Frequently Asked Questions

(click on any question to reveal the answer)

General

What is the unique advantage of EFTPlus service? How’s it different from other similar offerings (advanced point-of-sale systems, other reward schemes)?

We link transactions by one customer together using no extra hardware, software or extra work at the time of purchase. If the customer’s never been before, and only visits twice, separated by six months, spending a few dollars each time, we’ll pick it up. The system uses your data to connect you with your customers and bring them back to your premises. (There’s more about how we differ from other schemes below.)

What’s wrong with coffee cards?

By “coffee card”, we mean the type of reward card that’s made of cardboard or plastic, foisted onto customers and used to collect stamps. Buy six and the seventh one’s free: you’re essentially writing off some profit in the hope of building a customer following.

This kind of scheme tells you, the business, nothing about the customer. You can’t get back in touch with them. You can’t tell if the customer’s on their second coffee card or their seventh. You can’t even be sure it’s their own coffee card: are they really a repeat customer?

Do I have to train staff to use it?

No. There’s no new hardware or software, and nothing to do at the time of purchase. Our e-mails are easy to understand and are only delivered to people you choose (we’d suggest owner, manager or administrator level). For administrators, sending out communications or viewing your data is designed to be as easy as possible – with most operations possible on a cell phone browser from behind a counter.

For Loyalty, you should encourage staff to understand the opt-in process for customers, so that they can answer your customers’ questions about it. Seeing it done once should be enough! Maybe get staff to be the first members to join your program. Now there’s an idea…

Will it slow down my business or make transactions more complicated?

Absolutely not. There’s no hardware or software involved, and nothing to do at the time of transaction. If a customer has come back to you and is claiming a reward they’ve earned, their partial card number will already have been sent to you in advance, and will match the number on the card in their hand.

Is this an invasion of customers’ privacy?

We use data which your business is generating now, and is already entitled to. It’s simply making the best use of what you’ve got already.

We never get any customer information unless customers give it to us, and we ask for their consent at that time. Opting out is easy and can be done at any time. Customers choose whether to receive any communications, and how they receive them (e-mail or text).

See our privacy policy for full details.

What will you do with my company’s transaction data?

We use it to provide you with monitoring services, and run your in-house loyalty and marketing scheme – it remains your data. See our privacy policy for full details.

How does the system handle companies with multiple terminals? Multiple premises?

In a word, easily. From a single, stand-alone EFTPOS terminal to a business with many premises, each with many terminals, we can link all your transaction data together. We’ll still show you how each terminal or branch is performing, but we’ll be able to spot that customer who usually buys from your Christchurch branch but also shops in Napier over Christmas.

My business is part of a franchise. Can I use EFTPlus services?

Absolutely. If you have authority to contact the EFTPOS provider for your terminals, you can ask them to send daily transaction summaries to an EFTPlus account. It might be a good idea to contact the person in your organisation who oversees all the sub-branches. There may already be a system for your company. Ask them to contact us and we’ll take it from there.

Performance Updates

How does the system identify repeat customers?

The card details we get are partial, but there’s enough to spot that a particular card has been used before, and how many times.

The same partial card details used at the same shop more than once means a repeat customer, as far as the system is concerned. If that customer opts in, then the system will know who they are. If not, all it can do is tell you how many times that customer has visited, and what their spending pattern is.

I already know when the quiet times and busy times frequently happen. What do I need this for?

Customer patterns are likely to vary over time. Instead of relying on noticing when this happens, why not let our analysis spot these important trends first?

The system can pick up much more subtle trends and represents a much better way of monitoring business performance than “a finger in the air”. If your repeat custom dropped by 10% every Tuesday, how long would it take you to notice?

Can it tell me what products were purchased in each transaction? Or which products are most popular?

Unfortunately not. You can identify all customers from a Friday night, or Sunday morning, but you can’t tell who bought what. More advanced functions and stock monitoring are usually provided by much more complicated point-of-sale systems, with cables and software to link the EFTPOS terminal to computerised hardware. This is typically the domain of much larger enterprises and nearly always represents a far higher investment, both financially and in staff training.

Can it tell me where my customers live? Or how old they are?

We get partial card details and transaction amounts. We can’t turn these into demographics. While Loyalty does let your customers provide information, including their location and birthday, data like this always comes from the customer into the system. The only information we access is always provided by the customer, with their full consent.

I already have an advanced point-of-sale (POS) system. Why do I need this?

If you’re already asking absolutely every customer for their name and address, or an account number, at every transaction, then EFTPlus probably isn’t for you.

Our system can pick up patterns in transaction data without any manual identification of customers. This means that you can identify turnover that comes from individuals visiting at different times, or in different branches of your company. Since the system requires no hardware or software, it can nicely complement more advanced systems by analysing the smaller, quicker transactions. These might constitute a large proportion of your turnover.

What about cash transactions?

Cash is pretty much anonymous. We’ve had some ideas for handling this, but they’re not part of our offering at the moment. EFTPlus concentrates on business that happens through your card terminal.

Why can’t I do the analysis for myself?

You could. There’s no magic involved, and you’re already entitled to the data. Be warned though: it’s not much fun wading through CSV data to identify that your 739th customer has visited 17 times and spent an average of $3.42, whereas your 740th customer…

I’d prefer my performance emails on a weekly basis, not daily.

