Founding a startup is an exciting and scary time for any budding entrepreneur. You’ve perfected your business idea, you’ve found an office, and you’ve found the most suitable employees to help you get along your way. With everything organised and settled neatly, it’s time to start making some money; you can’t rely on Angel investments forever.
This is where a lot of small businesses begin to falter. While at first, it seemed like your business plan was the one to end all other business plans, things don’t always work out like that. A lot of the time, this is due to poor consumer research, inadequate demand for your service, or a lack of online presence. But a lot of the time, it also comes down to the way you have approached finding these customers. It doesn’t matter if your business is the greatest business of all time, without customers, you are only destined for failure.
It’s worth knowing just what type of problems potential consumers encounter when it comes to looking to support small businesses, here are just a few.
THE WEBSITE
For many, your website is the first exposure to your business for any potential customers. They have come here for a reason, and it is up to you to make them decide to stay. In this case, an easy to use website is far more likely to inspire interest than one that is very nice to look at, but difficult to navigate and doesn’t say all that much about what sort of service you are offering.
Whether your business is in fintech, ecommerce, or software-as-a-service, there are many options out there for you to create an attention-grabbing, and -keeping, website. Companies, such as Forix Commerce, deal with this exact kind of requirement and this can save you a whole load of stress, time, and money while you’re waiting for the customers to roll on in.
THE NICHE
While it might seem all too convenient to base your startup around appealing to as many potential consumers as possible, the adage of the juice not being worth the squeeze is more appropriate here than ever before. Even if you have the talent on hand to be able to do everything you want to, in the end, this can only hurt growth.
Many companies struggle with this as they hope that by offering as many services as they can, then there is a broader audience to influence and draw towards their business. However, all this does in the long run is end up hurting your business. Think of the likes of Google or Uber, people know them as the Search Engine company (or did, before Google branched out after establishing a worldwide consumer base), and the Ride-sharing company. If you have any hope of building your business to the behemoth level of these tech company titans, there needs to be an early focus on what makes your company the best in the industry, and follow that path.
CONTACT
You might think that everything has been fine-tuned to perfection when launching your company, but it is particularly essential in the early months and years to listen to your customers. After all, they are the ones keeping you in business, and so following their advice and adapting to their suggestions is the difference between keeping customers, and losing out to the next big thing.
While not every suggestion needs to be followed – some of them will undoubtedly be terrible and could lead to financial ruin – being conscientious and accepting of customer feedback is the only way to help your small business become a medium business and your medium business become a big one. Demonstrating that you are willing to listen to and take on board feedback from outside parties also helps with building customer trust and brand loyalty, allowing you to feel secure in knowing that there will be someone to support you, should the going get tough.
As if you weren’t already acutely aware, the customers are the ones who can decide whether or not your business remains as such. Despite all your preparation prior to the launch of your company, there are always things that can be altered and changed for the better.
Enhancing your customers’ user experience will go a long way in giving them the incentive to return and use your service again. The world of business is a fickle place, and so proving to your user base that you are willing to change should things not seem to be working as best they can, can only lead to greater success, for both you and your customers.