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Get Started with Square Messages

Create a single channel for all your communications with customers through Square Messages. You can communicate with customers and reply to messages via text or email, when they message you by providing feedback or responding to service messages such as receipts, appointment updates (eg: reminders), invoices, retail orders, Square Online order updates, and loyalty status updates.

Square Messages is accessible from your online Square Dashboard and is available with the following Square apps on iOS and Android devices: Square Appointments, Square for Retail, Square Point of Sale, and Square Invoices. Square Messages is also available on Square hardware, including Square Stand, Square Terminal, and Square Register.

Features

  • Never Miss A Sale: Send online payment links to your customers for quick and easy payments.

  • Save Time: Answer customers’ questions, while attending to any immediate needs of the business.

  • Customer Experience: Customers expect an efficient, personal customer experience. Customers want to feel heard and understood, even when expectations have not been met.

Set Up Your Account

Verification Process

Before you can send messages to your customers, you will need to complete the identity verification process required for your Square account. This process only needs to be completed once, and the steps are in your Setup Guide.

Once the identity verification process is complete, you will be able to access Square Messages a few different ways:

  • From the home page of your online Square Dashboard, click the Messages icon on the menu bar in the top-right hand corner.
  • In Square Appointments, tap Messages.
  • In Square Point of Sale and the Square Retail POS app, tap ≡ More > Customers > ••• > Messages. You can also create a shortcut to Square Messages by installing the Messages Add-on.

Messages Add-on

Access Square Messages from Square Point of Sale, Square Appointments, or the Square Retail POS app by installing the Messages Add-on. This shortcut will allow you to navigate directly to your Square Messages inbox from the ≡ More menu.

To install the Messages Add-on:

  1. Open your Square app.
  2. Tap ≡ More > Add-ons > Messages.
  3. Tap Add for free.

The Messages Add-on will now be visible from the menu across all of your mobile devices that are logged in to Square Point of Sale and the Square Retail POS app.

The Messages Add-on can be uninstalled at any time. Removing the add-on from one mobile device will also remove it from all other devices used to access your account.

To remove the Messages Add-on:

  1. Open your Square app.
  2. Tap ≡ More > Add-ons > Messages.
  3. Tap (•••) and select Remove.

You can reinstall the Messages Add-on at any time by going to the Add-ons section in your main menu.

You can add the Square Messages Add-on to your toolbar at the bottom of your Square apps. This toolbar has a total of four slots, two of which you can select.

To customize your Square app toolbar:

  1. From the Square app, tap ≡ More > Customize.
  2. Tap + to add tools. Tap - to remove tools.
  3. Tap Save.

Square Messages Add-on

Your selected tools will appear in the bottom toolbar for easy access from anywhere in the Square apps. You can also customize the toolbar individually for each location of your business.

Learn more about customizing the Square Point of Sale main menu.

Team Permissions with Square Messages

Square Messages will only be accessible to your team members with the following permission enabled:

Grant access to view and reply to messages from customers. This includes access to items and customer data for sending messages.

Note: This permission is enabled by default for Owners and Full Access roles only (similarly to all team/staff permissions). The Owner or Full Access roles can enable this permission for any other team member role from the Team Permissions settings.

Learn more about Team Management permissions sets.

Suggested Actions and Replies

Reply to your customers inquiries quickly and efficiently by utilizing Square Message’s Suggested Actions and Replies. These text suggestions will automatically display in the conversation with your customer, giving you several options to choose from.

Simply tap the suggested reply to have it appear in your text box. You can then edit or add additional text to customize your response. Square Messages will generate suggestions based on the flow of conversation and the perceived next steps to making a sale. Keep the conversation going to fulfill customer’s orders and inquiries, without taking valuable time away from your business.

Examples of Square Messages suggested actions include:

Consent with Messages

When you send a text message containing marketing content (such as a coupon) to your customers, you will need to request consent from your customer. This is to protect you and your customers from receiving unwanted marketing messages. Your customer will receive a text message asking them to confirm that they would like to receive messages from you. Once they confirm, they will receive a second text message to confirm that they would like to receive marketing content.

