Technology makes business processes faster and easier daily. However, technology changes rapidly, so it’s crucial for your business to be constantly updated with different trends that can impact your performance in the market. Consumer behavior also changes every time, so keeping up with the latest technology trends will help meet their expectations.
Here are some critical points on how technology trends help small businesses improve their processes:
Mobile Apps Improve Customer Experience
Nowadays, having a well-designed website is not enough for your small business. You have to ensure that your customers have an excellent mobile experience by creating a user-friendly mobile app. This will help increase engagement and provide more personalized service.
Mobile apps also make scheduling and payments more manageable, especially for appointment-based businesses. It will save time for your staff, and online booking also means faster payments. Here are some service-based businesses that can benefit from mobile apps:
- Pet Sitting: If you have a dog walking franchise or plan to own one soon, mobile apps can make scheduling and payments more manageable, especially nowadays when contactless transactions are encouraged.
- Laundry Service: Mobile apps allow customers to conveniently book their orders or appointments online and ensure efficient payment, pickup, and delivery.
- Salon: A mobile app for salons can help your staff handle appointments, especially if you have more than one branch to manage. It will also be easier for you to notify your clients of updated promos or new services.
- Massage Therapy: Overbooking and underbooking are common problems, especially in reservations at a spa or massage therapy services. A mobile app can help a customer find a good time slot quickly and efficiently while letting you interact with them in case of any concerns.
- Car Detailing: Customers can easily book car wash or repairs, communicate with customer support, and make payments using a mobile app.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Marketing Encourages Efficiency
AI marketing helps grow your small business by increasing brand awareness, generating leads, and creating quality content. Along with simplifying tasks, it saves more time and money and reduces human errors. Here are other benefits of adopting AI-based tools:
- Analyzes Customer Insights: AI can easily determine customer personas through purchase behaviors and past interactions. It analyzes blogs and social media platforms to collect data and understand customer preferences. This can save you more money by avoiding the promotion of irrelevant content to consumers.
- Sends Personalized Email Marketing: AI-powered tools efficiently send personalized messages instead of having to send them individually.
- Efficiently Forecasts Sales: Through collecting data and analyzing customer behavior, AI marketing can help small businesses know which products to promote and which demographic to target. It will help increase more sales by recommending products that fit the customers’ needs.
- Revolutionizes Customer Service: Language-based AI changes the way businesses provide customer service by producing human-like conversations with customers. AI-powered chatbots can provide accurate solutions to customers that give a caring image to your brand. AI can also create personalized web experiences from user information to provide the best content that projects a strong customer focus.
Blockchain Technology Makes Payments Easier
Using blockchain can help businesses make secure transactions and save more on payment processors. Accepting cryptocurrency as a mode of payment will be more convenient for the customers as they only need their phones and an internet connection to make their transactions, as with other online payment methods.
It’s also more secure because cryptocurrency payments are irreversible. There’s no risk of fraudulent payment or chargebacks once the transaction is completed on the blockchain and the merchants receive their money.
Heightened Cybersecurity Protects Critical Information
43 percent of small businesses are at risk for cyberattacks as they have no cybersecurity plans in place. It’s essential to improve your business’s online security to prevent putting your customers’ and company’s information at risk.
Adopt cloud computing for your small business as it helps provide data protection and reduces IT costs. It offers data storage and backup to preserve your company’s information in case of a cyberattack, natural disaster, or other events. Users are authenticated to control who retrieves information, and data are encrypted for extra protection.
The rise of new technology offers a wide range of benefits, especially for small businesses. These can be producing efficient business results or ensuring customer satisfaction. Not only does keeping up with these advancements make processes easier, but it also helps you stand out from the rest. Always utilize technological trends to their full potential, as they are essential for the growth of your small business.
