The other day, the igniter in my oven needed replacing. I called a nearby electrician, who came over and told me how he could fix it. After agreeing to the initial quote, I instinctively had my checkbook out ready to pay the paper invoice. However, the repairman said, “Don’t worry – our app will take care of this.”
Instead of sitting down for 30 minutes to review the paper invoice and pay, the app – or a point of sale (POS) system – cut the transaction time in half. Moreover, that electrician gained a loyal customer in me for finishing the job in record time.
In fact, digital payment is becoming so prominent that 90% of consumers have used some form of digital payment in 2023, according to McKinsey. Offering different payment options allows your company to reach more customers and simplify the payment transaction and customer experience.
Just like my example with the electrician, the POS experience is an important transactional moment for your customers. In this post, I’ll explain why, and then explore ways you can make your own POS experience better.
In this article:
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What is POS experience?
A POS experience is the journey that occurs when a customer is at point of sale (POS). For select industries – restaurants, retail, ecommerce, and home improvement – this is the link between the customer’s interaction with your company and when they pay for those products or services provided.
Now, a POS system is what actually allows you to accept multiple forms of payment while connecting customer transactions to the back end of your business — thus creating your POS experience.
You can use your POS system to build revenue reports, transfer money to and from your bank account, check inventory, and track order history. A POS system can either be a hardware or software tool – making it flexible for use across multiple industries. It also collects data points centered around your buying preferences, order history, and frequency of purchases.
This versatility makes a POS system a vital conduit to influence a seamless POS experience.
Why is POS experience important?
A positive POS experience can bolster all of your interactions with your customers. Beyond the reports you can pull, a positive POS experience represents your company’s commitment to your customers.
This aligns with a trend – growth projections estimate the entire POS industry will be worth over $30 billion by 2032. This represents a huge opportunity for businesses to prioritize the investments they put in technology to engage with their customers and ensure they have a good experience.
But beyond the total addressable market, I’m going to review a few benefits that outline why the POS experience is worth placing importance on.
Satisfied Customers
A positive POS experience can create satisfied customers. A 2023 study from the Journal of Retail Technology Innovations noted an 18% increase in customer satisfaction when they used an effective POS system to enable a seamless checkout process.
Customers like it when your company’s POS enables them to purchase easily from your business. There’s also a benefit to logging your customers’ preferences, demographics, and other attributes for future interactions. Making it easy for your customers to interact with your business is one of several tips that defines a great customer experience.
Satisfied Employees
Your POS experience can influence more than just your customers. Your employee morale can be high when they know that the POS they work with daily is intuitive and causes minimal issues when working with customers. Happy employees mean that they are increasingly willing to work with customers, leading to higher rates of satisfaction and even revenue.
Prioritizing the POS experience is an opportunity for your company to invest time and resources in a particular tool. This tool needs to remove any blockers, make the checkout process seamless for employees, and reduce friction in the customer journey.
Repeat Purchases from Loyal Customers
A positive POS experience can influence your company’s ability to retain customers, influence future purchases, and garner customer loyalty. Customers are more willing to come back to you when they have a positive experience with your company. The POS acts as a key touchpoint for this positive experience to occur. Statistically, repeat customers spend 67% more than net new customers, consistently increasing your company’s overall revenue.
Your POS can also be the conduit to develop a customer loyalty program. POS systems can quantify the products and services customers have purchased, represent that in a membership program to monetize customer loyalty, and provide your marketing team content for promotional campaigns and further re-engagement ideas. If this is something you want to explore, grab this free guide that we at HubSpot put together with Calendly.
Six Ways to Improve POS Experience
As I have discussed above, the POS experience is a crucial touchpoint for creating satisfied customers and employees, and retaining customers to drive repeat business.
Now, how do you successfully improve your POS system and experience? Here are six actionable ways.
1. Make the checkout process seamless.
Simplifying the checkout process is key to delivering an effortless POS experience. By removing friction, you ensure your customers can quickly and easily complete their transactions, leaving them with a positive impression of your business.
Implementing features like barcode scanning, minimizing wait times, and providing clarity through the purchasing journey can all aid this.
2. Offer multiple and flexible payment options.
Today’s customers expect payment flexibility. Ensure your POS system accommodates various payment methods like credit cards, mobile payments like Google Pay and Apple Pay, and even installment plans using technologies like Affirm.
By offering these diverse payment options, you not only provide convenience but also capture revenue from customers who may prefer alternate methods.
Pro tip: Analyzing payment trends through your POS system can give you further insight into evolving customer preferences and help you refine your strategy.
3. Ensure uninterrupted operations with power backup.
A reliable POS system should function seamlessly, even during internet outages. Look for systems with a robust offline capability to maintain consistent service. This lets your team remain productive and mobile, ensuring customers can complete transactions without a hitch.
Consistent performance under all conditions strengthens customer trust and protects your business from operational hiccups.
4. Leverage personalization at the POS.
Personalization is central to a superior POS experience. Use order history to suggest relevant products and services, tailor touchpoints based on preferences, and develop targeted customer touchpoints in loyalty programs. A well-optimized POS experience sees your team applying data you have collected from customers to inform customer interactions, turning one-time customers into repeat buyers and brand advocates.
5. Ask for and act on customer feedback.
Feedback is always a valuable resource for continuous improvement. Incorporate short surveys into your POS experience to gauge customer satisfaction.
One way I often see this done is to ask customers to rate their experience for that particular engagement or transaction. You can also leave space for customers to type in additional comments.
I recommend using this feedback to identify areas for improvement in your customer interactions. This can demonstrate your commitment to enhancing the POS experience. The HubSpot Blog has loads of resources on this, too — things like how to design a customer satisfaction survey, how to actually get customer feedback, and then what to do with it — so don’t sleep on this great way to improve your POS experience. Hearing directly from the people involved is a no-brainer.
6. Offer options for receipt delivery.
Customers appreciate flexibility in how they receive receipts, just as they do with payment options. Whether it’s email, text, or a physical copy, offering multiple options aligns with modern and evolving customer expectations. Moreover, the method of receipt delivery adds another data point that allows you to personalize future interactions based on their preferences.
A positive POS experience can be your conduit to success.
I used the word conduit in this piece – a driver or channel – to describe POS systems. These are powerful tools that can be used to collect customer data points and measure their preferences against your company’s overall performance. Furthermore, an effective POS system can influence customer satisfaction, increase staff morale, and capture a consistent amount of revenue.
By implementing strategies to improve the POS experience, your business can ensure smoother transactions, generate happier interactions, and increase customer loyalty. Investing in your POS system is not merely a technical upgrade but a commitment to delivering superior customer experiences that set your business apart.
Free Customer Journey Template
Outline your company's customer journey and experience with these 7 free templates.
- Buyer's Journey Template
- Future State Template
- Day-in-the-Life Template
- And more!
Download Free
All fields are required.
![How to Build a Strong Voice of the Customer Program [Infographic]](https://53.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/53/voice-of-the-customer-program.jpg)