Square Appointments Update: Automated Contracts

[RMConsultingLLC]

Let me start by saying I love Square and I spend a lot of time defending the fees associated with this service but I finally have a frustration to voice.

With the new appointments levels you added the automated contract to the premium level.

As a consultant for the spa industry who has converted approximately 80 solo practitioners back to Square from your competitors in the last 60 days I’m frustrated to see the contract feature added to the premium level. And it’s causing me HUGE pushback from my clients who I sold on converting because of the lower costs of overhead.

As solo practitioners we have a high need to protect our income so I have the created a contract that includes a CCA with spa policies to auto send to every appointment to ensure we have proof that clients acknowledge spa policies. Which you require to defend chargeback requests.

That single feature now costs $40/month. As solo practitioners we don’t need the teams features and I have justified and quantified the $29/month for no-show protection but $69 for access to one of the most important pieces that YOU require to protect our income is a bit excessive seeing as the other features in that subscription level are centered around teams/employee tools which do not apply to solo business owner/operators.

Is there any possibility for Square to reconsider adding the contract feature to the professional level? $40 plus marketing, plus SMS, plus plus plus actually borderlines on making you less of a benefit than your competitors in the spa industry and one of the greatest selling points for square has been up until these recent changes to appointments levels the easiest way to convert my clients while safeguarding revenue during a pandemic. 

The spa industry did not receive any of the cost cutting benefits that the restaurant  industry did but we took a bigger hit as we were forced to actually close and many are still facing closures. This change feels like a huge hit as it compounds with record breaking supply increases.

I would greatly urge Square to reconsider adding the contract feature to the professional level instead of the premium level. As I truly believe this is going to cause both my Business and yours to take a great loss. 

thank you for your consideration.

[wandandwillow]

Very much agreed. This is frustrating enough upgrading to cover no show protection but now this? Solo practitioners deserve to have this same protection for our business without the team features. Square really missed the mark on this one. 

[RMConsultingLLC]

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback Wendy! I’m hoping a show of feedback about this choice will allow them to reconsider.

[RMConsultingLLC]

@dshen 

[byobskin]

I also have to agree with RMConsulting as a solo practitioner the contract offering not being with the plus option of the new square appointment offerings is very disheartening. I have been so happy with square and pay extra for email marketing and loyalty program. I will have to drop one or both of them to offset cost. Please consider including contract’s with plus subscription. 

[RMConsultingLLC]

@byobskin thank you for taking the time so support this request! 

[BeauteLifeAest]

100% agree!

[RMConsultingLLC]

@BeauteLifeAest thank you for sharing your support of this request!

[ridgwayesthetic]

I completely agree. I was going to switch back to square, but until this incredibly important feature is moved to the more affordable option for solo practitioners, I won't. It just doesn't make sense to pay for a ton of features that I will never use in my solo business. 

[RMConsultingLLC]

@ridgwayesthetic I still believe Square is the best solution. Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns and allowing Square the opportunity to continue supporting us spa professionals. I do believe we will continue to see many more amazing updates to the tools that will entice you to come back. And you know I’m here to help with technology if you need it!

[Glowgirlesty]

Thank you Richard for looking out for us.  You champion Square constantly and share your knowledge generously.  My fee deducted from my acct this month was $85!  I signed up for a couple of features that I no longer need, but can’t seem to get cancelled.  I certainly can not afford to pay more in the coming months with the current inflation on consumables for my shop and at home.  I suppose we will all be taking long hard looks at how we handle bookings/payments soon.  

[RMConsultingLLC]

To edit your subscriptions log in to your dashboard from a computer.

tap “account & settings”

from the left hand menu drop down the menu under “business”

click “Pricing & Subscriptions”

on this page you can adjust your subscriptions…

I’m happy to be a resource to our industry and help support implementing tools that makes our career easier. Square is still my favorite tool and I appreciate you coming to share your feedback. 

If I can be of support please don’t hesitate to reach out!

