Email address collection at the point of sale is advantageous to consumers and business marketers alike.

Not only can you promptly send electronic receipts to your customers (simultaneously saving paper and spreading goodwill), point of sale collection helps to grow your email marketing list. As mutually beneficial as point of sale email collection may be, you’ll want to take care to avoid spamming your customers. Use the best practices listed below for responsible point of sale email collection.

Integrate Your POS Software with an Email Marketing Service

Your point of sale software may support one or more email marketing integrations, allowing you to build your list directly within your point of sale software. For example, ShopKeep automatically syncs with MailChimp, saving time and increasing email marketing efficiency. When you add the customer’s email address to your point of sale (POS) software, that email address is automatically added to your MailChimp list.

Set Expectations

Do you intend to use POS email address collection solely for transactional purposes (such as sending receipts) or do you plan on sending marketing messages as well? A common rookie mistake is assuming that a customer who opts in to receive an electronic receipt is also opting in to receive marketing messages. Make sure to communicate your intentions to your customers so that they understand that you will send only the receipt or that you’ll send the receipt along with occasional special offers, coupons, newsletters, and so forth. Setting expectations is important because you do not want to spam your customers. They will be far more tolerant of receiving your marketing emails if they’re expecting and looking forward to them. If they don’t want to receive emails, no matter how much they love your shop, respect that. Setting expectations during point of sale collection falls on the shoulders of your cashiers. Train your employees on the appropriate point of sale email collection procedures so that they can effectively communicate to the customers the benefits of opting in, while also setting expectations, and confirming the customer’s email address.