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Small Business Success Index 5

Index Score*   Grade
SBSI INDEX 73 C- marginal
Capital Access 67 D+
Marketing & Innovation 65 D
Workforce 76 C
Customer Service 88 B+
Computer Technology 75 C
Compliance 92 A-
*Index score is calculated on a 1-100 scale.
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When It Comes to Mobile Shopping, Businesses Fall Short of Customers’ Expectations

February 6th, 2012 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

It’s no secret that mobile shopping is hot, hot, hot. In fact, eMarketer estimates there will be 72.8 million mobile shoppers in the U.S. this year, of whom 94.3 percent will use a smartphone to research products and browse the Web. More than half (53 percent) of those users will make purchases on their phones, pushing m-commerce (mobile commerce) sales to $11.6 billion overall for 2012.

M-commerce is still a small part of the retail pie, but it’s growing in importance. Unfortunately, though more users are turning to smartphones to access retail brands, they’re often disappointed in the functionality they find from retailers’ mobile offerings.

December 2011 research by L2 Think Tank cited by eMarketer surveyed beauty/skincare, fashion, hospitality, retail and watch/jewelry brands about their activities online and found that, when it comes to mobile, these companies are falling far short of what customers expect.

The most popular feature for retailers to offer on their mobile sites was ecommerce capability (67 percent) and store locator features (67 percent). When it came to other tools that users might expect to find on retailers’ mobile sites, however, the numbers declined significantly.

Just 44 percent offered mobile product search—which could be a key competitive feature when consumers are out and about looking for a particular product. And only 23 percent of companies had video on their mobile sites, compared to 82 percent who offered video on their regular websites.

Retailers aren’t doing much better when it comes to mobile optimization of email. Although 78 percent of the companies surveyed were using email marketing, the majority (53 percent) sent emails with links to their standard website, which might not be mobile-friendly. Only 24 percent sent users an email message that was optimized for mobile viewing, and even fewer used mobile-friendly links (such as links to mobile apps or mobile-optimized websites).

Although eMarketer doesn’t specify, I’m assuming this survey focused on big-name retail brands. If even these companies aren’t yet taking advantage of the mobile market, the situation for small businesses is probably even worse. But that doesn’t give you an excuse. In fact, it should spark your competitive energies. If big companies are ignoring the mobile niche, you’ve got a chance to gain ground. So if you’re not taking steps to capture these customers, what are you waiting for?

Image by Flickr user rayand (Creative Commons)

 

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Posted in Branding, Email Marketing, Marketing, sales process, Small Business, small business, Technology, Web Design | 1 Comment »

Small Biz Resource Tip: e-SignLive.com

February 2nd, 2012 ::

e-SignLive.com

No one likes to wait for the signed document to show up in the mail, but a live signature is still required for many business contracts and forms. e-SignLive.com offers a free high-tech solution and an alternative to the pen-on-paper signature. Signers can sign from any device, and there’s no software to download. You can even have multiple signers, and everything is customized to the authentication level you require. If your business requires similar documents be signed over and over, you can create a template to use multiple times. Also, set a due date so signers know when the signature deadline is coming up.

 

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Posted in Business Law, Compliance, Resources, Small Business, small business, Technology | No Comments »

Small Biz Resource Tip: Experiment.ly

February 1st, 2012 ::

Experiment.ly

An online ad campaign shouldn’t be planned with the attitude, “Let’s throw something out there and see what sticks.” Experiment.ly lets you test and measure the performance of many aspects of your ad campaign before you sink unnecessary dollars into your efforts. You can test anything–buttons, text or images–and there’s no need to get a designer or programmer involved. It’s easy to use, with drag and drop features, so you can quickly create different versions of an ad and see which version tests the best. A free version can get you up to 5,000 unique visitors a month. Other payment plans exist if you want a more extensive campaign.

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Posted in Marketing, Resources, Search Marketing, Small Business, small business, Technology, Web Design | No Comments »

Small Biz Resource Tip: Codecademy

January 30th, 2012 ::

Codecademy

Ever wish you could just code your own blog or website without having to call in the tech team? Started by two guys who were frustrated by having to learn programming, Codecademy teaches coding the way it should be taught–by actually having you do the coding. Courses range from “Basic Functions in JavaScript” to “Hello, New York,” which is a quick course in the basics for even the busiest of New Yorkers (assuming New Yorkers are the busiest people on the planet).  Encourage your employees and fellow business associates to sign up and you can encourage each other and check up on each other’s progress.