No problem. Log into the site with your account and set things up that way.

I don’t have email access/web access from my till/from my shop/at all.

If you don’t have email or web access on your shop floor, don’t worry. Our emails can be delivered to any authorised email address, and our website can be accessed wherever there is an internet connection. Getting customers to opt in doesn’t require you to have access, either: they can do it by text there and then (this is the best way), or by email/web any time later.

Loyalty

Ugh. I’m opposed to the idea of loyalty schemes, and my customers would be, too. Why should I look at Loyalty?

Many businesses feel this style of “rewarding” customers with “points” isn’t right for them. However, E-Marketing is still a vital tool in understanding your customers – and you don’t have to offer rewards, discounts or “points”.

Perhaps you’re already providing customers the option of joining a club, or giving something like their name or account number, or thinking about something along those lines. Why not simplify things for the customer? Keep the personal touch (after all, you know your customers best) but link the customer’s card to their contact details. They won’t have to give name or account number to staff who don’t recognise them, and you’ll have a link to their history of transactions.

If you like, you can still send out highly personalised and customised marketing, with your company colours and logo, and not worry about ever spamming anyone. See Loyalty and E-Marketing FAQ for more information.

How does Loyalty compare to other programs I could join, or other products available?

We believe it’s the best value scheme that links individuals to businesses, and our price structure is designed to work for businesses of all sizes. A costly investment in advanced point-of-sale technology could get you similar results, but you’d have to train staff, link the card terminal to the system, and get your customers’ details into the database yourself. Keeping them up-to-date after that is likely to be a challenge.

Larger schemes like Fly Buys carry a lot of administrative burden, and also expose you to the risk that someone will walk into your shop, redeem a huge reward earned elsewhere, and never come back.

I already have a group of loyal registered customers (perhaps in a club, on a mailing list, or another system). Why do I need EFTPlus loyalty?

Why not simplify things for the customer? Keep the personal touch (after all, you know your customers best) but link the customer’s card to their contact details. They won’t have to give name or account number to staff who don’t recognise them, or when they visit other branches, and you’ll have a link to their history of transactions.

If you like, you can still send out highly personalised and customised marketing, with your company colours and logo, and not worry about ever spamming anyone. See Loyalty and E-Marketing FAQ for more information.

Our business doesn’t do discounts. Why should I give away rewards?

Many businesses feel this style of “rewarding” customers with “points” isn’t right for them. However, E-Marketing is still a vital tool in understanding your customers – and you don’t have to offer rewards, discounts or “points”. There are other ways to put Loyalty to work: invitation-only events for qualifying customers, or “front of queue” options for buying high demand products. Send out alerts when something comes into the store that needs to be sold quickly – perishable goods, for instance.

Automatically schedule personalised messages to go out before your customers’ birthdays, or build new business by offering incentives to existing customers who bring friends along.

What if I don’t want to give away “points”?

You can set up your reward scheme as you like, and you don’t have to call them “points”. You don’t even have to give anything away: it’s up to you.

Can I download my customers’ details?

No. We take privacy extremely seriously. We’re also doing a lot of hard work in the background for you, keeping those contact details up-to-date. So the e-mail addresses and phone numbers are kept securely on the EFTPlus server. It’s the easiest way for you: just concentrate on who you want to reward, and how: we do the rest.

E-Marketing

I don’t want to spam people. How does E-Marketing avoid doing this?

Nobody ever gets a message from our system they haven’t opted-in for. There are a number of safeguards in place, as well as the option to opt-out at any time. Firstly, we can’t get anyone’s contact details unless they provide them to us. Secondly, customers control what types of message they receive to email, text, special offers, or only earned rewards. There’s more detail in our Privacy Policy.

E-mail and texts aren’t the right way for our establishment to contact customers. We need a more discreet way of contacting people, such as traditional mail. Can EFTPlus offer this?

Yes, we also ask for member's address details and can provide mail merge files for letters and mailing labels.

Privacy

Is this an invasion of my customers’ privacy?

Nothing happens without the customer’s opt-in. EFTPlus analyses data which you’re already collecting, and already entitled to use as you wish for your own business. You could do the analysis yourself if you liked!

Loyalty and E-Marketing can’t function without the customers providing their consent at the same time as their contact details.

How secure is the system?

Security is built in from the bottom. For starters, we never get access to full card details: these always remain within the eftpos network. Our systems work with anonymous, partial card details – it’s possible to link together transactions by an individual card, and if the customer opts in, we link the customer with the transactions. It’s not possible to work out the customer’s details or full card details. We never ask for card details and all passwords are encrypted before they are saved, so EFTPlus staff don’t know and can’t discover user passwords. Business data and customers’ data are linked to secure accounts and passwords, and securely destroyed on opt out.

Webspeed has an established reputation in handling large amounts of data, and has plenty of prior experience in telecoms and web service provision.

What will you do with my company’s data?

It remains yours. We don’t share it with any other business and it’s securely held on our servers, accessible only to you.

As a customer, how do I opt out?

Every email we send has an “Unsubscribe” link.

As a business, how do I opt out?

Just give us a call and we'll make sure your account is securely deleted along with all the customer data we have collected for you. You can choose to stop the service at any time, but we’ll be sorry to see you go.