According to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s latest forecast, the national gross domestic product will grow by 2.5 percent in 2019, with inflation decreasing a tenth of a point to an even 2 percent. The most obvious challenge for growing businesses is the dropping unemployment rate, which may hit a record 3.5 percent in 2019. But there are some other trends worth paying attention to in growing your business this year.
Here are 5 worth considering:
1. Consumers are demanding more control over their data
Several US States have passed laws ranging from tightened breach notification statutes to regulations governing how businesses can use and sell student data. avoid purchasing data or otherwise acquiring it without consent. Not only is regulatory pressure increasing on companies that do so, but Deloitte reports that 71 percent of purchased data is inaccurate.
2. Everything will be Personalized
A super majority of consumers prefer to work with brands that offer personalized experiences. Personalization can take many forms, but surveys found that the most popular varieties are coupons based on the customer’s locations, communications on the customer’s preferred channel, and recommendations based on past purchases or service history. The big take away from this one is that consumers want to be able to communicate with companies using their preferred method. That means you better offer consumers the ability to not only call you but text you and even work with you online.
3. Subscription services will continue to skyrocket
Subscription growth has slowed from earlier years, but the industry is still growing by an impressive one percent per month. Food, beauty, apparel, and lifestyle subscription boxes remain the most popular, but the market seems to have plenty of space for niche subscriptions.
Whether you sell electrical equipment, retails items or software, companies with revenue-related resolutions should capitalize on this trend. Subscription-based businesses grow revenues 5.5 times quicker than their S&P 500 counterparts, in no small part because subscribers place three times more orders than do customers of non-subscription companies.
Image Source Retention Science
4. Socially Irresponsible Firms will struggle
Corporate social responsibility has been gaining steam for years. For example, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would tweak its algorithms to prioritize posts from friends and family — even though, he warned, doing so would result in users spending less time on the platform. Patagonia as another example takes an “all of the above” approach that includes employee volunteerism, selection of socially responsible suppliers, grants for environmental initiatives, and more. In 2019 and into the future, expect social responsibility to be part of business.
5. Augmented Workplace
We've been hearing for year about augmented reality but it didn't really hit the mainstream until 2016, with the success of the mobile game Pokémon Go. But its biggest impact is likely to be on the workday. AR systems that use special glasses to project a digital overlay onto the wearer's field of vision are filtering into professions that involve complicated, multi-step manual tasks. For example at Porsche repair centers, auto mechanics wear goggles that can receive visual guidance from remote experts; surgeons at several hospitals are testing glasses that visualize data from ultrasound scanners, allowing them to peer through skin at underlying tissue--all but giving them X-ray vision. CRM systems are learning to use AI to automate tasks and give us a greater ability to communicate with more leads at any given moment. Technology is changing the way we work and in many cases changing entire industries so don't buck this trend, stay current on technology so your company doesn't get "uber-ed".
As entrepreneurs and business leaders, it's key for us to recognize the trends to either build companies around new tech or incorporate any new tech into our existing models.
To learn more about communicating with your customers by voice, SMS Text and more click the link below.