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Posted in Resources, Small Business, small business, Technology | No Comments »

Who’s Buying What on Mobile Devices?

January 30th, 2012 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

What are Americans doing—and buying—on their mobile phones and tablets? Increasingly, they’re buying products and services. Among smartphone owners, a December survey of a sample of TechBargains.com visitors found 32 percent of women and 25 percent of men made half or more of their holiday purchases via mobile phones, reports Internet Retailer.

iPhone users were most likely to use smartphones to shop. Overall, 34 percent of iPhone users and 20 percent of Android users who made purchases with their phones said they did half or more of their holiday shopping on the phones.

While tablets are relatively new to the party compared to smartphones, they’re already slightly ahead of smartphones as a shopping tool. Among tablet owners, 35 percent of women and 21 percent of men in the survey said that half or more of their holiday purchases were made using tablets. And overall, 75 percent of respondents had made purchases on a tablet, compared to 58 percent who had done so on smartphones and 94 percent who have done so on laptops.

For those who shop with their phone:

  • 79 percent use the phone to research products,
  • 77 percent to compare prices, and
  • 73 percent to browse stores.

Of the 58 percent of shoppers who make purchases via their mobile devices:

  • 69 percent use both the mobile browser and apps to buy products,
  • 18 percent only use apps, and
  • 13 percent only use a mobile browser.

What were users buying on mobile phones?

  • 70 percent of shoppers purchased digital goods,
  • 60 percent purchased physical merchandise,
  • 46 percent purchased services, and
  • 38 percent purchased consumable goods.

Of the 75 percent of tablet owners who use their devices to make purchases:

  • 90 percent use tablets to browse stores,
  • 89 percent research products, and
  • 85 percent compare prices.

The iPad has the edge in mobile shopping with 86 percent of iPad 2 owners making purchases via their tablets. However, despite being brand new, the Kindle Fire is close behind, with 74 percent of users making purchases via their devices.

What about people who aren’t using their mobile phones to buy? Of those, 42 percent of men and 38 percent of women said security concerns kept them from buying on the device, while 54 percent of men and 59 percent of women cited problems in completing purchases. Want to capture shoppers’ mobile dollars? Make sure your security is airtight (and that you promote and explain this to users), and make sure your process is simple and easy to use.

Image by Flickr user Charantan Patnaik (Creative Commons)

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Posted in Marketing, Small Business, small business, Technology, Web Design | No Comments »

Small Biz Resource Tip: Lookout Mobile Security

January 27th, 2012 ::

Lookout Mobile Security

With the world going mobile at an increasing pace, the threat of malware crashing your phone is increasing, too. All you have to do is visit a “bad” website from your smartphone or download a malicious app, and you could become a tech hostage to the scammers who attacked your phone. Lookout Mobile Security can help you identify threats before you visit a site you shouldn’t and also backs up your data to the cloud in case you lose your information (or actually lose your phone). You can also erase your entire phone’s contents remotely if your phone is stolen or lost.

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Posted in Resources, Small Business, small business, Technology | No Comments »

Want to Market to Moms? Get Online

January 27th, 2012 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

The image of mom as an old-fashioned traditionalist needs to fall by the wayside—at least, if you’re hoping to market to her successfully. Today’s moms, especially those with very young children at home, are embracing the digital world and increasingly researching, shopping and sharing product information online.

eMarketer recently reported on two studies about moms’ online shopping behavior and here’s what they found. In an Eric Mower and Associates survey, more than half of new mothers said they now spend less time watching TV (59 percent) and reading magazines (55 percent); 59 percent also spent less time shopping in stores. The percentages didn’t change much among moms with more than one child or who had older children.

So where were moms spending more time? On the Internet, where 25 percent of moms said they are going online more. And what are they doing there? Shopping: 33 percent of moms said they spend more time on ecommerce than before having kids.

But being smart consumers, moms aren’t just buying—they’re also using the Internet to do lots of research before they ever make a purchase. A separate survey by BabyCenter, reported by eMarketer, found that when it comes to comparing prices, searching for coupons or deals, comparing product features, getting product ideas and recommendations, deciding where to buy and actually finding a store, moms were more likely to use websites to do each of these things than they were to use retail stores, traditional media or their mobile phones.

