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 during a global pandemic that has hit local businesses hardest?
Localogy’s upcoming Modern Commerce Monitor wave 6.1 answers these and other questions across the SMB SaaS product set, which we preview in this Benchmark Bytes series. After the last installment examined SMBs’ Post-Covid sustained tech adoption, we switch gears this week to Google My Business (GMB) adoption.
Specifically, 51 percent of survey respondents report that they’ve listed temporary hours of operation in GMB, due to Covid-19. This is followed by listing health and safety protocols (45 percent) and posting the availability of touchless payment methods like Apple Pay (38 percent). These answers were given in Q4 2020.
Further down the list, but still significant, 23 percent of SMB survey respondents say that they listed virtual service methods on GMB (e.g. online appointments). Meanwhile, 18 percent listed delivery options, 14 percent accept donations, and 19 percent listed other updates (misc.) on Google My Business.
What Does it All Mean?
Going a bit deeper, a few things jump out at us:
— The most prevalent GMB behavior — posting alternate/temporary hours of operation — is logical, due to dynamic changes in public policy for physical stores over the past year (regionally-dependent).
— On the “other end” of the pandemic as the world re-opens, those dynamic business details — or notifications that businesses are back to full-fledged operational levels — could compel more GMB posts.
— Businesses that listed health and safety protocols on GMB (45 percent) is likewise logical, as instilling customer confidence in safety has been a survival imperative for many SMBs.
— This GMB activity will likewise sustain in a Post-Covid world as consumers’ confidence will remain shaken for a while. Posting adherence to health and safety protocols — both online and through store signage — will likely be a standard part of the “next normal.”
— Acceptance of digital payments will likewise be an activity that sustains into the post-Covid world. SMBs who were compelled to adopt new digital payment methods won’t likely drop them as things return to normal.
— This sustained adoption principle will apply across many areas of digital technology, such as eCommerce, as we examined last week.
Time to Shine
Stepping back, mobile payments and several of the areas of adoption above continue to grow rapidly among SMBs. SMB SaaS startups are correspondingly thriving with exit velocity, funding, and public-market performance. SMB SaaS is becoming a leading subsector of the broader SaaS universe.
Meanwhile, new SMB SaaS users shown in these survey results could represent permanent adopters — a concept that’s accelerated in the Covid era as SMBs are forced to accelerate their digital transformation. This sends them into the arms of SaaS providers to accomplish a range of operational and marketing functions.
We’ll return in the next installment to go deeper on other pandemic-driven areas of SMB technology adoption. That will include top goals and what types of SMBs are adopting. Let us know what additional insights jump out at you from the above data, and stay tuned for more breakdowns in our Benchmark Bytes series.
