Three Ways to Boost Your Brand with Zeller

A receipt is the perfect place to further promote your business. Searching for an affordable way to increase sales and encourage repeat business? Look no further than your receipt. In the past, a receipt was simply physical proof of purchase. With Zeller Terminal , your receipts become another way to market to your customers — every time they transact with you. Not personalising your business’ receipts is a missed opportunity to take advantage of an inexpensive and highly effective marketing strategy, provided your merchant services provider allows for customisation. Keep reading to discover five ways Zeller receipts can help strengthen your business' brand and grow sales. 1. Differentiate your business with digital receipts While your competitors are still relying on thermal paper, you can use digital receipts to show customers that you’re one step ahead. Offering three different forms of receipt signals to customers that you value both convenience and environmentally-friendly alternatives. With Zeller, you can offer your customers: a print receipt an email receipt an SMS receipt As we move to a digital-first world, customers expect a digital receipt. It’s good for your business too, as it saves you from needing to buy receipt roll. With Zeller, SMS and email receipts are free to issue. 2. Grow your social media following Besides its obvious advantages in reducing operational costs and paper usage, digital receipts also play an important role in driving deeper customer engagement. When you send a customer their Zeller receipt via SMS or email, the social media icons become hyperlinks to your pages. Chances are, the majority of your customers are on social media. If you connect with them, you have the opportunity to: serve them targeted ads drive clicks to your email newsletter signup form, website, or any online destination upload new stock and specials to your social media pages to get more foot traffic in store and much more. When a customer clicks the Facebook icon on their receipt, for example, they’ll be taken to your business’ Facebook page — where they can read other customer reviews, and leave their own. It’s a win-win. 3. Get your message across Any additional touchpoint is an opportunity to grow and strengthen your relationship with your customers. On your Zeller receipt, there’s a spot to add a custom business message. Make it memorable, and your business will be ingrained in their memory. For Storybook Stems , a boutique floristry studio based in Mount Torrens, the custom receipt functionality provides the opportunity to create a memorable, fun experience for customers. “I really enjoy customising the receipts around and adding jokes to them. I change it up for each market I attend, so my regular customers know it's a different joke every time they visit me,” says Louise Henderson, florist and owner of Storybook Stems. "My customers love it. For new customers it's an unexpected little surprise, and my regulars ask if I have a new joke for them.” "It's a simple way to add to someone's day." You could use this space to: introduce yourself write a blurb about your business advertise specials leave customers a holiday message explain your returns policy All receipt settings — including your custom business message — can be easily edited on Zeller Dashboard as well as Zeller Terminal, and your receipt settings will update immediately. 4. Increase brand awareness A logo says a lot about your business. No doubt, a lot of thought went into it. Logos can be used as a marketing tool to gain exposure, create a brand image that sticks with your customers, and make an excellent first impression as a new business It sounds simple, but having a logo on your receipt is a highly effective subliminal marketing tool. Brand recognition is the first step towards brand loyalty. Simply put, your customers and potential customers need to recognise your brand in order to trust it and visual cues are the best way to achieve that. The human brain can process images 60,000 times faster than words. By adding a logo to your receipt, customers will be able to identify and distinguish your business easily from competitors. Remember, customers need to see a logo between five to seven times before they’ll recognise it. By using the same professional logo across different materials — from service quotes to invoices, social media icons, flyers, email signatures and more — you increase your chances of growing a trusting, repeat customer base that knows and trusts your brand. 5. Help customers find you Your customers are only getting busier. Providing them with a way to contact you or visit your website is a convenience measure they will appreciate. When they need to place a repeat order, or want to contact you for an update on an out-of-stock item, they don’t need to go searching. On your Zeller receipt, there’s a space for all of your most important contact details: business address, phone, and website. Whether you’re just starting a new business or scaling up a successful operation, any opportunity to reinforce your brand in the minds of customers should be taken advantage of. With Zeller, your brand is kept front and centre at all times. 