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Education

A robust customer engagement
program doesn't have to be a As an MLS, you can be a hero by guiding your
time suck. Find and offer simple
customer relationship manage- merchants toward a more effective marketing
ment (CRM) and email market- paradigm and offering products and services that fill
ing solutions to your merchants
and watch their businesses blos- your merchants' most pressing needs:
som. more customers, more time and more money.

3. Roll out loyalty programs and
targeted advertising

Only after your merchants have
completed steps 1 and 2 should
they then begin amplifying those
efforts with targeted advertis-
ing (on Google, Facebook, Ins-
tagram, where applicable, etc.)
and loyalty programs. Advertis-
ing brings new customers, and
loyalty programs build stronger
customer engagement and repeat
business. When your merchants
add advertising to the solid foun-
dation discussed in steps 1 and 2,
they maximize the effect of each
marketing dollar.
What does all this
mean for MLSs?
Merchant churn is a continuing and
growing problem. Anything you
can offer your merchants that helps
attract more customers, save time
and increase revenue will create
stickier relationships and elevate you
from merchant services broker to
trusted partner.

Whatever you sell, if you can add
simple solutions that automate or
simplify the vital tasks of attracting,
retaining and engaging customers,
your merchants will sing your prais-
es – and stay in your portfolio.

Barry Davis is vice president of business devel-
opment at Womply, http://womply.com, the
top software partner to the payments industry
and the go-to provider of front-office software
to small businesses. For more tips or resources,
reach out to the Womply team at partner-
ships@womply.com.

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