How To Use Smart Small Business Technology

Your metrics might indicate that the content in your ad doesn’t match up to your landing page, that your landing page isn’t attractive and engaging, or that there is a disconnect between customer expectations and the content you deliver. Making smart decisions requires that you have as full an understanding of a given situation as possible. In most scenarios, this means collecting data from a variety of sources. Make library widely accessible to employees; publicize tests and results of important studies to encourage a test-and-learn culture. The real payoff will happen when the organization as a whole shifts to a test-and-learn mind-set.

It tries to build relationships and trust with key executives so that no major initiatives are undertaken without testing. Without a central coordination point, testing methods may not be sufficiently rigorous, and test and control groups across multiple experiments may confound one another. That said, it’s not always easy to influence or coordinate testing even when a central group exists. EBay performed extensive online and offline testing, for example, in 2007 and 2008, when it changed its page for viewing items on sale. The page had not been redesigned since 2003, and both customers and eBay designers felt it lacked organization, had inadequate photographs of items, and suffered from haphazard item placement and redundant functionality. After going through all the testing steps, eBay adopted a new site design.

Sponsor Tests Yourself

None of the small business smart technology discussed here comes with significant expenses attached, and the benefits of a smart office offer a significant return on investment. Gadgets for office productivity, chatbots, and smart appliances are rapidly becoming the norm and are expected by potential customers and clients. By adopting the best technology for small businesses now, you’re preparing your business for the future. Famous Footwear takes a “billboard” approach; for each test, it captures the results in a one-page document, circulates that throughout the organization, and posts it on the wall outside the testing office.

Metrics Every Business Owner Should Be Watching Weekly

Because so much is held constant among their multitudinous sites, it is easy to designate which ones will serve as experiments and which will serve as controls and to attribute cause to effect. By the same token, workplace design changes are most readily tested in companies that have offices in many cities. Drawing statistical inferences from small numbers of test sites is much more difficult and represents the leading edge of the test-and-learn approach. Bank smart with the Emirates Islamic smartBUSINESS e-banking solution.

Depending on your scope of work with us, we may also have strategy meetings monthly to consult with you on big business decisions. We can also help you create a budget and cash flow picture for the next quarter & year. Some firms, such as Capital One and eBay, have built their own software for managing experiments, but several off-the-shelf options exist—the most common ones being broad statistical packages and analytical tools like SAS. With every passing year, these tools make it more possible for numerate—but not statistically expert—users to conduct truly defensible experiments.