Q3 2020 Survey Sees Rebound in Confidence After Widespread Coronavirus-Induced Closures
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. and SAN MATEO, CA, August 10, 2020 — CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, and SurveyMonkey (Nasdaq: SVMK), a leader in agile software solutions for customer experience, market research and survey feedback, today announced the results of their quarterly CNBC/SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey.
The survey found that Small Business confidence has rebounded this quarter, a small sign of progress after widespread, coronavirus-induced business closures and general disruptions. The CNBC/SurveyMonkey Small Business Confidence Index is at 53 out of 100, the second-lowest ever, and still well below pre-pandemic levels. The number of Small Business owners (SBOs) who describe current conditions as “Good” doubled from 18% in Q2 to 36%, the second-lowest number ever for the survey and 20 points below the Q1 survey in February.
Each quarter, CNBC and SurveyMonkey poll over 2,000 small business owners aiming to measure the vitality of the American economy as well as the view from Main Street on jobs, taxes and other hot topics. In addition to measuring small business confidence nationwide, the large sample size gives CNBC and SurveyMonkey the power to uncover trends by geographic region and among specific small business cohorts.
Key findings from the Q3 2020 CNBC/SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey include:
· A majority of small business owners (64%) now say they can continue operating under current conditions for more than a year, exactly double the number for whom that was true three months ago (32%).
· Nearly a quarter of small business owners (24%) who had to layoff or furlough employees because of the shutdowns in March/April, say they’ve hired all of their employees back. 34% say they have hired some employees back and 15% say they have not brought anyone back and do not expect to.
· More than half (54%) of small business owners say their business has had unforeseen costs associated with new coronavirus-related safety measures, but only 9% say they are passing those costs on to customers via higher prices or fees.
“These latest results offer a glimmer of optimism from the small business world,” says Jon Cohen, chief research officer at SurveyMonkey. “Even as seven in 10 small business owners say the pandemic has caused permanent changes in the way they operate, nearly as many of those who made it through the first throes of the crisis express confidence they can survive for a year or more. For many on Main Street, the strong sense is they’ve made it through a paradigmatic shift.”
CNBC Small Business Reporter Kate Rogers will reveal the results of the CNBC/SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey today, Monday, August 10th, throughout CNBC’s Business Day programming. For more information on the survey including the full results and methodology and in-depth articles, go to: https://www.surveymonkey.com/curiosity/cnbc-small-business-q3-2020/.
Methodology:
SurveyMonkey created a unique Small Business Confidence Index (SBCI), which is a 100-point score based on responses to eight key questions. The index is calculated on a scale from 0–100 and is based on the responses to eight key questions. A zero indicates no confidence, and a score of 100 indicates perfect confidence. The latest results show an increase in the SBCI to an overall value of 53 from 49 in the second quarter.
The CNBC/SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey was conducted using SurveyMonkey’s online platform from July 20-27, 2020 among a national sample of 2,040 self-identified small business owners ages 18 and up. This quarter, we also reached 9,510 individuals who do not own small businesses. Respondents for this survey were selected from the more than two million people who take surveys on the SurveyMonkey platform each day. The modeled error estimate for this survey is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points for the results among small business owners and 1.5 percentage points for results among those who do not own small businesses.
Data for small business statistics this quarter have been weighted to be representative of small business owners nationally, according to business characteristics from the Small Business Administration’s 2013 Statistics of U.S. Businesses and owner characteristics from the Census Bureau’s 2012 Survey of Business Owners.
For more information contact:
CNBC
Jennifer Dauble
201-735-4721
SurveyMonkey
Sandra Gharib
About CNBC:
CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news and provides real-time financial market coverage and business content consumed by more than 355 million people per month across all platforms. The network’s 14 live hours a day of business programming in North America (weekdays from 5:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC’s global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and includes reports from CNBC News bureaus worldwide. CNBC at night features a mix of new reality programming, CNBC’s highly successful series produced exclusively for CNBC and a number of distinctive in-house documentaries.
CNBC also offers content through its vast portfolio of digital products such as: CNBC.com, which provides real-time financial market news and information to CNBC’s investor audience; CNBC Make It, a digital destination focused on making you smarter about how you earn, save and spend your money; CNBC PRO, a premium service that provides in-depth access to Wall Street; a suite of CNBC mobile apps for iOS and Android devices; Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple Siri voice interfaces; and streaming services including Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV and Samsung Smart TVs. To learn more, visit https://www.cnbc.com/digital-products/.
Members of the media can receive more information about CNBC and its programming on the NBCUniversal Media Village Web site at http://www.nbcumv.com/programming/cnbc. For more information about NBCUniversal, please visit http://www.NBCUniversal.com.
About SurveyMonkey:
SurveyMonkey is a leader in agile software solutions for customer experience, market research, and survey feedback. The company’s platform empowers over 17 million active users to analyze and act on feedback from employees, customers, website and app users, and market research respondents. SurveyMonkey’s products, enterprise solutions, and integrations enable more than 335,000 organizations to deliver better customer experiences, increase employee retention, and unlock growth and innovation. Ultimately, SurveyMonkey’s vision is to raise the bar for human experiences by amplifying individual voices.
