Service with a smile boosts SME profitability – Barclays research

SME decision makers are overlooking the ‘significance of a smile’ to foster customer loyalty and increase business growth, according to a new report.

The ‘Lost Art of Loyalty’, launched by Barclays, in partnership with Kingston University Small Business Research Centre, examines the retail behaviour of consumers and the loyalty business practices of decision makers in small and medium size enterprises (SMEs).

It reveals that a smile and a friendly hello is the most common reason why consumers feel loyal towards small and independent retailers with 51% respondents citing this. However, only 61% of SME respondents stated their business employed this practice.  

Some 32% of consumers said their loyalty to small businesses was due to brilliant customer service and 18% said they valued businesses remembering their usual order – but only 56% of businesses are remembering or recording customers’ previous orders.

Jeremy Stockdale, head of relationship banking for Barclays in the West Midlands, said:  “This research shows just how important loyalty is and how something as simple as a smile and a friendly hello, or remembering a customer’s order can help the profitability of SMEs.

“The research is particularly important in the West Midlands where we have a strong reliance on the SME sector with 369,000 small businesses operating in the region.”