Evaluating Credit & Debit Card Machines for Small Business
The ideal last interaction you’ll want to have with an in-person customer is them paying you, until they return for their next visit. Part of sending them off with a positive impression will be a positive payment experience. As cash becomes less common (its usage is down more than 59% over the past seven years), the payment experience will rely more and more on your debit & credit card machines. If you’re a small business, delivering a positive payment experience is even more important because of the market’s competitive nature. It doesn’t take much for a small business customer to seek out other options.
How to evaluate debit & credit card machines for small business
The best way to select the perfect debit & credit card machine is to view the checkout experience from the standpoint of your ideal customer. What steps are needed to make their payment process optimal? We’ll have to look at four factors to answer this question.
Speed
You want your debit and credit card machines to work quickly because making a customer wait even a second longer than necessary could send them off with a less-than-ideal impression of you. In fact, a study conducted by Annabelle Roberts, an assistant marketing professor at the University of Texas, found that customers would pay a dollar more to settle payments faster.
And, from an interaction standpoint, the awkwardness a customer feels while they wait, seemingly forever, for their purchase to clear is topped only by the staff member who has to hold a smile for the duration of the transaction.
Security
The SANS Institute explains the basic POS breach this way: “An attacker gains access to the targeted systems, often by exploiting a system vulnerability or through social engineering techniques. Once inside, the attacker installs malware, which spreads until it can access the system’s memory and collect the desired data. From there the data is moved to another location environment for aggregation and finally offloaded to an external location accessible to the attacker.” It’s how 56 million Home Depot customers were compromised, leaving them with an $180-million mess to clean up.
To avoid a situation like this from happening to you, always double – and even triple – validate the security capabilities of any debit and credit card machine. For small business, it’s even more critical because the average owner/operator’s pockets aren’t as deep as a big box retailer’s.
Ease of use
As you weigh your options, consider simplicity from three perspectives:
- Is it easy to set up? Can someone without a degree from Cal Tech or Waterloo get it going?
- Will it be easy for employees to use? Can new employees pick it up quickly? Can it handle being dropped (like by a busy server during happy hour)?
- Will it be easy for customers to use? And can they pay using their preferred payment method?
Portability
A lot can happen between the time a customer decides they want to buy and when they actually pay. They could get a phone call or email, lose focus and leave the store without buying. They could have a change of heart on the way to pay and decide they don’t want to buy. Why give them the opportunity?
The Apple Store does a good job of this. Every member of the team has a card reader and is ready to accept payment on the spot.
How to evaluate debit & credit card payment machines for YOUR small business
Let’s assume the debit and credit card payment machines on your short list all satisfy the above criteria. Now, remove your operator hat and put on your owner hat.
The most ideal situation for your small business is to have debit and credit card machines that offer additional benefits. Benefits that could help your business be healthier and help you be a better business owner.
Quick deposits
Some debit and credit card machines have a three-day lag between transaction and deposit. That’s a long time if rent is due in those three days and you’re relying on that deposit to pay for it.
Every business can benefit from quicker depositing debit and credit card machines. Small businesses benefit more because cashflow is usually more of an issue. This is especially true for small businesses that sell big-ticket items, like furniture stores or art galleries.
Analytics
With the right debit and credit card machines, you’ll get valuable first-party data that your entire company will find valuable. Your marketing teams will find this data especially valuable since the deprecation of third-party cookies makes it harder to collect customer data — but at the same time opens a door that leads to more useful customer data.
A wide variety of payment options
This was touched on briefly earlier when discussing ease of use for customers, an in-the-moment benefit. The longer-term benefit to a small business is the affinity you’d build with customers who know they can use their preferred payment method with you. This would make them more likely to return.
The immediate upgrade cost of debit & credit card machine for small business is minuscule when your business sees the long-term benefits.
Is all this a lot to ask for from debit and credit card machines?
Not at all.
The OTT Pay Smart POS Terminal checks all the boxes:
- Ready to use out of the box
- Lightweight and durable with a slip-resistant cover
- PCI and EMV certified for security, with Dynamic Pin Display as added security
- An easy-to-read and simple-to-use 5.5” HD touchscreen
- 4 ways to physically pay (QR code, Tap, Swipe and Chip insert)
- Option to collect payments offsite using 5G SIM
- Expandable to support third-party payment and data capture apps
- Next-day deposits
- Real-time transaction data reporting
A final note about POS payment machines
More than 85% of merchants plan to accept new alternative payment methods in the next one to three years. Having a POS system than can accommodate these options (and especially international payment options) will help attract more customers to your small business.
If you are searching for a debit and credit card machine rental for your business, OTT Pay can help you!