Re: New Loyalty Program is a step backward - Page 2

RyanNewStartN · ‎06-29-2016

I would like to voice my dissapointment with the new loyalty program and point out a few of the steps backward instead of forward that the new loyalty program brings to my business. The new loyalty program boasts being an improvement to the system and allow for greater control and more options when giving out loyalty to repeat customers. Here are my gripes.

1. Loyalty is now linked directly to a phone number. The process of adding loyalty is done after a transaction is made and a receipt is given. This is an unneccesary step if the customer requests receipt by phone number as in the past the loyalty star was given at that page. I as the owner and operator of the square register don't see why we would have to go to another page just to have the customer claim a loyalty reward if they request a phone number receipt automatically add it to the current loyalty program in place and finish the transaction.

2. With the new loyalty system the customer is now removed from the ability to check their current loyalty progress. In the past receipts would contain their current loyalty amount and how many more purchases they required before they would obtain a discount from the establishment. Now they have no idea of their progress and customers have already voiced their complaints to me as the owner about the change.

3. This is something that was broken in the past but is also broken currently and is a major nuissance for the operator of the square register so I will list it. Gift cards being used at the register do not save information such as phone number and or email address for receipt and now loyalty like credit cards do. I do not see why Square cannot store that information after the first transaction has occurred so as to provide a more seemless and enjoyable experience for the customer in the future as they continue to come back to our establishment.

I really hope that these issues are resolved in a timely manner because this is a really a major downside to the new loyalty program and I do not want for the experience with Square to become a negative one with my customers it should be part of the positive experience they go through.

BJA · ‎03-14-2017

so you have to go to another page after the receipt to get the phone number after you just got it??

EJ_ · ‎03-15-2017

@BJA This was updated soon after we rolled out the new loyalty features. When a phone number is entered for a receipt preference, it should auto-populate in the rewards screen.

GoodGrapes · ‎08-02-2017

Hello,

I would like to see two feature enhancements.

1) When someone checks if they have earned a reward and they have not, don't give an error message if the customer if enrolled. Show them the number of stars / points they have accumulated. The message is confusing and I end up having to reassure the customer that they are really enrolled and have accumulated stars / points.

2) Implement a setup option that allows a customer to redeem more than 1 credit within a purchase. The lack of support "punishes" my best customers who have accumulated rewards that can't be used. Ringing up multiple small transactions makes me / my business look amateurish.

I have contacted support twice about adding the multiple rewards to a single purchase and have been very disappointed in the response both times. No indication if it’s on the product roadmap or even if serious consideration will be given to implement the option.

puka · ‎08-05-2017

Hey @GoodGrapes,

Thanks for chiming in! We can assure you that we are actively tracking all Feature Requests on Loyalty so that we can continue to improve with each update. I can definitely see how both of these things would help and will make sure that your feedback is included in the conversation.

We promise to update you as soon as we have one and appreciate your patience as we work to build you better tools to help your business succeed.

Puka - She/They
Seller Community UX Designer

GoodGrapes · ‎08-05-2017

Hi @puka,

Thanks for your response. Here's more info to help explain the impact and help prioritize the multi rewards per purchase business need.

On average, a customer makes 5-8 purchases before receiving a $10 reward. Then there's my top customers that earn multiple rewards per purchase. One of those customers recently made his standard large $ amount purchase. After entering his phone number it correctly displayed that he had 10 certificates / $100 in rewards. For his $1300 purchase he was allowed to use ONE $10 reward. He wasn't impressed and I was embarrassed.

I have to agree with others that the price of the program doesn't match the limited feature set. I look forward to significantly enchanced feature version being released.

puka · ‎08-05-2017

@GoodGrapes - Thank you for the added detail! I totally agree that it makes sense for you to have control over how many rewards your customers are allowed to use within a transaction especially for one that large. I've already forwarded your previous post to the Product Team which means they'll see the additional feedback as well. 👍🏼

Puka - She/They
Seller Community UX Designer

GoodGrapes · ‎10-17-2017

@puka Any update on implementing the requested changes? The holidays are just around the corner and my customers will want to use their earned loyalty / $$.

EJ_ · ‎10-19-2017

Hi @GoodGrapes

Nothing new as of right now.

It's starting to gain some momentum within the Seller Community, so our Product Team will surely take notice.

We'll chime back in if something comes up.

lilychiang · ‎10-19-2017

hi @GoodGrapes,

Thank you for your feedback. Based on your original request, #1 is done. Please let us know if you have any other feedback.

re #2, we understand it is frustrating for you to have to enter the reward multiple times. This is something we've heard from other sellers like you. Unfortunately, it is not a simple or quick fix that we can do for this holiday season. However, we are building a functionality to void rewards on the Dashboard, which will be ready next week. This will enable you to do a workaround. You can give the customer a bulk discount that is the sum of all their individual rewards. Later, you can void those rewards out on their profile via Square Dashboard.

GoodGrapes · ‎10-19-2017

In terms of #1, thanks for implementing a displayed message.

