Consumers prefer small businesses for real human reasons

Webdotcom-Consumer-and-Small-Business-Perception-Survey cropped — Click for the complete infographic

Why do consumers choose small businesses today? It’s personal.

A web.com sponsored survey found 85% of consumers said they chose small businesses because they are:

personal, intimate, human, face-to-face
easy to to business with
customer focused

There’s never been a better time to be Small in business (Rule 6). Consumers are ready to accept you for just the size you are. In fact, consumers defined small business as 25 or fewer employees, so forget about that 500 employee rule from the SBA.

83% also said they wanted the small business they choose to be online and active on social media. So consumers seem to want to extend that personal, human relationship online, too.

Get a copy of the report and infographic at Web.com’s press room.

The online survey, fielded by Toluna Research from August 9-15, 2013, had 3,000 total respondents, out of whom 850 (28%) were Small Business Decision Makers in organizations with fewer than 25 employees. The survey has a ±2.25% to 2.74% margin of error at 95% confidence at the 3,000 “all respondent level” and a ±3.00% to 3.49% margin of error at 95% confidence for the 850 SBDMs.