As part of the ritual of examining local commerce and SMB SaaS strategies, Localogy goes right to the source: SMBs themselves. How do they feel about marketing and operational software? What features do they want? And how has their hunger changed in a pandemic? This is all a moving target.
Localogy’s Modern Commerce Monitor (MCM) answers these website dynamics questions across SMB SaaS, which we preview in this Benchmark Bytes series. After examining the types of eCommerce SMBs are adopting, we turn attention this week to their software adoption in the Covid era.
Specifically, have SMBs increased their software usage since early 2020? And have they started working with specific software providers versus taking a DIY approach? This question can have wide-reaching applicability to SMB operational functions but here is mostly about digital marketing.
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Data Dive
Going deeper, a few insights jump out from these findings.
– 56 percent of SMBs have started working with outside providers for digital marketing needs.
– The phrasing in the survey question specifies “started,” meaning these are new converts to digital marketing software.
– This means that among all SMBs surveyed, more than half represent new converts to digital marketing software.
– This is a considerable jump in adoption, greater than any other jump seen in a given survey wave (usually a year or less apart).
– Of course, it also means that 44 percent have not sought support from tech vendors for digital marketing software or services.
– This remaining segment of non-adopters represents the headroom for SMB SaaS players, particularly those that offer digital marketing software.
– These SMBs may represent a challenging market segment: If Covid didn’t convert them to digital marketing software & services, they may be a tough sell.
– Among both groups of respondents, adoption patterns will vary, including longstanding divisions between “DIY”, “do it for me” (DIFM) and “do it with me” (DIWM).
– These subdivisions will continue to be important to accommodate a wide range of SMB personas, including varying levels of tech-savvy and available time for digital marketing.
– Back to the new converts the big question is if that Covid-induced adoption sustains into the Post-Covid era, thus representing permanent new SMB habits.
– Anecdotally, we’ve observed that many SMBs that picked up new skills and competency during the pandemic didn’t stop using those new tools as Covid recedes.
– We’ll host a panel discussion at L23 in April on this topic of the “New Face of SMBs.”
Time to Shine
Stepping back, SMB online marketing – website-based or otherwise – continues to grow rapidly. SMB SaaS startups and online services providers are correspondingly thriving as it continues to grow as a leading subsector of the broader SaaS universe. There’s a long-tail opportunity at play.
Meanwhile, new SMB SaaS users could represent permanent adopters. This is a concept that’s accelerated in the Covid era as SMBs are forced to boost their digital transformation. This sends them into the arms of SaaS providers to accomplish a range of marketing and operational functions.
We’ll return in the next installment to go deeper into Localogy original survey research. That will include SMB goals and success factors. Let us know what additional insights jump out at you from the above data. Stay tuned for more breakdowns in our Benchmark Bytes series.
