Small business owners often start their business because they are good at what they do and passionate about it. Even though your business probably needs several different types of software to run smoothly, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to invest a lot of money to be digitally on top of your game. That’s why we’ve put together this comprehensive list of the best digital tools for small businesses.
Small businesses can’t simply press “pause” when new technologies emerge or as trends and external conditions change. Too often, retailers must adjust their approach midstream, and deciding on their next step can be a challenge.
Innovation takes center stage. With advances in machine learning and AI, businesses of all sizes can easily adapt to changing customer preferences and behaviors.
Features
When looking for good tools to manage your business, keep an eye out for the following aspects and features:
- Ease of use: easy to set up and offers an intuitive user experience.
- Customization: It is customizable to fit your team structures.
- Addresses your needs: Specifically provides you with the tools you need to simplify your processes.
- Price: It is economical and fits your budget.
- Support: Comes with good customer service to help you with any problems.
SlickPie
It is free online accounting software designed expressly for small businesses. Its user-friendly interface makes it more accessible than other tools.
Use SlickPie to create customized online invoices (with your company logo, etc.) to send to your customers. You can even set up recurring invoices to be sent automatically at regular intervals.
Plus, all invoices in Slick Pie are tracked so you know exactly when your customer opens and pays.
Other features include multi-currency matching, late payment reminders, expense trackers, financial reports, a sales tax tracker, and much more.
You’ll get access to all these features with the free version, but you can also upgrade to ‘Pro’ to benefit from unlimited data entry and other advantages.
MailChimp
This is an email marketing tool for business owners or organizations with a limited marketing budget.
It’s the perfect starter tool, as you can select different tiers depending on the volume and frequency of email campaigns you plan to launch. Use it to design compelling campaigns, advertise your services or a promotion, or simply keep your customers up to date.
You can segment multiple lists to ensure that everything you send is targeted to exactly the right recipients. You can even monitor the performance of your emails (how many have been opened, how many have clicked on your promotion, etc.) using their analytics reports.
MailChimp’s free subscription plan gives you up to 2,000 subscribers and allows you to send 12,000 emails per month. It is one of the most essential digital tools for small businesses, regardless of your line of work. If you have clients to keep in touch with.
ZenDesk
Provides a platform for customers to communicate with you directly via chat, send email inquiries, and read pre-written articles to answer common questions.
ZenDesk allows you to track automatically generated customer support tickets; whenever a customer contacts you, a ticket will be assigned to them. This way, your agents can view and resolve all inquiries quickly and efficiently.
ZenDesk also provides a platform where you can easily create a Q&A section, where you can share user guides, search tools, or whatever is most useful for your customers.
KW Finder
It is one of the best keyword tools for small businesses that will make your job with SEO much easier.
This application identifies the right keywords and searches engine results to optimize your copywriting.
Their free accounts will allow you to do up to 3 searches per day and display 50 keywords per search.
Slack
It is an intelligent messaging application that keeps your entire team communicating in the same place, without excessively long email chains.
This digital tool also allows you to switch between direct and group messaging by creating different channels.
In addition to real-time messaging, Slack offers advanced search filters so you can find the document someone sent you weeks ago in a second.
It integrates beautifully with many of the services we’ve mentioned, so you’re instantly notified when there’s a change in your assets, for instance, or somebody answers a source of inspiration during an email showcasing effort.
Wunderlist
In general, this app is meant for workplace communication. There’s even a great mobile app.
There are two kinds of people in this world: people who make lists, and people who should make lists.
Regardless of which category you fall into, Wunderlist is extremely useful if you’re hoping to increase your productivity.
This free tool helps you check off all the boxes on time.
You can share a to-do list with your employees or simply plan tasks on your next lunch break. This app makes it much easier to track your to-dos.
The free version allows you to create and share lists, as well as unlimited comments; upgrade to the pro version to unlock even more advanced features.
Sprout
If you have Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram, you know how hard it can be to juggle all of them, keeping them all up to date and posting to them regularly.
If you feel like your social calendar is going with your tongue hanging out (or if you spend too much time on it), invest in some social media.
Sprout is one of the best, with an intuitive and easy-to-use interface. Schedule and queue your posts, monitor your content to see what works best, find good stuff to repost, and get notifications every time someone tags you.
And that’s just a few of the many features it offers.
Bitly
This is a great and handy tool that allows you to shorten URLs, so you can save and share your favorite links you find on the Internet. This tool is very handy, as Twitter has a character limit.
If you create an account, you can also customize your link (e.g.) to make it look neater. You can also track the performance of your link over time with the indication of incoming traffic going to your link on any given day.
DesignMantic
Finding the right logo that allows you to be immediately identifiable is a challenge for non-designer business owners. DesignMantic simplifies this process by helping you through all the steps of creation.
Once you submit your company name, you can browse different options. Then, when you’ve found the one you want, you can adjust it to your liking, add your slogan, tagline, etc.
HelloSign
This is an online tool that allows you to upload any document that requires a legally binding electronic signature.
With HelloSign, you can access all your important documents in one secure place. You can even create reusable templates for documents you send frequently.
The free starter plan allows you to send 3 documents per month. For more features, check out the professional and enterprise versions.
Basecamp
It’s a real-time communication tool to keep your team on track. You can use it to organize your priorities, set deadlines and milestones, and communicate with your team.
With the free plan, you can handle one assignment. Try it out and then, if you think you can use it, sign up for a full package.
Crashplan
There’s nothing worse for an entrepreneur than losing all their data or accounting.
Make sure this doesn’t happen by investing in solid security software.
When it comes to backups, Crashplan is the best small business storage tool.
It securely stores all your valuable files and folders without interfering with your daily operations. Just turn it on and that’s it, everything is backed up and protected.
Canva
The style and aesthetics of your brand are important. A very much planned site and online materials can have a significant effect in drawing in (and keeping) clients. A 2019 study by Quick Sprout showed that users will stop interacting with a company’s content if they have a bad experience with its appearance-they’ll leave in search of other, more visually pleasing content. You don’t want the bad design to drive customers away.
A whopping 30 million monthly active users rely on Canva to help them with quick design tasks. Created to help Average Joe’s create eye-catching images, Canva is a digital imaging tool that can help your brand stand out in a unique and cool way.
Not only is it completely free (you only need to pay for the stock photos you use), but it’s also easy to use. It has a great selection of templates… and it’s packed with free graphics and icons. And, if you need inspiration, check out their free online design school, packed with design tips for non-designers.
GumRoad
Shopping cart software for digital products.
Gumroad is a payment software that installs easily on any website. Its look and feel promote high-conversion checkout processes, and the software can automate the delivery of digital products and support pay-for-what-you-want pricing.
