How much customer effort is quietly draining your business?

By Nabilah Chivelkar, Sr Sales Effectiveness Coach, Thryv Australia and New Zealand

How much effort are your customers putting in before they even reach the service you are known for?

When a customer needs to chase a reply, double check a booking or wonder what happens next, the business has created work for them.

Small business owners are already carrying a huge operational load. Admin, customer enquiries, scheduling, invoicing and follow up can swallow hours before the core work of the day has even had a chance to breathe. Thryv’s recent Business Index and Consumer Report found admin and customer service are among the biggest time drains for small business owners. When asked what they would do with 10 extra hours a week, nearly a third said they would use it for rest and recovery. In New Zealand, 49 per cent said they had considered stepping away from their business because of burnout or workload pressure.

That kind of pressure shapes more than the business owner’s day. It reaches the customer experience in quiet and compounding ways.

A slower reply here. A missed confirmation there. A follow up that never lands. A review request that gets forgotten. None of these moments look dramatic on their own. Together, they can leave a customer feeling uncertain, overlooked or unconvinced.

And uncertainty is expensive.

Customers feel friction long before a sale is won

Many businesses still think service begins when the job starts. Customers start judging much earlier.

They start forming an impression the moment they try to book. It deepens when they open a website on their phone, send an enquiry and wait for a reply. With every step, they are picking up signals about whether this business feels easy to deal with, organised and worth trusting.

That early experience carries real weight because customers are looking for signs that a business is organised, responsive and ready to look after them properly.

In New Zealand, our research shows that 51 per cent of consumers expect online booking, yet only 39 per cent of businesses offer it. Fifty-two per cent expect a mobile-friendly website, while only 35 per cent of businesses have one. Forty-eight per cent want an online store, while only 29 per cent of SMBs provide it.

These details influence trust before a customer has even committed. Ease signals confidence. Friction creates doubt.

Why businesses and customers see service differently

One of the most striking findings in the report sits in the gap between how businesses rate themselves and how customers rate the experience they receive.

In New Zealand, 49 per cent of small business owners completely agree they deliver consistently high service. Only 24 per cent of consumers agree. Thirty-three per cent of owners say they deliver a seamless customer experience. Only 19 per cent of consumers say the same.

That gap tells a story.

Business owners often judge their performance through effort. They know how much energy went into keeping the day afloat. They know how many fires they put out and how many extra tasks they squeezed in. Customers judge through what reaches them. They remember the clarity, the pace, the communication and the overall ease of dealing with the business.

This is where a lot of businesses lose ground without realising it. Huge effort is going in. The customer still experiences inconsistency.

The modern customer expects reassurance

Customer expectations have shifted quickly. People are used to smooth, well-signposted experiences in almost every part of life. They expect to receive a confirmation. They expect reminders. They expect a sense that everything is in hand.

That does not mean small businesses need to sound polished or corporate. It means they need to feel reliable.

Good service now includes the moments around the service. A booking confirmation tells the customer they are locked in. A reminder tells them they have not been forgotten. A follow up tells them the relationship did not end the second the invoice was paid.

These are small signals, but they shape confidence in a big way.

Our research also found 76 per cent of New Zealand consumers say service is the number one reason they stay loyal to a business. Sixty-five per cent prefer email as their primary channel, and 61 per cent prefer businesses that personalise communication or services based on past behaviour.

Customers want to feel known. They want to feel sure. They want the journey to feel handled.

The damage often happens quietly

One of the hardest things about operational friction is how little noise it makes. Customers often do not ring up and announce that the process felt clunky. They do not always explain that a delayed reply made them lose confidence. They simply move on.

That is why reviews matter so much. They often provide the clearest public signal of how the experience is landing.

Eighty-one per cent of New Zealand consumers check reviews before buying from a small business, yet only 44 per cent of businesses always encourage customers to leave one. Thirty-five per cent of consumers say the way a business responds to reviews is the most important factor.

That means trust is being shaped in places many businesses still treat as secondary. Reviews, response behaviour and visible attentiveness all influence whether a customer moves forward.

Where I would start first

When a business feels stretched, ambition can turn into clutter very quickly. New ideas pile up. Bigger plans get made. More tools get added. What usually helps most is a simpler first step.

I would start with follow up.

A system that sends a confirmation, a reminder and a post-service message can change the customer experience immediately. It reduces uncertainty, improves consistency and creates a smoother path from enquiry to repeat business. It can also help generate reviews in a way that feels natural rather than forced.

That is why I see operational simplicity as a growth lever. Clearer systems create stronger customer experiences. Stronger experiences build trust. Trust drives loyalty, referrals and repeat business.

Small businesses already bring the care, knowledge and human connection that customers value deeply. The next step is making that care easier to feel at every stage of the journey.