Top 4 Reasons It's Time to Upgrade Your Debit Machine
POS machines, payment terminals, credit card machines, debit machines, or whatever you might call them, have drastically changed in recent years.
The recent boom in financial technology (fintech) has opened the doors to new and innovative companies creating better, more affordable ways to accept payments and manage your business.
Ensuring your business is up-to-date with the latest in payment technology is the easiest way to cater to your customers’ needs.
Your customers want a “friction-free” payment experience, and your inability to meet those wants can leave your customers dissatisfied with your business and your brand. But how do you know if it’s time to switch up your payment terminal to something newer? Sometimes, the signs are not so obvious.
Here are the top 4 reasons you need to upgrade your debit or credit machine:
1. Your terminal is slow and/or has connectivity issues.
This is the most obvious sign that you need to update your payment terminal. Like all technology, your terminal will age and in turn, slow down.
This could be due to wear-and-tear from everyday use or more serious issues like outdated software. Usually, the hardware can’t keep up with the latest network requirements and software updates and this leads to slower checkout times, disappointed customers, and lost sales.
2. You can’t accept all card brands.
Your terminal could be in perfect condition, but if it’s not catering to your customers’ payment needs, you’ll likely lose sales or leave customers with a bad taste in their mouth.
We’ve all been to a store with a sign that reads “WE DON’T ACCEPT CREDIT,” that can’t help but to make you roll your eyes and think, “can we get with the times, people?”
The fact of the matter is that 90% of Canadians own at least 1 credit card, 40% prefer paying with the credit card over their debit card, and 80% use a credit card because of some sort of rewards incentive.
If you don’t accept credit because you want to save money, you might want to rethink that strategy. A recent study showed that 83% of small businesses saw an increase of $1000 to $20,000 in sales when they accepted credit cards as a form of payment.
If you don’t accept credit because your terminal won’t allow you to accept credit cards or because you have to buy separate hardware to do so, you might want to look for a different merchant service provider, altogether.
Not only is it cheaper to be able to accept all card brands on one payment device
3. You can’t accept contactless (NFC) payments or mobile payments.
From faster checkout times to increased impulse purchases, near-field communication payments or contactless payments are changing the way Canadians pay.
With 52% of Canadians using the tap functionality regularly, customers no longer have to take the time to insert their chip card and enter their pin. Instead, customers can simply tap their cards, making for a quick and friction-free payment experience in-store.
If you use a card reader that plugs into your phone, upgrading to a POS terminal that accepts all forms of payment guarantees a positive payment experience for your customers and legitimizes you as a business.
Today, 83% of the Canadian population uses a smartphone and 12% of all Canadians have used their smartphones to make an NFC payment. It's expected that by 2021, 60% of Canadians will have signed up to some form of digital wallet (Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc.).
As a business, it’s important to keep up with the times and capitalize on all opportunities to close sales. If your terminal does not accept contactless payments, it is a sure-fire sign that it’s time to upgrade your technology.
4. Your terminal is not an all-in-one POS system.
Most businesses pay a one time fee for a receipt printer and scanner, a rental fee for their debit or credit machine or phone card reader, and a rental fee for a POS system with features like employee management, inventory tracking, CRM, and sales reporting.
For a new business just getting set up, this can be a large cost to incur. However, recent innovations by companies such as Clover and Poynt have introduced a new category of payment terminal - a smart terminal.
Smart terminals such as the Clover Flex or the Poynt Smart Terminal combine the versatility of a smartphone and the reliability of a traditional payment terminal.
Smart terminals feature large HD touchscreen colour displays, built-in receipt printers and scanners, CRM, inventory and employee management tools, sales reporting, and they accept all forms of payment. And they do it all for the same monthly rental fee of a traditional terminal; and sometimes, even less!
So if your terminal only accepts payments, it might be time to switch to all-in-one smart payment device.
Is your business ready to upgrade? Check out our selection of smart terminals.