[denraesaipan]

I agree with the RMConsultingLLC. I am a new solo business owner. I was told by many about square before the news about their membership. I am now losing 2 important features  that I use because of the new pricing levels.  As much as I love square , I can’t afford to pay other fees while just starting out.

Square starting to seem money hungry Especially the highest membership.
please reconsider your prices !!! No one likes to do business with greedy people. 

i would hate to change POS system. I love square but if it’s get unaffordable. I would have no choice but to look for another and I would hate to do that. 

[RMConsultingLLC]

@denraesaipan Thank you for sharing your input. I don't believe it's a greedy move as much as an honest overlooking of the value of contracts to a solo practitioner. As a solo practitioner, you would not need the teams and multiple location features in the top-tier plan. If you have a team and/or multiple locations $69 is not only affordable but still a better price than competitors. Additionally, I would be happy to hop on a 60-minute complimentary call to help you configure your square so it best supports you based on your budget and need as well as help you grow your spa business. Let me know if you would like that support.

[supernaturalsk]

This is disheartening. As a solo-preneur, I used to use Square but switched to a competitor. While I am mostly satisfied with my current software, I would switch back to Square if the features compared. Square, in my opinion, lacks organization on the booking screen as well as falling short on integrated forms- and now, contracts. Their new price point with everything included doesn't entice me to switch, either. Sounds like Square is falling behind as opposed to getting ahead, which is unfortunate. From a business perspective, Square missed out on a huge growth period in my business where they could have processed nearly $10k for me since my switch. I would seriously consider switching back if they got their features in order for us little guys, which would work entirely in their favor financially. Right now, they're backfiring.

[RMConsultingLLC]

@supernaturalsk I'm not sure when you last used square but there have been some amazing additions to the booking widget including the addition of categories. Additionally, the services may be ordered however best support your business within those categories. I have found that making these edits are best from the dashboard from a computer browser versus a mobile device. 

If you need assistance with organizing your products and services I'd be happy to hop on a free 60-minute call to assist you. I do whole-heartedly believe Square is the best platform for spa professionals and as I said in my original post I know that they watch the seller community for the feedback so I appreciate you sharing your experience and hope that this single concern with the contracts feature is able to be updated but I do have to say even with this single issue Square is still my preferred recommendation.

[Eternalbeautyby]

I agree 100% 

[RMConsultingLLC]

@Eternalbeautyby thank you for sharing your support. Are there any feature suggestions you have for Appointments that would help support your business?

[LGathen412]

As a solo practitioner, I really rely on the no-show protection. To now have to pay $30 a month for that definitely has me exploring other options. 

[RMConsultingLLC]

@LGathen412 the $29 option is fair for solo practitioners to have access to tools that mitigate a loss in their business. My post is not designed to discourage all fees but to request that the contracts option be added back to the $29 option to support solo practitioners who do not need the features in the Premium level. If this fee causes financial hardship to your business the free option is still available but will require you to put a little more time into your business to manage the loss of the automation component or perhaps increase your prices to cover the costs.

[_Violet]

Hi everyone, thank you for sharing your feedback with us! I have surfaced this thread with our Appointments team for their review.

I certainly understand your frustration. At Square, we’re always working on advancing and improving our solutions, and sometimes that means we need to adjust our pricing to better meet the needs of businesses from a macro standpoint.

By placing different features within different plans, we’ve considered the added value of each feature to a business. In doing so, it ensures only businesses that would derive value from these features will pay for them, versus all businesses paying for access even when they might not need or want them.

While the feature to automate contract sends to customers is only available with the Premium plan, you'll still be able to manually attach contracts, documents, or other files under the Free and Plus plans.

If you haven't already, you can check out the thread on New: Square Appointments Pricing Plans by @Tom here. Please feel free to continue to send any feedback or questions our way on The Community. We appreciate your input.

[BeauSucre]

Make this make sense:

Businesses with staff get automated contract sending... but the beauty business owner of one has to manually send the contract??? It's actually more valuable in the plus tier then to the premium tier but a multi-staff spa has some to manually do that....