What Are the Best Apps for Boosting Small Business Productivity?

In today’s world, every successful business needs its trusty digital helpers. What if you could say goodbye to those mind-numbing, repetitive tasks and say hello to savings, organization, and staying ahead of the game? 

Well, we've rounded up our top app recommendations that can lend a hand in all areas of your business, no matter how big or small. Whether it's customer retention, accounting wizardry, or seamless communication, these apps are ready to take your business to the next level. So, let's dive in and discover how these game-changers can work their magic for you.

Why are these apps so beneficial for your small business? These handy tools excel in task management, project coordination, and workflow enhancement, liberating you to concentrate on what truly matters – accomplishing your business goals. By entrusting routine responsibilities to these apps, you'll have the freedom to dedicate yourself more effectively to growing and engaging with your business objectives. 

So, which apps stand out as the best choices for small businesses?

Best App for Streamlining Finances: XERO

With its robust functionality, ease of use, and scalability, Xero has become a popular choice for businesses seeking an efficient and reliable, cloud-based accounting solution. This platform makes it easy for you to streamline tasks from a suite of tools for invoicing, inventory, and expense tracking. 

Xero boasts over 3.5 million subscribers and multiple pricing plans to suit your business. Part of Xero’s high rating and sparkling reputation comes down to the amount of office hours it can cut down for you: Xero allows you to access your financial data and manage your account from anywhere with an internet connection, which is great for on-the-go business owners and managers. 

From every direction, Xero provides automation that seamlessly keeps your information secure and organized. You can simply connect Xero to your bank for automatic bank feeds, as well as choose from over 1000 apps in the Xero App Store to simplify tasks, which has the potential to increase productivity by 14.6%. 

Nowadays, it is extremely important to have a platform that has all your documents online for quick access. Xero recognizes the relevance of cloud-based applications, which can capture and store documents of all kinds. 

Just like its user experience, Xero keeps the sign-up process nice and simple: After signing up for an account and choosing the best subscription plan, you can easily set up your organization’s details, connect your bank account, customize invoice templates and configure your chart of accounts. Hassle-free from start to finish, Xero is your digital financial aid. 

Best App For Increasing Customer Retention: STAMP ME

Stamp Me is your go-to, eco-friendly, digital retention platform, which helps you build engagement with your customers and keep them coming back for more. From businesses large and small, Stamp Me Loyalty App is completely customizable to best suit your needs. 

Not everything digital has to be complicated: Stamp Me embraces the convenience of loyalty stamp cards and has created a contactless model which includes Push Notifications & SMS, Birthday Club, gamification tools, and engagement campaigns, all managed from your own program management platform. 

As customers earn stamps for purchases and activities, you can track the analytics of your engagement and gain valuable insights into your retention rates, customer base, and business model as a whole. 

By adding this app to your suite of tools, you are allowing customers to earn and redeem rewards from their favorite businesses, through a range of incentives to encourage repeat customers and build brand loyalty. This is an exceptionally important aspect of any successful business, as 65% of your revenue comes from repeat business of existing customers. Recognizing and connecting with these customers will ensure longevity for your business and improve your customer satisfaction. 

From car washes, to breweries, to tech giants, to cafes, and everything in between, Stamp Me supports all business types and integrates into any CRM, project management, or workflow app currently used in your business and available through Zapier. Common integrations include some features on this list: Mailchimp, Hubspot, Slack, and more. 

Best App for Internal Communication: SLACK

If you’re looking to level up your team’s communication and kickstart workplace productivity, then Slack is your answer. This all-in-one collaboration tool has reshaped the way modern teams work and helps to unleash any team’s full potential. 

There's no doubt that communication is essential for task efficacy (and 97% of employees would agree). Slack is designed to streamline team communication, project management, and information sharing. Used by brands from Spotify, Uber, and Airbnb, Slack removes the limits of physical walls and gives people the flexibility to do their best work, when, where, and how they prefer. 

