How effectively engaging with your customers can positively affect your bottom line.

A great deal goes into the creation, maintenance, and growth of a successful business. A well-conceived and executed plan and marketing campaign, stellar products, the ability to quickly adjust to change, and a constant eye on your competitors are just a few of the factors. An additional element that many entrepreneurs underestimate is customer engagement, the X factor that can help to propel your business forward in dramatic ways.

What factors affect your profit margins?

There are several obvious factors that affect your bottom line. They include the following.

• Fluctuations in product sales.
• Business interruptions.
• Unplanned expenses.
• Introduction of a powerful new competitor.
• Security breaches that negatively affect your finances or business reputation.
• Successful marketing or sales campaigns.
• Hiring new employees or reducing staff.

Of course, that is only a short list of variables that can quickly modify your balance sheet at any given moment. Now, let’s dive into that intangible yet vital area of customer engagement … 

Shopper expectations have changed.

Not so long ago, consumers tended to have strictly transactional relationships with retailers. A purchase was simply an exchange of currency for a product or service, and both merchants and customers were fine with that. Sure, the best shops went the extra mile to rise above their competitors by working hard to establish a long-standing rapport with customers. However, this was not necessarily a requirement.

Then along came modern technology, including the highly diverse and effective point of sale (POS) system. Suddenly, even stores that served thousands of customers were able to come up with ways to make each and every one of them feel special and cared about.

The magic behind customer engagement via a POS system lies within its database. After just a little work on your part to encourage buyers to provide you with some useful details about themselves, i.e., birth dates, shopping preferences, hobbies and interests, etc., you can begin to create a unique user profile for each. Then, with the help of your POS system’s database and automated functions, you can take their personalities into account and provide them with the curated, customized shopping experience that was once only available to the richest high-end consumers.

Here are just some of the ways you can draw your customers into your brand through the use of your POS solution.

• Create a program that rewards frequent buyers.
• With a shopper’s interests in mind, send out targeted emails that highlight products that match their profile.
• After asking your best customers for their preferences, configure your POS system to accept the types of payments that are most requested. This can include options for buy-now-pay-later and recurring billing that often work well to persuade budget-conscious buyers.
• Now that you know what products your preferred patrons request, you can leverage your POS system’s inventory functions to ensure that they are always in stock. Shoppers are happiest when they can get exactly what they want when they want it with no delays or substitutions.

You can think of modern POS solutions as highly efficient partners who are constantly looking in three directions: the past, present, and future. They enable you to examine previous behaviors and patterns, manage current payments and finances, and even help forecast future inventory, marketing, and expansion decisions.

As a busy entrepreneur, you know better than anyone that success in business means juggling numerous moving parts. Sure, you can invest in a reputation management tool; you can hire and train staff of the highest quality, and do all you can to create an environment of excellence that they and your customers appreciate. But that final, indispensable step should never be ignored: Get an updated POS solution, and learn how to harness all of its talents for your maximum benefit!