Having recently attended an event with Telstra, we were surprised to see the results of their 2018 Telstra Small Business Intelligence Report. Telstra compared thousands of responses from Australian small businesses (1-19 employees) to see if they are meeting customers’ expectations.
What they found is that customers are expecting faster services from small businesses, and are expecting to engage with businesses digitally, from customer service to making payments or bookings. Customers are also expecting a faster response time, round-the-clock services and faster deliveries. The survey found that Australian small businesses are not keeping up with customer expectations, which means there is a huge opportunity for small businesses to grow.
What are customers expecting?
- 62% of customers will stop considering a business if they can’t find information about it online.
- 48% of customers will stop considering a business if it doesn’t have a website.
- 86% of customers say online search is ‘important’ or ‘very important’ when considering a business.
Where do Australian small businesses stand?
- Only 50% of small businesses have a website.
- 60% of small businesses that want a website say they don’t have time to launch one.
- Only 26% of small businesses currently use SEO and only 9% use search engine marketing.
Future-Proofing Your Small Business
It’s time to embrace digital technology. It works and it will help you grow your business.
As Telstra Executive Director, Small Business, Brendan Donohoe said: “Digital technology is helping create big opportunities for small businesses – but only for those who embrace it… Where we see a real opportunity for some small businesses is being open to change, safely putting a toe in the water with digital technology and in return, delivering a great experience for customers.”
A recent report by Deloitte Access Economics (read here) found that Australian SMBs who have reached advanced levels of digital engagement are:
- 1.5 x more likely to be growing revenue
- 8 x more likely to be creating jobs
- 7 x more likely to be exporting
- 14 x more likely to be innovating
- earning 1.4 x more revenue per employee
- likely to have a more diverse customer base.
Are you ready to transform your business? Start with a free digital audit now.