Slack allows users to create channels, which are dedicated spaces for conversations related to specific topics or projects. Channels can be public, allowing anyone on the team to join, or private, limited to only invited members. Within these channels, team members can send messages, share files, and mention other users to get their attention. Additionally, Slack supports direct messaging for one-on-one conversations or private group chats. 

But what exactly does it look like in real time? Let’s go through a few examples. 

Project collaboration: If you’ve got particular projects that are ongoing, create a channel for it where team members can discuss progress, share updates, and collaborate on tasks. 

Business-wide announcements: Whether you’ve got to let your team know about an upcoming event or a change in policy, use a general channel in Slack to share important news, updates, or announcements with your entire team. 

File sharing and organization: Share and organize files, documents, and images in relevant channels, making it easy for team members to access and collaborate on them. 

Implementing Slack into your business is simple, with a desktop and app version available, depending on what’s easiest for you. Sign up, create your workspace via a set of prompts, name it, and invite team members to join by entering their email addresses. From there, you can begin crafting your digital HQ. 

Best App for Email Marketing: MAILCHIMP

As mentioned above, retention and engagement amongst your loyal customers cannot go unchecked. Another tool that assists in this process is Mailchimp, the ultimate marketing platform that’s transforming the way 12 million small businesses connect with their customers. With a 21% average open rate for emails across industries, this app is a powerful marketing tool offering an array of tools to create stunning email campaigns, manage mailing lists, and analyze customer engagement. 

Mailchimp’s platform allows you to create your own customer journey, target with segmentation tools, sync with integrations, and gives you a range of pre-built email templates that you can use if you aren’t feeling like crafting your own.

Whether you’re a savvy marketer or just starting out, Mailchimp’s intuitive drag-and-drop email builder and customizable templates will have you sending emails that boasts a 17.8% click-to-open rate, well above the industry average. 

Itching to start? The signup process for mailchimp is easy, just simply fill in your information and choose your plan. You can start to sync your other applications, but once you sign up, you can always add more from your comprehensive dashboard, where you can also view your activity feed, see your performance history and track your top campaigns. 

In tandem with Stamp Me, this app will help you to master customer engagement, drive sales, and foster brand loyalty. 

Best App For Customer Relationship Management (CRM): HUBSPOT

If you’re looking for an all-in-one inbound marketing, sales, and customer service platform, then Hubspot is our final pick for you. This platform empowers small businesses to create meaningful relationships with their audience. 

Hubspot is just as the name suggests: a hub, offering a suite of tools for customer relationship management (CRM), social media management, content creation, and analytics. With its user-friendly interface, businesses can easily track leads, nurture prospects, and close deals, all while delivering exceptional customer experiences.  

From crafting captivating blog posts to scheduling social media updates, Hubspot keeps you connected to your audience like never before. 

Integration is made simple with HubSpot’s extensive ecosystem of over 500 third-party apps and native integrations, including popular platforms like Shopify, Mailchimp, and Salesforce. Just a few clicks, and you’ll have your favorite tools connected to Hubspot’s CRM, streamlining your marketing, sales, and customer service efforts. Sync data effortlessly across multiple platforms, automate routine tasks, and keep your team in the loop with centralized information. 

Case Study in Real Time: 

Mr.Yum, an Australian web-based ordering and payment platform, has been thriving since its launch in 2018. With over 11 million users across the globe, this innovative company needed a way to keep up with their impressive expansion and manage their data more effectively. So they turned to HubSpot’s CRM platform. 

Hubspot worked to bring all of Mr.Yum’s systems together in one friendly, unified platform. Now, the company enjoys better internal alignment and a clearer view of their customer journeys. HubSpot has also made it easy for new team members to get up to speed, cutting the time it takes for salespeople to reach peak productivity in half. 

Conclusion

In today's fast-paced business environment, leveraging technology to streamline processes and improve productivity is crucial for small businesses. By incorporating these awesome apps into daily operations, small businesses can save precious time and resources, level up their communication game, keep customers coming back for more, and zero in on their ultimate business goals. So, why wait? It's time to join the app party and take your business to the next level!