New HoneyBook data shows responsiveness — not price — is the top driver of lost business
SAN FRANCISCO, May 21, 2026 — HoneyBook, the leading AI-powered customer relationship management (CRM) platform for small business owners, today released new research showing that slow response times are the single biggest reason customers stop working with small businesses, surpassing concerns about pricing, quality, and reliability.
According to a national survey of 503 service-based small business owners and 1,002 of their customers conducted in collaboration with The Harris Poll, 36% of customers said they wouldn’t rehire a small business because it was hard to reach or slow to respond. That figure outpaces every other dissatisfaction trigger, including a lack of professionalism (32%) or inconsistent quality of service (30%).
The results point to a perception gap between how small business owners are spending their time and what customers actually value. While many owners are investing in boutique branding, transparency, and polish, customers consistently rank operational basics first: quality, consistency, responsiveness, ease of communication, and availability.
“Small business owners often assume that what wins customers is feeling more personal or more boutique, and the data shows something different,” said Natalia Andreeva, Head of Member Care at HoneyBook. “Customers are rewarding businesses that are easy to reach, quick to respond, and consistent every time. The owners who treat responsiveness as a core operating discipline, not a nice-to-have, are the ones building loyalty and growing revenue.”
The data highlights a shift in what "responsiveness" actually means. Customer expectations now expand well beyond speed, into the kinds of follow-through and proactive updates that increasingly require automation to deliver consistently. When asked what responsiveness means to them, customers cited:
- Providing fast replies to inquiries (68%)
- Following through on inquiries (65%)
- Providing proactive updates throughout the engagement (58%)
- Being reachable on preferred channels (53%)
- Remembering prior conversations in replies (41%)
For small businesses, the implication is direct: competitive edge is no longer about appearing more personal. It's about being faster, clearer, and more consistent every time. Seventy-seven percent of customers say consistently high-quality results are the top reason they'd recommend a small business to a friend or family member, outranking price and personalization. To learn more about small businesses using AI and how HoneyBook’s AI-powered platform can take your business to the next level, visit www.honeybook.com.
Methodology
The research was conducted online in the U.S. by The Harris Poll on behalf of HoneyBook among 503 service-based small business owners with fewer than 20 employees and at least $50,000 in 2024 gross revenue, and 1,002 customers who have purchased services from a freelancer or small business in the past 12 months. The small business owner and the customer surveys were conducted in H2 2025. Customer data are weighted to be representative of U.S. adults by age, gender, race/ethnicity, region, household income, marital status, political affiliation, and employment status.
About HoneyBook:
HoneyBook is the leading clientflow management platform that makes it easy for independent business owners to sell and deliver their services online. Offering powerful tools for communication, contracts, invoicing, payments, and more, the platform puts independent professionals in control of their process and client experience. HoneyBook is trusted by over 100,000 service-based businesses in the United States and Canada that have booked more than $10 billion in business on the platform. The company has offices in San Francisco and Tel Aviv, with remote staff worldwide. Learn more at HoneyBook.com
Contacts
Media Contact:
Briana Grubb
press@honeybook.com
