Loyalty - Issues Managing

[sagganis]

I just set up the loyalty program and while setup is pretty easy, managing and marketing this program is very cumbersome.  I'm trying to figure out if these are glitches or I'm just not doing it correctly.

1.  I want to send out the canned email that was prompted when I first created the loyalty program but I can't seem to get back to it.  When I did have it drafted it was dynamically pulling in directions and specifics of the program but it was all blank in the email.  Is this a known bug?  How do I get back to that email template?

2.  It says I've had 96 customers register for the program, but when I go to the Customers section and filter by Rewards Participants, there are only 15 customers listed.  What gives?

3.  Is there a separate charge for the Marketing package on top of the Loyalty charge?

This seems way more difficult than it should be at this point.  Help!

[VanKalkerFarms]

You’ll want to check out the newest square beta that addresses the issue of loyalty and check splitting. 

[GoodGrapes]

@VanKalkerFarmsThanks for the heads up. I'm going to hold my assessement until I'm forced to upgrade to the newest version.  I've hit issues with the last version that I'm still trying to work through.

[BambuRC]

Thank uou for taking your time writing me. we have been using the loyalty program for 3 years now. My issuue was there is no pop up screen to ask for a phone number. Because I went to pause tge program. But i can go resume tge program on the setting of loyalty. Since Feb01 the tab pause and resume has disappeared from the vommand tab. 

[pessosices]

@BambuRC

Yes, if you pause the Loyalty Program, there is no more popup to ask for Phone number.
As @EJ_ mentioned, the Pause feature is no longer an option, so you can no longer Resume either - You would have to Resubscribe to the Loyalty Program instead.

[BambuRC]

I have paid $20 liyalty on regular basis. At the end pf transaction a phone number will be adked. I paused  and resumeed the lotyalty program when one of my eorker is on duty. She will put her own phone number to earn her self a discount. There is no need for her to earn a star because all drinks are complimentary for workers. I had no problem but now in the tab psuse and resume button are gone and my loyalty program is still on pause mode. At tge end of transaction there us no request of a phobe number  to put in. Has Square updated a program  and made a chang on that? If yes, what can I do to not inconvenient  me to daily manually add stars for customers because it’s a paid program. 

[pessosices]

@BambuRC

I think the biggest thing you should do is address this with the employee. What this employee is doing to your business is the equivalent of theft and creating a negative experience for your customers. You shouldn't have to pause your program everytime this employee is on shift. Deal with the employee first.

Talk to them, implement some type of warning and if it continues, then punishment. If my employee was doing this after a conversation with them, then they wouldn't be working for me for much longer.

As @EJ_ mentioned, To resume your paused program, you can resubscribe to the Loyalty Program

[GoodGrapes]

@pessosices My understanding is that this Board is based on the software and not telling other people how to run their business or manage their employees. The software is defect riddled.

[pessosices]

@GoodGrapes

An employee cheating the system and preventing customers from entering their phone numbers, and instead entering their own in order to steal rewards, is not a defect in the system. It's a defect in the employee.

[rsklar]

I think we can all agree that the software is deisgned to work a certain way and if an employee is diverting that from the customer, the customer is losing that benefit we want them to have.

While on this... Do I aso understand that there is no way to apply the reward to an item or group of items, it has to be either a % or $ amount.  For example, but 10 coffees get one free?

[pessosices]

@rsklar

There is! If you'd like, you can set up either the qualifications for a Star or the Reward to apply to only a particular item/category, or Category, either being Free or a $ or % off.

So for our $4 off, it's Buy 12 Items in only select categories, get $4 off one item in only select categories. Pretty sweet and advanced stuff!

[rsklar]

OK sounds like some improvements have been made.

[pessosices]

@rsklar 

Definitely. I trialed the original loyalty system that was receipt based, and hated it. When the new program was launched, it didn't have the features I wanted or needed. I saw there were updated, and looked into jumping over since last January - in August we took the plunge and it's been everything we wanted and more. It's pretty awesome.

And now with the new Square Register with Customer facing Display, it's even easier to have folks type in their own phone numbers and all that - still some things to be worked on - it's now 3 screens instead of 1 on this Register, but much better than before.

The Square team really does care and really are trying to improve and make this software and system as best and bug free as they can. They want it to work for as many businesses as they can. It's in their best interest to do so. It takes time. They have a lot of projects and want to make sure any feature they release are as good and bugfree as possible. But again, it takes time. They're getting there, and it's only getting better.

