Use your POS system to revolutionize your marketing plan

A successful marketing plan depends on collecting, analyzing, and applying data from every facet of the sales process. What’s the best way to get all the nitty-gritty details and turn them into usable strategies? Use your point-of-sale (POS) system to:

Gather granular customer information.

Finding a POS hardware and software solution with customer relationship management (CRM) tools is essential to your marketing strategy. The system you select should allow you to:

• Input customer contact details.
• Track purchase histories.
• Save notes from customer service interactions.
• Integrate with other marketing tools.

Use these options to segment your audience and create targeted email or direct mail campaigns. When coupons, sale announcements, and product recommendations are relevant, customers are more likely to pay attention and take advantage of discounts to make more purchases.

Increase repeat sales with loyalty programs.

Getting rewarded to shop gives customers a big incentive to come back to your store or buy additional items from your website. Use your POS hardware to set up a loyalty program and grant points based on:

• Amount spent.
• Number of visits.
• Number of purchases.
• Number of specific types of items purchased.

The choice is yours. Structure the program according to your business model and your customers’ shopping habits. Then, choose the type of reward most appealing to your audience. For example, you may provide a set discount on a purchase or a percent off a category of popular items. Free items are always popular too, so customers are often willing to make multiple purchases to earn their freebies!

Remember: since your POS solution keeps track of every purchase, there’s no need for customers to carry around physical rewards cards. The system will know when the next reward tier has been reached and deliver discounts at the appropriate time.

Improve product placement and cross-selling.

Insight into customer purchases shows what items people tend to buy together or what they buy to complement earlier purchases. This data is invaluable when planning shelf layout and choosing items to place near checkout counters. It also enables you to make beneficial recommendations to individual customers based on what they’ve purchased in the past.

Be more strategic about sales.

Everyone knows the holidays are the best time for big sales, right? Your POS system may show otherwise. Tracking sales data provides eye-opening insights into which products are selling, how fast they’re flying off the shelves, and the most popular shopping times during the day or year.

Based on this information, you can make smarter decisions about when to offer discounts and what items to showcase. Breaking out of the rigid paradigm of retail sales has the potential to give you a significant advantage over competitors who aren’t paying attention to trends.

Translating data into an actionable marketing strategy is a breeze with the right POS solution. When you leverage available features to gain more insight into your target audience, you create stronger relationships and set the stage for the continual growth of your customer base.