Get More Out of Your Terminal

Years ago, terminals were far less complex and really only had one use: to accept payments. Now, they have adapted and progressed so much that a terminal can be the anchor of your business, with far more abilities than its predecessors. Your terminal can be more than just a way to accept payment from a customer. It can help take your business to new heights through customer insight and back-end capabilities.

A smarter terminal can help you better adapt to customer needs. Take stock of what kinds of payments are coming through your door, do you accept them all? As customer preferences change, your paying options should reflect them. What do you know about the customer’s experience that could influence the technology you adopt? Smart terminals also offer the ability to gain customer insight through software solutions that would provide short multiple choice questions to customers as they’re waiting to pay. This information can be useful when it comes to tweaking the processes of your business to better suit customer desires.

Many terminals are now able to adopt a multitude of apps. The Clover, for instance, has a market of over 200 apps that can be easily integrated into its existing software to provide additional services for you and your business. Get apps that will bring your terminal beyond the function and expectations of a normal POS system. From scheduling, to a time clock, to full-scale data analysis, to inventory management, to customer feedback, and even more, a terminal is no longer just a terminal when you integrate apps.

You can also get loyalty programs onto your terminals without any elaborate set up process or additional overhead costs. Loyalty software is readily available for most POS systems, so it isn’t difficult to adopt this method. This is a great way to further engage with your customer and get a better idea of their buying habits. Loyalty programs will not only prompt your customer to answer questions about their experience and monitor their spending habits, but it will also collect their emails and phone numbers, valuable things for you to use with further promotional options. A loyalty program provides a completely measurable way to look at the customer experience and habits, because it can collect data on every member transaction. This also benefits customers too! Customers can check up on and redeem their earned points in-store, which is far more convenient than having to go through an online process. You can then use it to track their spending habits, frequent purchases, or preferred items.

Be sure to accept new and emerging forms of payment that may not be the go-to expected methods (like cash or physical credit or debit card). It’s your job to make paying as efficient as possible for customers, and part of that is letting them pay how they prefer to. A payment you are currently denying may prove to be the next big thing that many customers will move over to. Also, you shut out a lot of revenue by limiting your options. Customers may not have an alternative form of payment if their Google Pay is denied by your terminal. By accepting all forms of payment, your terminal becomes an all-encompassing device that will bring in huge revenue streams.

There are a multitude of ways you can get more out of your terminal and take it to the next level. After all, it doesn’t have to be just a way to pay!