I've been using Square since 2013, and it's improved by leaps and bounds year after year - and honestly the biggest improvements I've seen have been in the past year. They're really stepping up their game, and I'm really excited to see what they do this year.

[rsklar]

I cannot see using the new register.  The additional cost % wise is too high and even people with the new system are complaining about performance issues with the card readers and stand quality.  

[pessosices]

@rsklar

Sure - It's not for everyone. We haven't really had any of those issues. The quality of the stand is fantastic, and we've had zero reader issues.
Remember, since this is a support forum, for every negative experience you read, there are many more positive experiences you don't read.

For the % - if you qualify for a custom rate, this overrides the Register rate.

[rsklar]

OK @pessosices now you are clearly chearleading for Square.  You are talking about a device that has only been out for a couple of months and most people have only had them less than that.  I am sure you got yours well in advance through some inside deal.

Considering this is a new product that was released while the main product, now Square POS was having major failures, and there are multiple reports of problems, it is only a matter of time before more become evident.

It is a wait and see issue, like never buy the first round of a new phone until the bugs are worked out.  Problem is you need to have people that are willing to risk their investment to debug the system for others can benefit from a cleaner one.

The issue with the rate is kind of a bait and switch issue.  

[VanKalkerFarms]

@rsklar,  I was going to let this be, but there is no reason to throw unsubstantiated accusations at people.  Pesso ordered and bought his Register the day it was announced, just like anyone could, and got them a month later and posted his review after using them for 2 weeks https://www.sellercommunity.com/t5/General-Discussion/My-New-Square-Register-Review/td-p/62523.

There is no reason to say "I am sure you got yours well in advance through some inside deal".  Just because we are "Super Sellers" we are just regular old Square users with no special inside deals or are paid to do stuff for Square.  They (Square) Created "Super Sellers" as a reward tier for the Users on this site that have been helping other Square users.  I do not have the New Square Register nor was I offered advanced options to buy or be given a unit.  We saw the news announcement of the Square Register the same day as everyone else.

I personally don't have a need for the Square Register as our 3 Square Stands suit us just fine.  Our custom rate (due to the volume of card processing that we got 5 years ago not due to being a "Super Seller" that happened like a year ago) would override the new Register pricing so that isn't a problem for me, I just don't see the need in our situation for the New Register.

[GoodGrapes]

I think the difference is in expectations and experience level of both the business owner and customers. A customer is not trying to cheat the system because Square applies double points when a check is split. That’s a software defect. The rationale that it’s a loyalty program so you’re giving away something and if you don’t way to give away a little bit more than don’t start a loyalty program is faulty logic not supported by financial analysis and projections.

After 30 years in high tech development organizations, I understand software bugs vs blatant defect riddled software. I’m curious to their software methodology as there’s no indication of solid testing or perhaps its insufficient requirements to develop and test against. Perhaps the difference is the level of use expected from the software. For example, I want to use the data and therefore the data needs to be accurate and it’s not.

Yet again, two weeks ago I stood in front of my best customer who made a $1,630 purchase and he was allowed to use $10 of his $160 earned rewards. Imagine that experience for both the customer and me.

Since I don’t work for Square, I won’t speculate on the amount of money they spent or if the whole company was pushed back a bunch of times. Square, and Square alone, owns the repercussions of releasing defect riddled software.

I’ve been in contact with Support with no progress. I’ve been directed to the Support Board to get the product manager’s attention and there’s been no progress. I’ve again be directed back to Support for the defects documented on the Support Board and previously with the Support organization. It’s interesting that stating facts on defects and features are viewed as negative rather than viewing the lack of progress as negative. I do not recommend the Loyalty Program.

[pessosices]

@GoodGrapes

That's fair - and yes, the way that stars are applied when a bill is split does not work in the favor of business owners. By what Square has said, it's a decision that was made on how to apply stars when a bill is split. Whether it's a defect or a bug or a bad decision is not really known.

With any business, there is loss - with a business with a Loyalty program, there is more loss. Customers will get upset about the program no matter what, and a business will comp and give away more product to appease some of those customers. Maybe that is not supported by financial analysis and projections, but it is supported by being on the front lines of a customer service focused business.

Since I'm not in software development I can't speak to how well a software was "Solidly Tested" but I doubt a huge company like Square would not test their software or hardware before release. As far as not receiving the data you want, totally - Square tends to focus on simplicity, and different businesses have different needs, and they may not have all of the features available that your or my business needs or wants.

