No matter the industry you work in, we’re passionate about supporting small businesses.

To celebrate Small Business Week, we’ve surveyed 1,000 individuals across the U.S. to prove the importance of small businesses in our communities—and to uncover trends that can help you run yours more effectively.

Small businesses and their importance to the community:

Key findings:

• 92% of consumers feel that small businesses are important to the health of the local community.
• 41% of consumers are willing to pay more for goods and services to support small businesses.
• 76% believe small business should pay less in taxes or receive other government incentives, compared to larger competition.
• 87% of consumers are willing to make some concessions to support a small business

There is major support for small businesses in the United States! Americans, by and large, recognize that small businesses are important to the health of the local community and many consumers are willing to support small businesses over larger corporations even if it means paying more.

With more than half of Americans either owning or working for a small business, it’s no surprise to see this kind of support for the entrepreneurs that are the backbone of our community.

Consumer small business purchases:

Key findings:

• 23% of people report purchasing a service from a home service business in the last month.

Nearly a quarter of survey respondents had purchased services from a small home service business in the last month. Seeing this kind of support for the industry echoes what we saw in our 2018 home service trends report. In the report, small business expert Katie Pearse shared her insight:

“With millennials now, this isn’t 20 years ago where there were stay at home moms. Today’s 30 year old is going to run their house like a business. They’re not spending their weekends cleaning. They’re booking snow removal, they’re outsourcing their laundry. Their thinking is: My time is better spent elsewhere. There are dual incomes, so it’s not a luxury, it’s a necessity. Almost everyone I talk to has a cleaner.”

With more consumers looking to hire for help in the home, there is a big opportunity here for home service businesses to take advantage of. The challenge for home service businesses is to differentiate themselves from the competition—says Katie. “You are no longer selling a luxury to people. People need the services, they’re already sold, so why should they pick you?”

Small businesses challenges:

Key findings:

• 27% of consumers think that small businesses struggle with website management
• 24% of consumers think that small businesses struggle with customer communication
• 25% of consumers think that small businesses struggle with payment processing

There is an opportunity for small businesses to elevate the service experience. A good online presence, providing top tier customer service with timely communication, and the ability to accept and process payments are all key parts of a good service experience. There is a perception that some small businesses struggle in these areas, which means there is an opportunity for businesses to separate themselves from the competition.

Software can help in many of these areas and is available to the small business owner unlike ever before. For example, in the past, building a website was an expensive and challenging process. But with tools like GoDaddy’s website builder and Squarespace, you can design and build a website at a fraction of the cost of what used to be available to the small business owner.

“For a long time, powerful automation tools didn’t exist for small business owners—they were targeted at large businesses with big budgets” says Darren Wood, Jobber’s Director of Finance.

“Small businesses are now getting access to this tech for a fraction of the price, and in some ways it’s better than enterprise level tools. Look at accounting software: at the enterprise level it’s very expensive, always needs to be updated, and it’s hard to use, with a clunky user interface. QuickBooks Online is easy to use, always up to date—and available for a fraction of the price. Software companies are now developing new tools for small businesses first, then sending them up-market, so there is more software innovation than ever in the small business space.”

Preferred way of scheduling appointments with a small home service business:

Key insights:

• 46% of people prefer to schedule appointments via email, an online platform, or a mobile app
• 59% of people between the ages of 25-44 prefer to schedule appointments via email, an online platform, or a mobile app

Nearly half of all respondents prefer to book appointments by email, through a website, or through a mobile app. This number jumps up to nearly 60% when we look at survey respondents between the ages of 25-44.

What does this mean for service businesses?

With a move to more digital forms of communication, service businesses that don’t adopt digital ways of accepting work will be left behind. But this doesn’t mean that more traditional forms of communication should be neglected. Service business should embrace new forms of communication while still staying on top of more traditional forms of communication and ensure they have policies and procedures in place to keep these traditional forms of communication to a high standard.

Reasons consumers may choose alternative service providers:

Key insights:

• 50% of people would be deterred from using a small home service business if they had slow response times.
• 52% of people would be deterred from using a small home service business if they had poor online ratings.
• 34% of people would be deterred from using a small home service business if they did not have a website.
• 28% of people would be deterred from using a small home service business if they had limited payment options.

Consumers recognize the importance of small businesses to the local economy and want them to succeed. As referenced earlier, many consumers are willing to pay more to support small businesses and feel there should be certain government incentives to support these businesses.

However, consumers aren’t willing to sacrifice certain parts of the service experience to support a small business. A business’s online reviews, website, response times, scheduling options, and payment options are all part of the service experience.

To stay competitive, service businesses must find ways to offer a smooth service experience. This is where technology platforms that automate parts of the service experience, that consumers have come to expect, can free up time for the business owner so they can focus on what the industry has been doing well for so many years—providing a great service experience through hard work and traditional forms of customer service.

If you’re out there running a service business, the team at Jobber applauds the hard work you do for your community. Keep up the hustle and follow along with Jobber at #JobberSmallBizMonth.