"Opportunity Knocks: SMB Support is High this Holiday Season"

This holiday season, shoppers are on the lookout for small businesses to invest in. According to a recent study by digital marketing and automation platform Constant Contact and research firm Ascend2, 84% of consumers are likely to visit one in the next two months. What's more, 87% of consumers are more likely to return at other times throughout the year after visiting and buying from a small business (defined as having less than 250 employees) during the holidays.

For many SMBs (small to medium-sized businesses), the holiday period is make-or-break, with 75% of retail and ecommerce SMBs saying they rely heavily on holiday customers to hit their annual revenue goals and 73% of all SMBs surveyed attributing more than one-quarter of their annual sales to the holiday period.

When it comes to marketing strategies, SMBs are most likely to use personalised emails and texts (52%), social media ads (42%) and sales and discounts (40%). However, only 18% of SMBs surveyed said their customer retention strategy is “highly effective”, and 14% have no retention strategy at all.

This is a missed opportunity, as 81% of consumers said they are more open to receiving emails and texts from a small business they visited during the holidays than from a business they visited at other times during the year. Despite this, only 49% of consumers reported receiving an email from an SMB after making a purchase, and 27% said after they visit or buy from an SMB for the first time, they never hear from the business again.

This holiday season presents an exciting opportunity for small businesses to reach out to customers and build relationships. With shoppers primed to support SMBs, businesses should take advantage of this period to reach out, build loyalty and gain a competitive edge that can be carried into the new year.

Originally reported by Martech: https://martech.org/84-of-consumers-want-to-buy-from-small-businesses-this-holiday-season/
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