How to improve the customer experience of paying a tip

Before we talk about how the customer experience of tipping can be improved, we need to identify the problems with the status quo: the much-derided card machine. And the best way to see those problems is by contrasting the experience of tipping on a card machine with the original means of paying a tip...

The past: paying with cash

Back when people paid with cash, tipping generally happened in a separate transaction after the bill had been paid. There was an element of strategy and gamesmanship on the part of the server who had a choice of how they returned the change. For example, do they return a $20 note and some small change, or two $10 notes and small change? The customer then decided at their leisure what, if any, tip to leave. For convenience they'd probably leave a fraction of the change (hence the gamesmanship on the part of the server!), but they could always supplement that with cash from their wallet.

Some advantages of this process include:

• Customers get to decide the gratuity amount in the absence of their server.
• Customers do not feel judged — they've left by the time the server sees the gratuity.

One big disadvantage was that you couldn't always guarantee that your server would get the cash — there was always the risk of it being stolen!

The present: paying with card machines

Card machines changed all this, but not necessarily for the better. Card machines undoubtedly introduce an element of convenience for customers when it comes to paying: there's no longer any need to carry cash. The experience of paying a tip has however, become an unpleasant one:

• Typically, you are watched over while you choose how much to tip.
• If you want to discuss how much to tip with your other guests, the server is often listening in.
• When you hand the card terminal back and the server sees the tip amount you may feel you're being judged.
• Businesses choose to bully you into paying large tips: they program card machines to suggest how much to tip, often making it difficult not to tip.

Furthermore, in both cases (cash, and card machine) you don't know where your tip is going. What fraction of the tip goes to the server? How much is split between other staff (who perhaps you don't want to tip)? When you think about it, the idea that you pay a tip to someone but you don't know how much of it they will get is laughable, and potentially in violation of certain regulations/guidelines.

The future?

Cashless tipping platforms provide the convenience of card payments, but with the positive experiential elements of paying with cash:

• You can pay a tip separately from paying your bill.
• You can discuss how much to tip without your server listening in.
• You can tip without being judged by your server.
• You're not prompted or pressured to tip a certain amount.

Moreover, with tippl, you can see where your tip is going. If your tip is being split, for example with kitchen staff, or front of house staff, you can see this before you pay.

Tippl. Cashless tipping, made simple.

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