6 Hidden Gem Tools that can Transform Small Business Operations

• How we evaluated the tools
• Content writing: Frase
• Customer journey analytics: Contentsquare
• Online chat solution: Tidio
• Professional voice communication: Zadarma
• Email automation: Mailchimp
• No-code integration tool: Zapier
• Final thoughts
• FAQ

Running a small business often means wearing a dozen of hats - marketer, salesperson, support, accountant, manager - all at once. It is no surprise that many managers who are constantly in a rush stick to the familiar toolkit of Google Workspace, ChatGPT, WhatsApp, Notion and a standard phone. They work, they are easy to use, and everyone knows them. But here is the truth: if you want your business to grow, you should check niched tools, because that’s what can give you a competitive advantage.

Let’s explore 6 powerful tools that can transform the way your business operates - from content creation to customer communication.

How we evaluated the tools

When selecting the tools featured in this article, we considered several key factors to ensure they truly serve the needs of small business:

• Cost-effectiveness: each tool had to offer strong value for money and flexible pricing
• Automatization: we focused on solutions that simplify everyday life and automate repetitive tasks
• Ease of use: we know that not every business owner is a tech expert, so we prioritized user-friendly systems with gradual learning curve
• Proven reliability: we selected tools that have already been on the market for some time, and have managed to establish a solid user base along with positive reviews.

Content writing: Frase

Content is at the heart of every successful business. It is how you show your value, build trust, and sell your product. But creating content consistently can be overwhelming. You need fresh ideas, a clear structure, and an understanding of what your audience wants to read. And even if you write a perfect article for clients, there is another dealbreaker - adapting content to engines (search and generative). This cannot be done intuitively, as algorithms are constantly changing.

That’s where Frase comes in. This tool helps you analyze what is ranking, discover real clients’ questions, and write a text that speaks both to people and engines. Your research time reduces from hours to minutes. As you write, Frase provides real-time SEO and GEO optimization suggestions to improve your content reach and quality. It also helps maintain consistency with performance tracking and daily alerts with highlights of pages that are gaining or losing views.

Customer journey analytics: Contentsquare

Once your content starts attracting visitors, the next challenge is understanding how those visitors experience your website. Are they finding what they need? Where do they hesitate, leave, decide to buy? For small business owners, who do not have a dedicated marketing specialist or a UX designer, Contentsquare offers a powerful yet intuitive way to see your website through your customer’s eyes.

This platform maps the entire customer journey, from the moment someone lands on your page to when they leave or return. It demonstrates what captures attention, where users click, scroll or get distracted, and how every object of the page contributes to engagement and conversion. This tool also monitors the traffic sources to show which one brings you the most engaged clients.

With their customer journey replay, you can literally watch user actions as they happened or get a quick summary with key moments. Beyond visuals, Contentsquare ties user behavior to business metrics like conversion rate and revenue. Trusted by many popular brands from Fortune Global 100, this solution combines enterprise-level insights with accessible pricing.

Online chat solution: Tidio

Having a chat window on the website can noticeably increase the conversion rate of the website. Most customers want answers right away, they won’t wait for an email reply or a phone call. Chat gives visitors confidence that help is one quick message away. Also, user questions you get via the chat is an important data source. It shows what information is missing on the page and what specific products customers are actively searching for.

For many small businesses, though, maintaining a human support team around the clock is just an unrealistic task. That is why you may check out what Tidio offers. This is an all-in-one communication platform that offers both AI agents and a multichannel help desk solution for your team. It can be integrated with your website, social media platforms and CRM.

Tidio’s bots learn directly from your knowledge base and work on script, providing human-like responses in your brand’s tone of voice. And when it’s time to move from online chats to voice calls, the next step is a reliable telephony system.

Professional voice communication: Zadarma

For small businesses that need a reliable voice carrier, Zadarma offers low cost and easy to set up cloud solutions. With Zadarma, you can get international VoIP numbers and connect them to the cloud PBX. Using it, you can manage your call flow effectively, creating voice menus and scenarios of incoming calls to distribute them between your team members. PBX also supports call recording, voicemail, call forwarding, and AI integrations, allowing you to connect voice bots from Vapi, Retell AI and Elevenlabs to answer your calls.

There is also a Teamsale CRM powered by Zadarma. It is free and used to oversee the client database that saves full records of interactions with customers including call recordings, SMS, notes, deals history, etc. It can also work as a team calendar, keeping all tasks and reminders in one place, and a dialer, replacing the need to install any additional apps for calling. The service has an open API interface, making it suitable for custom integrations.

Email automation: Mailchimp

Email is a good channel to get repeat sales and remind about your business over time. Mailchimp is a well-known tool, but it is included in this list because we find it extremely useful for small companies. This platform allows you to create professional emails quickly and automate them using smart flows. Send tailored emails automatically based on customer behavior - for example, welcome letter, product suggestions, promo codes and follow-ups.

In Mailchimp, you can easily analyze your campaign performance, get personalized recommendations, segment the audience, and design eye-catching emails using a vast base of templates.

No-code integration tool: Zapier

Zapier acts as the glue for your business tech stack. It connects your apps into one system and automates repetitive tasks, reducing manual input of information.

With Zapier, you can set up simple if-this-then-that automations, to connect apps like Tidiom Mailchimp, or your CRM. Want to automatically send new website leads to CRM or mailing list? Or send a message each time someone fills in your Google form? Zapier makes it possible without a single line of code. It saves time and ensures consistency between your apps.

Final thoughts

Managing multiple communication channels and daily tasks can quickly become overwhelming for small business owners. But we live in the age of technologies, where you can find a solution for covering all types of tasks. The right tools help you stay organized, consistent and retain customers, without adding unnecessary complexity. Reliable solutions we discussed in this article simplify workflow and ensure smooth experience for the customers, freeing up your time for more important tasks.

FAQ

1. Can I manage my business marketing and support without technical knowledge?
   Sure, there are many no-code and easy to use tools available for everyone. Frase, Contentsquare, Mailchimp, Zadarma and Tidio can cover all communication channels for your business, requiring minimum setup. Nonetheless, they have a room to grow, so if you ever get interested in more advanced tools, they will have something to offer you.
2. Can different communication tools work together?
   Absolutely. Many integrate seamlessly with each other via Zapier or API, allowing you to create a consistent workflow.
3. Are these solutions affordable for small businesses?
   Yes, one of key factors to selecting apps for this list was affordable and flexible pricing. You may also be interested in effective tools and tips for working from home.
4. Do I need all of these tools at once?
   Not necessarily. Instead of prepaying a bunch of subscriptions for your business right from the start, start with the tools that solve your biggest pain points and that are essential (like phone and email provider). Once you set them up, and figure out what and how you want to get from these tools, add more.