Integrating Email Marketing Software With Your POS System
Grow your business by marrying your POS system and email marketing software using these three simple tactics.
Point of Sale (POS) Systems are great, but what do you do with all that data? Thousands of small business owners choose to use an email marketing service provider (EMSP) to leverage the data collected at the point of sale, and with good reason — for every $1 spent on email marketing, the average return on investment is $44.25. (ExactTarget). However, in order to get the most out of integrating email marketing at the point of sale, there are three basic components of email marketing software that you need to understand — lists, campaigns, and reports.
Learn how to create and manage the three below concepts and you are well on your way to seeing a return on your investment.
1. Create and manage a subscriber list
When using an EMSP, building subscriber lists has never been easier. Just sync the customer’s point of sale interaction, import the data, and you now have your subscriber list at your fingertips.
At the POS
- Use the information gathered from deliveries and emailed receipts to create new subscribers
- Add notes to new and existing contacts to keep track of individual contact preferences
Using the EMSP
- Sync existing contacts from your POS system and any other apps that you use. If you have multiple apps to sync to, check out MailChimp, an EMSP that integrates with hundreds of various apps.
- Embed a customizable, auto-generated sign-up form wherever you have an existing web presence
- Rest easy with the knowledge that the EMSP takes care of the “unsubscribe” functions for you
2. Customize, automate, and implement email campaigns
Automation and customization features make it easy to send blasts, newsletters, and mass emails to your subscribers. To avoid oversaturation, don’t forget to use specifics to drive campaign focus.
At the POS
- Keep track of customer purchase history and buying habits
- Redeem and track coupons and discounts offered through email campaigns
Using the EMSP
- Save time with templates — use a standard one or create your own! Make as many as you need
- Create or use pre-determined workflows to automate timing and audience for campaigns
3. Leverage strengths with detailed reporting features
With the use of reports, you can gain insight into the most effective ways to reach customers.
At the POS
- Reports such as, “Sales by Hour” help dictate the content of campaigns and special offers
- Integrate reports across platforms to see which campaigns correlate with higher sales
Using the EMSP
- Open and click rates show which content is most viewed and where
- Subscriber Profiles provide information about the most engaged customers
- View the distribution of subscribers across email platforms to optimize formatting
Email Marketing for Small Business
Learn why and how to start sending emails and engaging your customers on a regular basis.
About the author
Clare Kaluzynski moved to Portland five years ago from Asheville, North Carolina. She came to ShopKeep after working as a support technician in the audio-visual industry. Some of her favorite things are bikes, pasta, crosswords, and asking the question: “Have you tried turning it off and back on again?”
Originally published at www.shopkeep.com on June 18, 2015.