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Point customers in the right direction with a strong Google My Business listing. Whether you run a brick and mortar business or an ecommerce brand, your potential customers are searching for you online. The easiest way to make sure they choose your business over a local competitor? By becoming the easiest to find. By claiming and optimising your business’s listing, you’re increasing your chances of being found by new customers. Plus, Google My Business is free — which makes it a useful marketing tool for small and big businesses alike. Keep reading to learn more about how Google My Business works, and what it can do for your business. What is Google My Business? In the last 20 years, search traffic has grown by 2,000%, to the point where there are now more than 2 trillion Google searches each year. This rise in online activity has meant that conversations around where to find products and services have largely moved online. In 2014, Google recognised that more and more people were turning to its platform for business recommendations by launching Google My Business — an online directory that allows you to create a dedicated profile for your brand. Google My Business is essentially a free online tool that businesses can utilise to share important information and attract customers. Here's how it's going to help you grow your business. It helps customers find your business By simply verifying your Google My Business listing, your business’s location will show up in relevant Google Maps searches. This is important because the second most important factor for consumers when searching for and selecting a local business is proximity. (The first is online reviews.) People are 70% more likely to visit businesses with a Google My Business listing. Whether searching for a local key cutter or place to grab a sandwich, Google Maps will quickly populate an area with dozens of red markers — each of which represent a local business that meets the search criteria. By simply creating a Google My Business listing, people can instantly see how close they are to your location. For brick and mortar businesses, that means having a strong Google My Business listing typically leads to a substantial increase in foot traffic. It improves your overall SEO performance Your listing will also serve to benefit your business online by playing a big part in your overall SEO performance. As a local business, your goal is to get in Google’s Local 3-Pack. This puts your online presence at the top of relevant search results, where the person searching Google is within close proximity, driving more foot traffic to your business.  Claiming your Google My Business listing is the first step to being in this coveted position. It puts you in control Don’t leave your customers guessing whether you’re open for business on a public holiday, or whether your location has moved. Misinformation can create negative customer experiences and cause missed opportunities. Luckily, a Google My Business listing allows you to keep the public informed about your business. Your Google My Business listing includes business hours, contact details, and other important information such as a menu or services list. You can update your listing as and when you need — for example, to advise you’re offering click and collect through lockdown. Suffice to say, regardless of your industry, your brand stands to gain a lot from a strong Google My Business profile. Is Google My Business compulsory for business owners? In short, no — Google My Business isn’t something you have to do. However, your business can still appear as an ‘unclaimed business’ on Google. The risk of not claiming your business is that this orphaned listing could have incorrect or outdated information that, as a result, sees you miss out on potential sales, enquiries and visits to your business. Therefore, the best thing you can do is learn how to use Google My Business to your advantage. How to set up a Google My Business page The good news is setting up your listing is simple. Step 1 Visit the Google My Business homepage . Click ‘Manage Now’ and you’ll be prompted to log in or sign up. Step 2 Enter your business name. This is where you’ll have the chance to ‘claim a business’ or create a new one. Step 3 Set up your business profile. This includes selecting a business category, location, service area, phone number, and website. Step 4 Verify your business address. This will involve Google sending a postcard with a unique verification code to the business address provided. Until this verification code has been received and entered, a number of Google My Business functions (such as replying to reviews) will be restricted. Step 5 Outline your business details. This includes your services, hours of operation, business summary, and images. These can be product, team or premises photos — whatever serves to convey your business most effectively. Step 6 Make any final tweaks in your dedicated Google My Business hub. This is where you can review your business information, track insights and reviews. You can also upload a logo, cover image, and additional business photos, as well as add team members, publish posts and respond to direct messages. Once you’ve received your Google postcard and verified your profile, your listing will be there for all the world to see — but the work doesn’t stop there. Mastering your profile moving forward While it’s important to set up your Google My Business page, it’s equally important to ensure you invest time in maintaining it. According to Google, something as simple as uploading photos will see you receive 35% more clicks to your website and 42% higher requests for driving directions in Google Maps than businesses that don’t. To ensure you’re making the most of your listing, set aside regular time to do the following: check your business’s contact details and location are up to date ensure your opening hours are accurate (this is particularly important when changing restrictions can affect business operating hours) monitor and respond to business reviews — even the negative ones — as this shows that you value your customers and their feedback add any relevant third party links, such as delivery or booking service pages advertise any current offers that might drive website or foot traffic upload product photos or menu items to ensure potential customers are aware of exciting new offerings create and monitor your Google ads to help drive business Think of the last time you used Google to search for a local business, and how easy Google made the process. Now you’ve mastered the art of establishing a strong Google My Business listing, set aside an hour or two a month to keep it updated. 