Square Appointments and Email Automation not functioning. Turns out it was made that way.

[nglover_lmt]

I just switched over to Square Appointments Plus + Square Marketing, and noticed that my Email Automations were not sending, specifically the "Welcome Message, 24 hrs after 1st Appointment".

After reaching out to support, they informed me that, apparently after you 'review and check out' after an Appointment, it doesn't actually register with Square as a 'purchase' and therefore won't trigger the email automation. Which renders the feature completely useless to anyone who sells services.

Here's the response I got after calling Support:

 "Thank you very much for your time and wait regarding your Marketing inconvenience. I was checking this inconvenience with my team and what happens is the following. At the time we set this campaign the system sends the email 24 hours after the first purchase. In this case, since you are using appointments, the system does not recognize the appointment as a purchase because it is an appointment, not a purchase of an item for example. Therefore at the time you are taking payments you should do it as a regular transaction instead of an appointment payment."

Kinda unbelievable, really.

[TheRealChipA]

Hi @nglover_lmt.  That’s definitely some hair-splitting logic going on there, I would agree.  I guess I see their point, but given that appointments are basically purchases (without the processed transaction, yet) I think I come down on your side of this more than Square’s side.  That would definitely not be a first, but it happens! LOL

Anyway, I’m posting because I try to help other seller’s find acceptable workaround solutions until they can convince the Square Product Team (Marketing, in your case) to work on a feature request.  Hopefully, you’ve submitted one.  If not, go here and submit it to the Marketing Team now.  Post a link here when you do, and I’ll definitely lend my support.

Otherwise, since you are an Appointments Plus subscriber, you have the ability to customize your email communications with your customers.  This workaround has the downside of going to ALL clients who book, not just new ones.  But some creative text messaging could get around that.  (“Thank you for booking with us.  If you are a new client, then ………”)

From the Dashboard go to  Appointments -> Settings -> Communications.  Scroll down to the Email Notification Customization section and select “Business Accepted Appointment.”  You can customize the email here.

Hopefully that helps for the short term.  At least you’ll be communicating with them more than you are now.

Regards,