Mobile phones are quickly picking up speed, however. For instance, 28 percent of moms used mobile phones to compare prices; by comparison, just 15 percent used traditional media like newspapers and magazines to do so. Sixteen percent used phones to figure out where to buy, and 29 percent used phones to find physical stores, compared to just 9 percent who used traditional media.

As moms’ kids get older and Mom is chauffeuring them to more activities, moms are even more likely to rely on mobile devices to get information, advice and directions. (That’s not from the survey, but just my own observation from knowing a lot of moms.) What does all this mean to your business?

First, digital clearly needs to become a bigger part of your marketing mix than traditional media, if it isn’t already. For many businesses, making sure your business comes up quickly in local search engines like Local.com or Google Places is becoming more important than having an ad in the Yellow Pages or local paper. Once you’ve got those basics down, consider offering your customers deals and discounts via mobile phone, whether that’s text messaging or sending your email newsletters and offers in a mobile-optimized format.

Moms’ adoption of digital and mobile shows no signs of slowing down, so your efforts to keep pace with them shouldn’t, either.

Image by Flickr user goodncrazy (Creative Commons)

 

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Posted in Email Marketing, Marketing, sales process, Search Marketing, Small Business, small business, Social Media, Technology, Web Design | 2 Comments »

Good Ecommerce Help Is Hard to Find

January 25th, 2012 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Are you having trouble finding employees to run your ecommerce site? You’re not alone. While the nation faces widespread unemployment, qualified ecommerce employees are not among those looking for work, according to Forrester Research data reported by Internet Retailer.

The Forrester report Trends 2011: Staffing and Hiring For eBusiness found that a whopping 83 percent of e-commerce businesses lack adequate staff; just 17 percent say they have all the employees they need.

The situation is going to get worse before it gets better, Forrester cautions. With more companies getting involved in ecommerce, the demand for experienced ecommerce employees is only going to increase.  “The supply problem is simply an issue of time,” the report notes. “E-business has not existed for long enough to produce many employees—especially good ones.”

What area is the most challenging? Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of respondents said they have the most trouble hiring customer experience workers. Forrester theorizes that’s because these types of workers prefer to work for advertising/marketing agencies, where they can work with a wider range of clients and get more experience.

Another tough market exists for companies seeking business analysts; 53 percent of respondents said it’s hard to find this type of worker. A good business analyst has experience in both business and data collection, which can be difficult to find and costly to hire.

While developers and engineers are not as difficult to find, ironically, the most competition for these workers is in tech-centric regions such as the Silicon Valley. Smaller companies have difficulty competing against big companies like Google or Facebook with their perks, prestige and opportunities for advancement.

So how can you find qualified ecommerce workers? Forrester suggests three steps:

  • Use outside recruiters with specific ecommerce recruiting expertise. Finding the right candidates from the beginning can save you time and headaches.
  • Be ready to pay. The cost of ecommerce employees is not going down anytime soon, so don’t expect to get these workers cheaply. Glassdoor and PayScale are two sites Forrester suggests using to benchmark compensation in your region and industry.
  • Mentor employees. Once you get some good ecommerce workers on your team, having them mentor younger workers can help build your “bench” so you don’t have to go outside the company to hire quite as often.

Image by Flickr user Daniel Broche (Creative Commons)

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Posted in Small Business, small business, Technology, Workforce | No Comments »

Small Biz Resource Tip: Office2 HD

January 23rd, 2012 ::

Office2 HD

Getting used to your new iPad and can’t wait to try out all the nifty apps available to you? If you’re looking for an app to help you read and/or create a word processing file, slide deck or spreadsheet, check out Office2 HD. You can also work on an important PowerPoint presentation right from your iPad with Office2 HD. The app lets you work with Google Docs, store and transfer files, save files in a PDF format and print wirelessly. And, if you connect an external keyboard, even text-heavy editing becomes a breeze.

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Posted in Resources, Small Business, small business, Technology | No Comments »

Small Biz Resource Tip: Onavo

January 20th, 2012 ::

Onavo

Too many apps slowing down your smartphone? Onavo is a free service that can help you control your mobile date usage by compressing the amount of data used by your favorite apps. You won’t notice the compression, and it won’t slow down your apps. Once Onavo is installed, you can go back to normal usage and double or triple the space available to install even more apps. Onavo also breaks down the usage of each app, so you will know which apps are costing you money and can decide which apps are worth keeping and which to get rid of. Available for iPhone, iPad or Android.

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Posted in Resources, Small Business, small business, Technology | 2 Comments »

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