How a POS can help you cultivate vital and long-term relationships with your customers.

Smart payment terminals do a lot more than just take your customers’ money after you make a sale. In a world where personalizing the shopping journey is at least as important as ensuring a secure purchase, their role cannot be overstated. Learn how to harness the power of your POS device to the fullest, and you will revolutionize your brand, raise your exposure, and delight customers old and new.

More than a payment processor.

Of course, your POS is a whiz at helping customers to make swipe, dip, and tap to pay payments. Within just a few seconds, their information can be securely passed on to your processing company and transmitted to their bank for screening and disposition. Receipts can be provided on paper or via email, and the entire purchase is accurately recorded by your POS for easy retrieval later.

If this was all your POS did, it would still be worth its weight in gold. However, your hardware-software combo is packed with additional tools that can elevate your buyer’s entire shopping journey. Here are just a few ways this happens.

Store vital details.

The magic lies in your system’s database functions. This repository can store such vital details as product specifics for each piece of merchandise, including who bought it and when the purchase occurred. In addition, you can configure it to hold onto targeted information that your customers give you permission to take, things such as contact particulars, hobbies and interests, and milestones like their date of birth.

Reward loyal shoppers.

Your POS also comes with a tool that helps you to easily build and launch a loyalty program that incentivizes people to make repeat and additional purchases in order to accumulate points. After a specific amount has been gained, the shopper wins free or discounted products or other rewards of your choosing.

Whether it’s a cup of coffee at no charge or an extra 25% off their favorite product, customers love to be recognized and appreciated. Your loyalty program provides you with an opportunity to do just that, but the benefits don’t stop there.

Curate special offers.

That same database that spawned your loyalty program has everything you need to create a bespoke buying experience for your regular customers. That’s because it keeps track of everything each person buys. With just a few clicks, you can leverage its reporting features to get a snapshot of the person’s patterns and preferences.

Then it’s a simple matter of getting in touch. Contact them by email with a special promotion designed just for them based on their shopping history. Trust us, there is no better way to draw someone into your brand family and inspire long-term loyalty than demonstrating to someone that you have noticed and appreciated them and value them far beyond just being a mere financial transaction.

Use your POS to leverage trends for future success.

At one time, creating sales reports and forecasts was an arduous process requiring hours of poring over spreadsheets. But now, thanks to your POS and its comprehensive database, you can create and customize all manner of snapshots with just a few clicks.

In addition to crafting unique offerings for individual buyers, you can also use these reports to chart the course for your future marketing campaigns and inventory purchases. Here are just a few tailored reports that you can ask your POS to create.

• Top-selling items during a particular time of year such as the holidays or back to school.
• Which of your employees is the most productive, presumably furnishing high-level customer service and product knowledge.
• Which products your loyal customers tend to buy on a regular basis.

When you gain insight into trends and buying patterns, you are in a great position to focus on the products your best customers want. Moreover, learning who your star employees are will enable you to reward them for their excellence while providing additional training to others who may be struggling. In the end, this translates into superlative customer service that leads to boosted levels of referral and retention across the board.

Your POS is a taker of secure payments, an aggregator of information, a repository of vital details, and the wellspring for some of the most innovative marketing campaigns you will ever launch. Use it to its fullest, and you will be rewarded with a family of happy, long-term customers who are ready, willing, and able to spread the word about your brand to their social contacts.