Use Your POS Software for Customer Marketing

Because our POS software is totally email ready, out of the box, I tell potential customers that the most important thing they need from a walk in customer is an email address. Their reply is what if they will not give me one. Almost everyone will give you an email address if they think they will receive something of value and their email address will not be shared with other retailers. 68% of consumers queried by Forrester report subscribing to e-mail to receive discounts. That means retailers should determine whether subscribers want to hear about all discounts or only those most relevant to them, Forrester says. 50% subscribe simply because they like the retailer or brand, and for those consumers they need to be informed of in-store events. And 49% of consumers sign up for a retailer’s e-mail because they want to hear about sales. If retailers can identify consumer preferences for instance, that a particular brand is on sale their e-mails to these customers can be made more effective, Forrester says.

To find out why different consumers subscribe and to encourage more e-mail subscriptions, retailers should improve their on-site preference center to capture information that can guide e-mail campaigns, Forrester says. With that data, retailers can, for example, feature language about sales in the subject line and first few message lines for customers who register to learn about sales, and new product information in the same areas for customers who subscribe to receive information about new products, according to the report.

Forrester also says retailers can make their e-mail programs more effective by showing consumers, outside the e-mail channel itself, the benefits of subscribing and displaying that information in catalogs, at the point of sale (POS software terminal) and during online checkout. All data captured at the POS software terminal can be used to email sales and specials to targeted customers.