I'm sure that was a terrible experience for both you and the customer. I agree that the program should allow a customer to redeem more than one reward in a transaction. But at this point, knowing that this is not a feature available at this time, you do have the option of changing what your reward is in order create a better customer experience using the limitations of your program, with little-to-no negative effects on your business or customers. If you want some ideas, I'd be more than happy to help.

I also don't work for Square, and yes they own the repercussions of that situation, and I'm sure they're taking steps to ensure that something like that doesn't happen again.

Being that you've been in tech development for 30 years, you must realize that issues don't get solved overnight. You've voiced your concerns and brought issues to light, which is absolutley not negative and is absolutely incredibly valuable and needed for this product to grow. Everyone appreciates that. But it takes time for them to react, plan, consult, re-plan, build, test, rebuild, retest, and launch updates to a product.

It's not that there is no progress, there's just no progress that they can share. There's a big difference there.

That's totally fine that you don't recommend the Loyalty Program. It doesn't work for you and your business. There is nothing wrong with that. But it does work for others and their businesses. And it is going to get better. It already has.

[GoodGrapes]

@pessosices You’re a phenomenal cheerleader, Super Seller, and Top Poster for Square.  While you’ve stated that you don’t work for Square, you’ve expended a lot of text defending Square for the poor software quality and being “sure” that they all are trying hard (it’s not little league - results and not effort matter), there’s unshared progress, and other inside perspectives.

GREAT NEWS! Today I received an email from Square promoting the ability to categorize and export customers based on categories. I continue to have a dilemma. Do I believe the customer grouping that I have 286 Loyalty members or the Loyalty page indicating that I have 809 members is accurate? My take is that I’m surprised that there’s a product promotion riding on defect riddled software. Which number are you backing as accurate?

Thanks for the business advice on changing my reward program to create a better customer experience. I’ve never thought of the customer experience so I hadn’t thought of that option.  You’re obviously well versed in my business and know that the product price point range is $11 - $475. This is immensely different from businesses that have a $10 - $20 range. What rewards program do you recommend that meets my average purchase amount, holiday purchase amount, and my biggest spending customers?

Awarding duplicate, triple, or more repetitive stars depending upon how many ways the check is split is a defect. It’s a requirement, design flaw, and/or development error that clearly indicates a lack of understanding of their customers and the financial impact of this erroneous requirement. Thanks for your business insight that there is more business loss with Loyalty program. Here’s my response to you: You’re logic is wrong. Stop giving faulty business advice on this board.

If my understanding is correct, Square has ~1900 employees. That’s not a huge company.

Thanks for your education of the product development life cycle. Obviously, you understand the different processes and durationes for defects vs. new features. Obviously, based on your comment, you’re aware of when I reported the defects to the Support Team and the duration that has passed. Of course, there’s a lack of a product roadmap that should be shared with customers to proactively manage expectations.

I’m familiar with pre-release user software testing. Its mind boggling that this defect riddled software went thought any user testing. Perhaps the user testers aren’t able to test all product features, don't understand all of the features, or don’t use all of the features. Either way, it's an issue.

Stop trivializing that it doesn’t work for me and potentially others. No doubt you understand that there are business and financial impacts to moving away from an imbedded piece of software. It’s a business and financial impacting decision.

It’s curious that a Square Admin (@Kpay) liked your comment f defending Square. It seems to be a conflict of interest.

The Seller Community should be factually based information and not a cheerleading squad. Facts communicate positives and negatives.

You’re out over your skis.

[pessosices]

@GoodGrapes

I’ll respond to the only non-attacking part of your message because the only reason I’m here is to help business owners who want to be helped. That’s the real point of this Seller Community.

The discrepancy in Loyalty Customer count is that you have 809 customers signed up for your loyalty program. Out of those, 286 of them clicked through the link in their text message and put in their email address. These are categorized by Square as reachable because putting in their email address was their consent to be contacted. Signing up for the loyalty program with their phone number does not categorize them as reachable because they only agreed to use their phone number for the loyalty program and not as a means of communication otherwise. 

Best of luck to you and your business. 

[VanKalkerFarms]

@pessosices, thank you for all you do taking time out of your busy schedule to try and help other business owners, it isn't something you have to do but choose to do when you could be doing something for yourself or your business.  I definitely appreciate that you've gone out of your way to help others here in this community.