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Discover five ways Zeller helps keep business on track during the transition. Thinking about scaling up your business? Having the opportunity to expand to new locations, upsize to a bigger premises, hire more staff, or build out your operations is a sign you’re doing something right. Whatever step you’re preparing to take next, you should be proud and excited. There are some common mistakes merchants make during this transitional time, and the consequences that flow from taking on too much too soon can stifle – rather than encourage – growth. Fortunately, there are ways and means of scaling up sustainably. It all comes down to engaging the right tools. Here are five ways Zeller can minimise the potential for growing pains as you scale your operations. 1. Get a clear overview of all stores The more business locations you have, the harder it becomes to understand how each is performing. This is especially true if you’re juggling independent sales channels, staff and technology. Before you open a second location, take the time to gain a real-time oversight of your finances — something that will play a priceless role in future business decisions. Unifying your data in the one dashboard is a simple way to retain visibility over multiple locations, enabling you to quickly access key sales information from anywhere with an internet connection. Zeller Dashboard gives you real-time visibility over the financial health of your business, and each of the locations within it. When you accept payment via Zeller Terminal and make business purchases using Zeller Mastercard, you can see all of your incomings and outgoings at a glance. 2. Keep track of your customers When you run a single-location business, it’s relatively simple and straightforward to retain complete control over your customers’ store experience. You can take the time to get to know your regulars, give staff hands-on training, and provide attentive, personalised customer service. As your business grows, that positive customer experience can be compromised in favour of more sales. When you’re operating out of multiple locations, you lose some of that control. It’s impossible to be in two places at once, after all. One thing you do have control over is the technology you rely upon to grow your business. There are many customer relationship management tools on the market that can help you make your customers feel seen and looked after, such as the Zeller Contact Directory. Storing business and personal details in the one place will give you a clear oversight of every customer — what they buy, how they buy it, and where and when they bought it. This insight can be used to build clever marketing programs that offer rewards, discounts and communications that create a positive customer experience even when they’re not in-store. 3. Iron out inventory management Streamlined, accurate inventory management becomes more critical with every new business location you open. Issues such as displaced, miscounted and lost stock are a bigger threat to your business when you operate multiple shop fronts. With the right retail POS system installed, you can minimise the management required to keep on top of all your stock. Having one centralised platform makes it easier to transfer stock, track shipments and manage inventory levels. Many POS systems will also give you the ability to remotely order stock for any store, from any store, as well as identify and forecast product sales trends to facilitate smarter ordering. Make sure your payment system can seamlessly integrate with your POS system, adding an extra layer of data and control to your inventory processes while minimising the admin overload of keeping on top of stock. 4. Simplify your finances It can be difficult to keep track of the money going in and out of your business when you’re not the only one accepting payments from customers, or making business purchases. This is a common problem owners come up against when they expand their business. Plus, having more money to manage can be a hurdle in itself. One way to avoid the repercussions of mishandling your income and expenses is to employ a professional bookkeeper, but there are many tasks you can do yourself to keep administrative costs as low as possible. For day-to-day expense management, accounting software will help you keep track of invoices and get paid on time. For real-time information about the incomings and outgoings at each business location, Zeller Dashboard provides at-a-glance insights to ensure you know whether you’ll reach your sales targets. 5. Better coordinate your staff Expanding your store means expanding your staff and, while it sounds straightforward, the financial and time investment can be substantial. Hiring new staff will likely require a sizeable investment of your own time — you’ll need to bring them up to speed with products, systems and customer experience standards. Having intuitive tools can significantly streamline this process, especially if you use a fully-integrated system like Zeller Terminal . When your tools speak to each other, it reduces the need for staff to juggle multiple platforms. Keep in mind that, when it comes to hiring junior staff, there are some parts of your business you will likely want to keep secure. You may not want new junior staff to be able to process refunds, or change the settings on your EFTPOS terminals. With Zeller, you can secure these features with a PIN code. Taking the first steps towards growing your business can be daunting. Fortunately, there are a number of things you can do to streamline the process and minimise any growing pains you may experience along the way. The trick is strategising for growth and ensuring you’re properly equipped to scale up. Having the right tools on hand will make all the difference. Now that you know how to smooth the path to expansion, keep up with the latest Zeller updates and announcements by subscribing to the Zeller Business Blog newsletter below. By sharing your details with us, we may contact you from time to time. We promise we won’t bug you — and you can unsubscribe from communications at any time.