Not only did Chase Ink’s recent survey of more than 1,000 small business owners find optimistic outlooks, the company said the findings were overwhelmingly positive. And what’s more, more than half of these optimistic small business owners were women.
According to the data, 71 percent of female small business owners are optimistic for their long-term future (2023 and beyond), which marks a 12 percent increase from survey findings in 2020.
With this optimism, however, Chase Ink notes behavioral changes not only from consumers but from the way these small business owners are managing and investing. Importantly, 78 percent of small business owners are optimistic that their business can adapt to any changes in the business environment with almost 75 percent of small business owners saying the changes they have made to their business in the last year will continue throughout 2022.
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For more than half of small business owners surveyed, e-commerce and social media have become even more important due to the pandemic. Over the last year, small business owners said they spent more money on social media advertising (55 percent), web design (45 percent) and new tech (44 percent).
As a result, 54 percent of small business owners who said they sell online, sales were reported as being higher compared to sales in 2020.
Overall, 84 percent of small business owners said they use social media channels for their business. This was especially true for female small business owners who reported they have ventured into social media and e-commerce at a higher rate than men at 25 percent to just 19 percent, respectively.
The most used social media channels for small business owners were revealed to be Facebook (78 percent) and Instagram (68 percent).
Meanwhile, small business owners are making impactful changes to how they act. For 74 percent of small business owners, that means making it a point to purchase from other small businesses for both personal and business needs, with 71 percent saying they believe small businesses have a responsibility to give back to their community.
Other trends revealed in the survey included 65 percent of small business owners using business credit cards to earn rewards on business expenses to redeem for cash back or travel and 59 percent saying using their business credit card was essential for managing expenses in 2021. According to the data, 72 percent of small business owners use a rewards credit card to pay for all or part of business expenses while 77 percent use a cashback credit card.
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Study Shows Small Businesses are More Optimistic Than Ever Entering 2022