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newsletternewsletter 306
Cash Register Express & Restaurant Pro Express 12.0 Cash Register Express & Restaurant Pro Express 12.0 Cash Register Express (CRE) and Restaurant Pro Express (RPE) Version 12.0 was released on February 16, 2009. The new version includes over two dozen new and useful features! A few of the main highlights are enhanced credit card security, a new labor scheduler, an interface with security camera and DVR systems, ID scanning, and an internet-based web portal for chains. You can download the complete list and description of new CRE and RPE features at: http://download2.pcamerica.com/versioninfo12.pdf Among the new CRE/RPE features is PA-DSS Compliance. Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover require that all businesses that accept credit cards follow the new rules and regulations established by the Payment Card Industry. Read more about PA-DSS Compliance below.
pcAmerica has achieved PA-DSS Compliance for both Cash Register Express and Restaurant Pro Express. PA-DSS (Payment Application Data Security Standards) is the highest level of certification available to conform with the PCI Council headed by Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. These four primary card issuers require that all businesses accepting credit cards follow the PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry—Data Security Standards) rules and regulations by October of 2009. PCI-DSS is a set of rules and regulations that your business is required to follow to ensure that credit card data is securely processed and managed. One of these requirements is that your business uses a software that is PA-DSS Compliant, such as CRE or RPE. pcAmerica is one of the first point of sale and payment applications to complete this higher level of certification. Trustwave is the third-party certified auditor that worked with pcAmerica to certify compliance of both Cash Register Express and Restaurant Pro Express. How Foolish We Can Be It seems that every week I encounter a client or subscriber that has been bitten with a virus or spyware problem. One of our subscribers got fooled again last week. Have you ever walked to the store or down the street and had someone in an auto offer you a ride? It’s a neighbor. Or, at least the face looks familiar. Should you get into the car? How about investing in the pcAmerica Newsletter Fund? We guarantee a 15% return on your investment. Just send me a check for $1,000. Trust me. (No, this is not an offering which can only be done with a 6,000 page prospectus.) Last week, one of our readers was infected with Wini Guard. Here’s what happened. He was probably visiting some obscure internet site. Perhaps he got fooled into going to the site by some type of email offering a free IPOD, a great investment, or a new job. Upon going to the site, a screen pops up stating that his computer has been infected by a virus or spyware. Just click here and it will be removed. Now, here is the kicker. Most people understand that this is probably not for real and click on the “X” on the popup box. NO GOOD. The “X” actually installed the program and does not close the box. HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO. If a neighbor tries to give you a ride and you feel uncomfortable, just say no. If you are offered a 15% return on your money, just say no. If a popup appears on your computer, just say no. However, you need to say no by closing the program. Don’t click on the “X”. The best way to close an unwanted program or popup is to locate its name normally in the toolbar on the bottom of your screen. Right click and close the popup. If that does not work, you may want to close all programs appearing on the bottom of your screen. If that does not work, press <CTRL> <ALT> <DEL>. Go to your task manager. Close the program that you are uncomfortable with. Finally, run your Norton Internet Security or equivalent program to make sure that you have no viruses or Spyware. How Helpful Is Sending Out Emails If you’ve been reading our newsletter, you know that sending out emails is a great marketing tool for your business. Cash Register Express (CRE) and Restaurant Pro Express (RPE) allow retail stores to obtain customer email addresses and send out emails to them. pcAmerica has sent out 305 emails to our customers (our weekly newsletter). Prior to that time, we sent out a monthly “paper” newsletter. Emails work. Many weeks, we don’t even mention our products. We just enjoy staying in contact with our customers. We know that just about 100% of our customers remember seeing our newsletter. Unfortunately, only about half read the newsletter, but that’s OK. Our goal is to keep reminding you that we are around. If you own a retail store, it is equally important to stay in contact with your customers. Sending out an email is a great way to let your customers know that you exist. According to research from Epsilon and published in MarketingVOX, email increases the likelihood to buy by 50%. More than 57% of recipients have a more positive opinion about companies that send out emails. 71% who make a purchase remember email communications when making a purchase. Consumers appear to be more accustomed to offers from companies they trust and seem to appreciate the relationship. 84% said that they like receiving emails from companies with whom they register. Here’s some email advice: · If you are not emailing to your customers, you are losing money. · Always get the email addresses of every customer entering your business (especially those who buy). · It is nice to offer your customers some incentive for being included in your email address database. For example, offer your customers something for free or 10% off on a future purchase. · Always allow customers to be deleted from your email list should they make such a request. · Always remember that every customer is not computer literate. Probably about a third of your customers don’t use a computer or emails. It would be nice to have some sort of alternative for non-computer people. Perhaps send out a monthly post card to non-computer people. · You don’t have to be that smart to send out a weekly, biweekly or monthly newsletter. If you can’t do it, get one of your more computer literate employees or friends to help you out. · If you have never sent out an email to your customers before, start with something simple. You can offer 50% off on the next purchase,. That will get people to appreciate your newsletter. Or, you can simply send an email containing your picture (or the picture of one of your employees) with some words of advice related to items found in your store. · Your newsletter should be friendly and always contain your name, address, and phone number. · Your newsletter should be periodic. Send it out weekly, biweekly or monthly on a regular basis. People should look forward to receiving your newsletter. · It does not necessarily matter that every single customer reads every word in your newsletter. It doesn’t matter if not every single customer enjoys your newsletter. What matters is that every customer knows that you are staying in contact. Most of your customers will appreciate this contact. To read more about the benefits of sending out emails, go to: http://www.marketingvox.com/email-increases-likelihood-to-buy-by-50-043281/ CoolIt
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