment to manage their shipping, because they know how hard it is to do right. It takes a lot of time and effort to ship accurately and quickly, especially if you have more than a few customers. Not everybody will have physical products to ship, but if you do, your shipping prowess will have a lot to do with your future success. Companies like Amazon have become international success stories, in large part because their shipping game is on point.
- Difficult to Find Information. Sometimes new businesses don’t know when or where to post information. Other times web info gets posted all over the place, then details change, with out-of-date info being viewed by prospective customers all the time. This won’t work. There’s nothing more frustrating than trying to call a business on a number that is no longer active, or clicking a link to a website for which the hosting has lapsed. Take the time to make your web information and social media presence accurate. Your customers will love you for the simplicity.
There are plenty of other aspects of your business which you’ll have to work at to get right. But you can’t forget about the aspects of your business which your customers experience, but don’t seem directly relevant to your bottom line. They are, even if they don’t seem like it.
