How are loyalty stars applied automatically?

[tyler]

Help please. I manage a quick to go only restaurant, and just started using the new Square loyalty program to replace our punch card. It has been almost a month, and so far so good. We set it up as $1 = 1 star, no minium, no limits on any particular items. I noticed that for some transactions, the register automatically add stars without prompting the customer to enter their phone number. I can understand why that happen, as the register linked the credit card to the phone number after the 1st time. But this is not consistent. I have customer told me he uses the same card, and still has to enter the phone number every time. I actually tried using my own credit card to make several small purchases, and everytime I was prompted to enter my phone number also, even though it should theoretical remember my card after the first time. Anyone else have any experience with this? Also, how many credit cards can be stored under one phone number?  Multiple? Is there a way to stop this? What if a customer said they have a new number and would like to use that instead? What to do? Thanks for the help

[Sean · Accepted solution]

@tyler - Welcome to the Seller Community! Happy to help out with your questions. I'll answer them below: 

How do rewards get applied automatically to some sales? Is there a way to stop this? 

You should see this screen for every transaction as long as a customer meets the minimum transaction amount you have set. In the past, prior to our new loyalty program, we did have loyalty points linked to automatic receipts. Is it possible that this could be what your customers are talking about? If not, we'd need you to reach out directly with specific transactions as an example so our engineering team can investigate. 

How many credit cards can be stored under one phone number? 

There are no limits. Loyalty is tied to a customer's phone number. 

What if a customer said they have a new number and would like to use that instead? 

We'd suggest that they continue to use the old number until they reach a reward goal and use that coupon. Afterward, they can use their new phone number to accrue points. Alternatively, you could locate their account, subtract their stars, and then add them to their new account. 

Hope this helps! 

[Twistedhornmead]

Sean, We are having the same issue.  The system will automatically tell a customer how many stars he’s earned WITHOUT prompting for the phone number.  The problem is that if the credit card they are using is associated with a certain phone number, then there is no opportunity to ever change the phone number that Square is assuming the customer is still using.  We had one fellow come in and want to change that, and I went into the customer profile according to the number, changed the number and the name, saved it.  It erased all of the stars associated with it, so I re-entered them.  As a test, he purchased something else, used the same card, and it again automatically sent the stars to the old number because it is associated with that card.  We need the auto-assign feature to not occur at all...each time the customer needs to be able to verify/change the phone number with every sale.  This is causing problems with customers who use the credit cards and have new numbers.

[lilychiang]

@Twistedhornmead The ability to unlink credit cards from a phone number should be available soon. We'll update you when it's ready. 

[Twistedhornmead]

That's great news!!  Thank you!

[lilychiang]

@Twistedhornmead - This functionality is now available. You can manage linked cards via a customer's profile by clicking on the three-dotted Actions menu. 

[tyler]

Can you explain where this action menu is? Thanks 

[lilychiang]

@tyler check out this post: https://www.sellercommunity.com/t5/Product-Updates/Square-Loyalty-Manage-Customer-Rewards-From-Your-...

[HJohnson2456]

I run a travel agency so I don't use point of sales, I use the virtual terminal or my clients enter their card info via my website when paying on their trip. Will my clients' points be added automatically or do I have to track them and add them myself?

[nika]

Great question, @HJohnson2456!

Loyalty points will not be automatically added to customer profiles if you're processing with the Virtual Terminal, Online Store, or if you're accepting payments via invoices. You would need to manually add points to your customers' Loyalty profiles if processing in any of the above mentioned ways.

We'll pass this along to our Product Team as a feature request and will keep the Seller Community posted if these changes take place!

[jewelunique]

Hello, I use invoices to collect payment and I notice the punches are not being automatically added upon payment. How do I get the punches to add automatically when a customer pays? 

[AshleyK]

Hey @jewelunique thanks for asking! Your loyalty rewards should be added immediately for each purchase as long as it's meeting your criteria for a loyalty reward. I would check if you have a minimum payment amount, item amount, or other setting that may be preventing the reward from adding up. 

You can also check Sean's post earlier that helps narrow down what could be going on. 

If you notice it happening with specific sales or customers, that can also be helpful to narrow down the issue. Thanks!

[jewelunique]

It looks to be fine.  I saw on the previous post that if you accept payments via invoices you have to manually add the punch.  Is that still the case? 

[AshleyK]

You're right, you will have to manually enter in the loyalty points to your customer's profile if they pay via an invoice. Also, keep in mind their profile will have to contain a phone number that can be associated with their loyalty punch card.

[jewelunique]

Is this still true?  I take payment via invoices.  

[bill56]

Hi Sean

I too, am having an issue - I am using a square terminal which will not allow me to skip the receipts screen despite having that option selected. I think as a consequence that my customers always have to enter their phone every time they make a purchase to earn their rewards - despite clicking on the "join the programme" button. This is causing some angst among my regulars. Is there a solution?

Cheers Bill 

[isabelle]

I believe our Super Seller, @pessosices uses Loyalty. Have you run into this issue? Any solutions? 

[pessosices]

@isabelle 

Hmm, I'm not too familiar with Terminal, especially that it sounds like the issue is that the Skip Receipt Screen option doesn't seem to be working?

@bill56 

Either way, with or without the Receipt Screen enabled, in order to claim their points and their redeem rewards, the customer would need to enter in their Phone Number in one way or another, or link the phone number to their Card.