25 jun 2025
How do small business owners consider the factors that most influence a client’s perception? Does having a physical office help to make a positive impression on clients? How important are high-quality marketing materials or good reviews? These and other key topics were explored in a recent survey of US small business owners conducted by iScanner.
Today, small businesses struggle with a lot of challenges and need to continuously adapt to changing conditions. Attracting and retaining clients’ attention isn’t easy, and it propels owners to constantly analyze what factors influence clients’ preferences more. 40% of iScanner users are small business owners and freelancers; that’s why we prioritize their interests and research how the app can better support this segment of our audience.
iScanner asked 560 American business owners who use the app for business purposes about their view of the current situation in May 2025. Here are the most interesting takeaways from the research.
When we asked users how important it is to clients that a business has an office equipped with tools like printers and scanners, or whether it doesn’t matter to them, half of the respondents agreed that having an office is important. It seems that a business with a physical office and professional equipment appears more solid and trustworthy. Only 21% of respondents think that this factor has no impact.
Nine out of ten respondents recognize the importance of document quality. Professional-looking documents without creases and other defects help earn a client’s respect and trust. Some respondents highlighted that business documents shouldn’t contain watermarks or fingers that accidentally appeared on scanned documents.
When small business owners shared their opinions about factors that impact clients’ perception, half of them highlighted good communication and quick responses to clients’ requests, 29% emphasized the quality of branding and marketing materials, and only 21% of owners considered client testimonials and reviews to be an important factor. The importance of developing a website is also highlighted by 21% of respondents.
A few questions in the survey were focused on app filters for editing documents that can be helpful for business.
With AI making documents cleaner and more polished, most respondents are happy with the results under any scanning conditions. However, the survey also showed that businesses sometimes find the scans too perfect, lacking the real-office feel that some of their clients expect.
In fact, nearly a third of survey participants said they would like a filter that created an authentic scanned effect by adding black dots and small lines to a PDF, making it look like a document scanned with a physical scanner. For some clients, this effect signals the presence of a real office, helping small businesses present themselves as more established companies.
To support small business owners and enable them to provide professional-looking documents for clients and partners (whether on the go or working from a home office without special equipment like printers or scanners), iScanner is expanding its line of app filters. In addition to filters that enhance document quality and correct defects, iScanner has launched an Office Filter that creates the impression that scanned documents were made by a stationary scanner. This filter gives an authentic scanned effect by adding black dots and small lines to a PDF.
“When we conducted the survey, we saw that small businesses sometimes find it hard to operate without a physical office. Despite remote work and remote teams have become a big part of our post-COVID reality, and mobile applications can substitute for all office equipment (from stationary scanners to fax machines), some people still expect a business to have a real office; otherwise, it looks unprofessional to them.
Our team decided to help businesses that struggle with biased attitudes by developing a special filter. With the Office Filter, your documents will look as if they were scanned by stationary scanners, complete with some small dots and lines. You can use this feature in situations when dealing with demanding clients or partners, explains Matt Svetlak, Product Director of iScanner. Whether perfect or imperfect, our users can now choose how they want their documents to appear, helping them win clients and allowing their business to thrive.”
The new filter is available to both free and paid users of iScanner and stands out compared to other AI-based filters that help to erase fingers from scans, deblur, or polish documents.
iScanner is a popular AI-powered scanning and document management app with over 125 million downloads, available on iOS, Android, and the Web. The app allows users to convert scans into various formats, edit, sign, and turn any image into editable and searchable documents. Moreover, iScanner allows users to chat with AI to summarize or proofread PDF files. One of the app’s priorities is users’ data security and privacy, which is why iScanner provides dedicated features such as Face ID, Safe Folder, and remote logout.
The iScanner app was developed by BP Mobile (AIBY Group).
