Business Resources

Smart Services Every Small Business Owner Should Consider

No small business owner knows it all, and no small business owner can generate all the tools in-house that they need to succeed. There are plenty of free and paid services out there that small business owners need to know about, as they can boost your customer satisfaction, increase your popularity, and make your essential business operations run more smoothly. All of this will not only better your bottom line but will set you up to grow. Here are some essentials. 

Automatic Email Marketing

Although Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other forms of social media are trendy (and yes, actually important), email is still king when it comes to reaching your target customers. As WPBeginner.com explains, “email marketing is one of the most cost-effective marketing tools. It is easy to manage, gives you full control and allows you to establish direct contact with your customers.” In fact, some studies have found that some businesses can actually earn up to $44 for every $1spent on email marketing. 

Services like ConstantContact, GetResponse, and MailChimp offer free and paid services to get you started. You’ll want to automate this, as manual email marketing will only get more time-consuming as your customer or client base increases. 

Google Alerts

You can’t respond to customer criticisms and concerns or amplify customer praise if you don’t know it’s happening. The vast majority of discussions about your business is going to happen online, and one of the only ways to know every single time someone talks about your business (good or bad) is to set up free Google alerts. This will help you manage your online reputationand ensure that potential customers are seeing what you want them to see about your business. 

Comprehensive Payments Solutions

If your payment or point-of-sale systemis out-of-date, you are not only making your business run less efficiently, but you’re possibly missing out on revenue. You should consider a good all-in-one credit cardsystem, complete with onboard security features, NFC (touch payment) compatibility, and the ability to print receipts right from the terminal. 

For online payment, make sure that your business accepts as many forms of payment as possible. This should include Apple Pay, Google, Pay, PayPal, Amazon Payments, and many more. Being versatile when it comes to in-store and online payments will ensure you never miss out on sales because of transactional difficulties. 

Online Survey Tools

How are you going to find out what your business is doing wrong and what it’s doing right if you never ask your customers? Sure, you could ask them face-to-face (if you even have a brick-and-mortar shop), offer a link for feedback on their receipt or in an email, or simply wait for them to review you online. However, this is far from proactive. Instead, consider services that allow you to conduct in-depth surveys, which will give you the knowledge to improve your business. Zoho, Checkbox, and SurveyMonkey are some top optionsin this space. 

Payroll solutions

Small business owners either spend so much time on payroll and human resources that it eats into their other responsibilities or don’t put enough effort into it and wind up making a mistake that costs them in the end. Don’t let this be you. Instead, invest in aquality online payroll service. It’s worth the cost in peace of mind alone. 

Don’t be stubborn — you simply can’t handle every aspect of your business all yourself (and you certainly wouldn’t want to). Each small business service you employ gives you just a little more freedom to run your business the way you truly want to run it. 

Photo by Joshua Rodriguezon Unsplash