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How ineffective customer communications costs small businesses time, money and talent

by | Jan 10, 2022 | Public Relations

A new set of reports from small business customer communication platform Weave illustrates how rapidly business communication is evolving, and how technology is powering new ways for businesses to build customer relationships, remove inefficiencies and retain employees.

The firm’s new research, new research, The Modern Small Business: Communication for the Future, helps leaders understand how business communication is evolving and what modern consumers expect from small businesses—everything from scheduling, payments to reviews.

The study specifically looked at small healthcare providers and home services businesses. While the global pandemic forced the rapid deployment of digital transformation tools, small healthcare practices and home service businesses are now realizing both the benefit of these tools to their bottom lines and also the potential missed opportunities if the trajectory of adoption doesn’t continue.

“Small businesses in particular are experiencing enterprise-level customer demands at staggering rates. Technology can help preserve the integrity of small business owners’ number one priority: customer satisfaction,” said Roy Banks, CEO of Weave, in a news release. “Through modernizing every communication touchpoint from scheduling to service, all the way through reviews and payments, Weave can help them achieve the level of service their customers are demanding.”

Top healthcare insights

  • 61 percent of patients are more likely to pay their clinic bill if they receive a text reminder with a link to pay
  • 58 percent of patients consider filling out paper in-take forms “old fashioned”
  • 74 percent of patients expect clinics to keep an accurate record of their health profile, but 42 percent of patients have noticed an error in their patient file because the clinic misunderstood the handwriting from their paper in-take form
  • 94 percent of clinics say that online reviews are important to their success, but only about half of them send reminders to patients to leave a review
  • 33 percent of clinics spend over $1,000 a month on communication technologies like phone systems

Top home services insights

  • 90 percent of customers say they are placed on hold when calling to make an HVAC service provider, electrician or plumber appointment
  • 86 percent of customers check the online reviews of a new HVAC service provider, electrician or plumber before requesting an appointment
  • Only 13 percent of customers consistently leave online reviews for an HVAC service provider, electrician or plumber but 53 percent would if they got a reminder

Download the full reports, customized to multiple industries, here.

Weave commissioned an independent market research firm to study 750 business leaders and 750 US consumers. The margin of error for this study +/- 3.6%. Online sampling was conducted in partnership with TrendCandy, a global leader in survey sampling.

Richard Carufel
Richard Carufel is editor of Bulldog Reporter and the Daily ’Dog, one of the web’s leading sources of PR and marketing communications news and opinions. He has been reporting on the PR and communications industry for over 17 years, and has interviewed hundreds of journalists and PR industry leaders. Reach him at richard.carufel@bulldogreporter.com; @BulldogReporter

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