Milwaukee, Wis. – The Wisconsin Better Business Bureau (BBB) has released the executive summary of its latest Accredited Business Survey, highlighting critical opportunities, trust-building practices, and technological shifts in the marketplace. Data for the report was collected between February 25 – March 16, 2026, encompassing insights from nearly 600 BBB Accredited Businesses.
The top 10 challenges facing businesses
The Survey measured the top obstacles currently facing both solopreneurs and employer businesses. The top 10 challenges reported by respondents are:
- Finding qualified staff (38%)
- Finding new customers (38%)
- Increasing costs/inflation (37%)
- Driving business growth (34%)
- Boosting business visibility (28%)
- Staying safe from scams (21%)
- Competing with unethical businesses (20%)
- Increasing healthcare costs (19%)
- Navigating economic uncertainty (17%)
- Making businesses visible in AI search (17%)
Key opportunities for Growth and Adaptability
Despite these challenges, BBB Accredited Businesses highlighted a strong commitment to quality and adaptability by identifying five primary areas of opportunity:
- Embracing Artificial Intelligence (AI) responsibly to improve efficiency and service.
- Capturing growth opportunities and strong demand in specific target markets. As one of our BBB Accredited Businesses said it best, “Lots of plumbing work to be done and will not be replaced by AI.”
- Developing quality work and excellent customer service with the help of great staff.
- Augmenting digital visibility by actively leveraging their BBB partnership.
- Investing in new markets, new product lines, and human capital to diversity and actively seek out new growth avenues.
“Our latest survey shows that Wisconsin businesses are navigating a complex mix of workforce shortages, rising costs, and rapid technological change—while remaining deeply committed to trust, transparency, and quality customer service,” said Jim Temmer, President and CEO of the BBB Wisconsin. “As AI adoption grows, businesses are asking important questions about ethics, accountability, and consumer confidence, and BBB is proud to help lead those conversations.”
The Pillars of Building Trust
According to BBB Accredited Businesses, building trust with customers directly leads to highly positive business outcomes, such as increased referrals, higher sales conversions, and long-term customer retention. To guide businesses in building consumer confidence, they identified five main pillars of trust:
- Be honest, transparent, and clear in communications
- Deliver excellent, quality customer service
- Honor promises consistently. At a minimum, do what you say you will do
- Empower customers through education
- Be proactive in managing issues if they occur
When ranking the most important daily practices to establish this trust, respondents prioritized delivering high-quality results, honoring promises, being honest in all interactions, and listening carefully to customers’ needs.
Insights on Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption
As technology rapidly evolves, businesses view AI as both an inevitable evolution and a potential threat. Currently, 50% of BBB Accredited Businesses are not yet using AI, while the other 50% use it primarily for simple applications like writing or editing emails, creating social media posts, drafting website or marketing content, brainstorming ideas, summarizing long documents or messages, and designing simple graphics or images. Notably, half of the respondents believe that AI can help increase their overall business competitiveness.
However, utilizing AI introduces new hurdles for consumer trust. Businesses that currently use AI ranked the following as the most important practices for building customer trust when deploying AI technology:
- Providing accurate information (76%)
- Protecting personal information (73%)
- Taking responsibility for AI mistakes (65%)
- Providing clear value when using AI (54%)
- Using AI fairly, and not to influence prices (53%)
- Making it easy to reach a real person (52%)
- Showing BBB Accreditation (48%)
- Disclosing that AI is being used (41%)
Highlighting a strong desire for ongoing education, 66% of surveyed businesses expressed interest in a BBB program focused on the trustworthy and ethical use of AI, which would include practical resources, networking, and knowledge-sharing opportunities.
To continue exploring the State of Trust in Wisconsin, your local BBB is planning a consumer survey in April. Lead Trust Forward in Wisconsin, apply for BBB Accreditation today and commit to BBB Standards of Trust.
View the online version
For more information or further inquiries, contact the Wisconsin BBB at www.bbb.org/wisconsin, 414-847-6000 or 1-800-273-1002. Consumers also can find more information about how to protect themselves from scams by following the Wisconsin BBB on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
ABOUT BBB: The Better Business Bureau has empowered people to find businesses, brands, and charities they can trust for more than 110 years. In 2024, people turned to BBB.org more than 220 million times for BBB Business Profiles on 5.5 million businesses, and 725,000 times for BBB charity reports on 12,000 local and national charities. The International Association of Better Business Bureaus is the umbrella organization for the local, independent BBBs in the United States and Canada.