In regards to #2, this is disappointing and it isn’t a last minute business request. The request originated over a year old to Square’s phone support (multiple times). I don’t understand “frustrating to enter the reward multiple times”. The reward isn’t be entered multiple times. The issue is that only one reward can be redeemed p/transaction. The frustration is on the purchaser who reasonably wants to use their earned rewards ($).

While it might not be “simple or quick”, if selecting more than one reward for a transaction is beyond moderate, I suggest that it’s due to the implementation of the existing basic functionality.

I’ll look for the work around, in particular, how the customer is notified that the earned rewards were voided and why. Hopefully, a more reasonable, customer friendly implementation is forthcoming for this subscription based functionality.

GoodGrapes · ‎10-19-2017

@EJ_ Can you provide more insight into how customer requested features are prioritized and implemented? Based on your response, it seems adhoc and luck is needed for the right person in Square’s Product Team to recognize the request based on what is posted within the Seller Community.

EJ_ · ‎10-20-2017

Absolutely @GoodGrapes

Firstly, seller advocacy is one of the biggest drivers in product updates and changes. There's an entire thread that outlines how feature requests work in the Seller Community:

Feature Requests & the Seller Community

We're actually working on a way to make feature requests easier to track within the Community itself.

You've probably seen a few of our Product Managers posting themselves about the status of certain requests.

To quote one of our Product Managers directly, "We get lots of feedback from lots of different sellers, and we use all of this feedback to help us prioritize what we work on soon, and what we unfortunately have to delay until later. "

Rest assured, they read every one of these feature request threads.

LocavoreStore · ‎08-05-2017

I would just like to chime in a little bit here since this thread seems to be getting some attention.

We found a GLITCH in the loyalty program... When you run a split transaction, the customer gets double the rewards. For instance. $1 = 1 star, and a customer spends $50. Should be 50 stars... But if they pay for half of that with a gift card and the rest in cash, then they will receive 50 stars for the gift card part of the transaction, and 50 stars for the cash part of the transaction, totally 100 stars.

Right now we have to train our employees, to manually go in and remove the second batch of stars from any split transaction (but it's a chore, and annoying to have to remember). And which looks scandalous to the customer if they ever look at their loyalty history, and see that we're manually removing stars.

A star here and there is not a big deal, but split transactions happen quite often, and it's unlikely that we catch them all.

puka · ‎08-05-2017

Thanks for flagging @LocavoreStore!

What's happening is that any time a customer uses split tender, the system assumes that two people are paying. Because of this, Loyalty is currently set up to award both parties the same amount of stars. This explains why your customers are receiving double stars on split transactions. Apologies about the extra work your team has been dealing with as a result. I can see how it would be helpful to have the option to process under one customer for someone who is using a combination of gift cards with credit/debit/cash. We will pass your feedback along to our Product Liaison team and see if we can get you any further insight!

Puka - She/They
Seller Community UX Designer

GoodGrapes · ‎08-05-2017

Hi @LocavoreStore,

We have been dealing with the same error. The points should be awarded based on each transaction and not the entire bill. It occurs anytime a ticket is split and not just when a gift card is used. Unfortunately, as a destination location I've promoted the loyalty program as an incentive and most of our customers wait to see the current points after each purchase. Hence, I can't back out the points and we end up eating the double points / $ award.

LocavoreStore · ‎08-05-2017

@GoodGrapes, If you are generous with your loyalty rewards (say 10% or more), you would effectively be giving away 20+% of your profits to repeat customers (who happen to be using 2 different payment methods). Although we live in a tourist area, 90% of our business relies on regulars who live here... It would be safe to assume that 90% of our customers will be getting these rewards eventually (it might as well be a permanent discount). Although most transactions are not split, if I wasn't able to bypass the problem, I would have to offset the value of our loyalty program to account for those instances.

@puka. Thanks for sharing the rationale behind this... I just assumed it was by accident. If it means anything, we rarely (if ever) have 2 parties paying for the same ticket (I'm sure a lot of restaurants, bars, etc do). But even if they do need to split a ticket... Why would each person get stars based on the value of the other party's total, plus the stars for their own portion of the bill? Maybe I'm not understanding because, with the same logic, we might as well give stars to a customer based on the value of a previous customer's transaction, right?

I think I'm coming up with a solution as I type this though... We should be able to bypass the "claim my stars" for the first portion of the split transaction, and only enter the customer's phone # for the second portion of the split payment...I'm not available to test this right now, but maybe that will work instead?

Still though... Seems kinda silly.

GoodGrapes · ‎08-05-2017

We don't give 10% in our loyalty program. Retail alcohol has a very low margin and none of our competitors are anywhere near 10%. While we have a cafe, the majority of our revenue is from retail sales.

Our common scenario is 2 existing customers splitting a bill from our cafe. They are already enrolled, each card is recognized, and the points are automatically added to each person's account.

For gift cards, I avoid the double point allocation by holding the iPad back and skipping the loyalty program enrollment. There's no auto point allocation because the gift card isn't tied to the purchaser.

The simplest solution is for this software bug to be fixed (in my opinion).