Live Q&A: Ask us anything about Text Message Marketing!

[Tom]

Hello Sellers — On February 17th, we hosted a Square Text Message Marketing Q&A!

@lornaz and @Anneharris are the product manager and the product marketing manager for Text Message Marketing. Together, they’ve been at Square ~4 years total, and they’re excited to talk more about this powerful new way to reach more customers via text messaging. When they’re not in the (home) office, Lorna enjoys catching up on new TV shows with her 1 year old Goldendoodle, Percy, while Anne likes trying new recipes and forcing the results on friends and family.

A few example questions:

• How can I get more customers to opt in to receiving texts from me?
• How does Text Message Marketing interact with a Square Marketing or Square Loyalty subscription?
• What should I text my customers about, anyway?

[ruizmex]

When will the codes generated through text message marketing be able to be used on the Square Weebly site? We are online only and are unable to use text message marketing because the coupon codes in the text messages cant be used on our online store. When will this be resolved?

[lornaz]

Hi @ruizmex, the coupon generated when buyers opt into your program should be redeemable on Weebly. The only exception is that if you set a maximum value on the coupon then it won’t be redeemable online 😞 .

[Angelica28]

Hello! I sell costume jewelry @OhThatsNiceJewels and get most of my sales via my facebook live shows. Is there anyway Square and FB can work together to let my customers know when im going live?? that'd be a dream!

[indianathomas]

Yes there is.  This is somewhat complicated.  If you are using Square to process the transactions, the Square / Weebly Integration will allow you track you Facebook Pixel.  Then you setup a custom conversion with all customers (who are on Facebook) that have visited your Square Site.  

[lornaz]

Hi @Angelica28, thank you for your question. For Text message Marketing specifically, you can ask buyers to opt into Text Marketing via Text to Join (see more information here). Once your customers opt-in to your Text Marketing program, you will be able to send them text to let them know that you are going live and also include the Facebook link.

[indianathomas]

Is that they only way?  Can't the go to your Check Loyalty Status Link and do the same thing?

[oldfaithful]

Can we text an image or a short video?

[indianathomas]

Yes you can.  You have to do it as a linked file.  Square will shorten URL links for you.  

[lornaz]

Hi @oldfaithful, thank you for your question! Right now, we do not support image or video texting (MMS); however, as @indianathomas said, if you have a link with the video or image that you would like to send to your customers, you can insert the link and send that.

[FGodbold]

I signed up for text messaging yesterday and I noticed that when someone joins, I only see their phone number when I go to Customers > Directory. Is there a way to also collect their name?

[lornaz]

Hi @FGodbold, thank you for the feedback. Right now unfortunately there isn’t a way to also collect their name. I will confirm with our Customer Directory team on this and also made a note of this request so that we can prioritize as we build out additional functionality.

[prestigetattoob]

Are you live with the q and a? If so how do we start?

[Tom]

Hi @prestigetattoob, yep — we're here! All replies are in written form. If you have a question, feel free to drop it in the thread now and we'll answer momentarily.

[prestigetattoob]

What application do we need to be able to access all of these features. we have square but dont use it often as we have another form of taking payments.

[Anneharris]

 Hi @prestigetattoob, you can sign up for Text Message Marketing for free by visiting your Square Dashboard (which is easiest to do on desktop) - no application needed.

[foodiefit1234]

I have 10k opt-in to the loyalty program but 900 opt-in to SMS. The square marketing is allowing me to create a coupon attached SMS campaign. Will it send to all 10k or just the 900?

[indianathomas]

We have 20,000 customers enrolled in Text Message marketing.  We can only reach them by sending a COUPON + MESSAGE.  We'd like to just send them a message.  Other than sending them a coupon to opt-in to messages, is there an easier way.  For example:  If they visit our https://squareup.com/loyalty/9B4N93XGKMM7Y/profile/overview page, is there something that they can change.  

BTW.... this whole process of what can be sent and not is crazy confusing to people.

[foodiefit1234]

I've burned many hours testing the system and features for marketing. Some will work one way last month and work another way this month. There's a lot of features offered but none work as needed or are glitchy

[lornaz]

Hi @indianathomas, we know buyer opt-ins are a pain point for sellers and are actively working on expanding our buyer opt in avenues. We are working with Weebly/Square Online to explore ways we can add buyer opt-ins to the Square Online website and also looking into options to opt current Loyalty enrollees into all Text Marketing campaigns so that you do not have to ask each of them to Join through Text to Join. 

I know that these caveats on who you can and cannot text are confusing and less than ideal, but we are working with restrictions to build the best product possible.

[foodiefit1234]

What is the best strategy to opt-in more customers?

[indianathomas]

If I customer signs up via the "Check Loyalty Status Link:". Here: https://squareup.com/loyalty/9B4N93XGKMM7Y/profile/overview  Does that opt them in to all SMS campaigns?  Or Do they have to be physically present to sign up at the register?