Reply to Customers

To reply to a customer:

  1. Log in to your Square Dashboard and click the Messages icon from the navigation bar. From the Square apps,  tap ≡ More > Messages.

  2. Select a conversation from your inbox and type your message.

  3. Select the arrow to send your message.

Note: You will only be able to message your customers through the same way they contacted you ― email or text.

If applicable, you can change the delivery method within a conversation by selecting ••• > Switch to text or Switch to email.

  • Email replies will read as “Send email from Location name” on Square Dashboard and "Send via Email" in the Square apps.

  • Text replies will read as “Send text from Location name” on Square Dashboard or “Send via Text” in the Square apps.

Send photos

From your Square Dashboard:

  1. Click the Messages icon from the top navigation bar to open your Square Messages inbox.
  2. Select a conversation.
  3. Click + > Photo.
  4. Choose your photo and click Open.
  5. Click the arrow to send your photo.

From your Square apps:

  1. Tap ≡ More > Messages or ≡ More > Customers > ••• > Messages to open your Square Messages inbox.
  2. Select a conversation and tap +.
  3. To send an existing photo, tap Photo Library > choose a photo > Add.
  4. To take a new photo, tap Camera > take a photo > Use Photo.
  5. Tap the arrow to send your photo.

Search inbox

Search across all conversations in your inbox to quickly find information, resolve issues, and more by using the search box.

You can search by customer name, phone number, email address, and keywords. The search results show conversations as far back as one year and can find keywords shared between you and your customers from texts, emails, transcribed voicemails, online forms, invoices, and estimates.

To search your Square Messages inbox:

  1. Log in to your Square Dashboard and click the Messages icon from the navigation bar.
  2. In the search box on the left side, type a keyword, customer name, phone number, or email address.
  3. View the results below the search box shown as bolded text.
  4. Click a conversation from the results to view the specific time where the keyword was mentioned.

You can turn off Show Assistant messages to remove Square Assistant and other service messages from the search results.

Online Checkout Links

Complete a sale quickly and easily through Square Messages with payment links. After your customers send you a message, you can request payments directly from your customers via text message or email with just a few clicks. Request a single payment, create new payment links, or send existing payment links — all from Square Messages.

Send a payment request

Request a custom payment from your customer for a single amount. From the Square Messages conversation with your customer:

  1. Select $ to open the Request Payment screen.
  2. Choose Amount and use the keypad to enter the total sale price.
  3. Select Request Payment to send the payment link to your customer.

Create and send a new payment link

From the Square Messages conversation with your customer:

  1. Select $ to open the Request Payment screen.
  2. Choose Payment Links.
  3. Select Create New Link.
  4. Choose your Link purpose: Collect payments, Accept donations, or Sell items.
  5. Enter your link details, such as the name of the link or the amount. 
  6. Select Send.
    All new payment links you create automatically save to your payment link list for future use.

Send an existing payment link

From the Square Messages conversation with your customer:

  1. Select $ to open the Request Payment screen.
  2. Choose Payment Links to view your existing links.
  3. Select the payment link you want to use from the list to send the link to your customer automatically.
    Note: Businesses with multiple locations are not able to send existing payment links.
    Messages-Get-Started-Guide

Create and Schedule Appointments with Square Messages

Save time by creating and sending appointments to your customers via Messages on your online Square Dashboard or your Square Appointments app (iOS and Android).

To do so:

  1. Open your Square Messages inbox.

  2. Click + next to your conversation.

  3. Select Appointments to create the appointment.

  4. Once the appointment is created, select Save.

  5. Select Book Appointment 

  6. Send an email and text notification to your customer.

Learn more about creating and scheduling Appointments through Square Messages.

Send Invoices with Square Messages

Easily communicate with your customers about online invoices, estimates, and recurring payments using Square Invoices. Send invoices or estimates instantly via email or text message with Square Messages to appear more professional to your customers, save valuable time by avoiding mishaps with email delivery, and get paid quickly.

To create and send an invoice or estimate to a customer from Square Messages:

  1. Open your Square Messages inbox.

  2. Click + next to your conversation.

  3. Select Invoice or Estimate.

  4. Create an invoice or estimate.

  5. Click Send.

Square Online Forms

Manage contact form submissions from your Square Online site in your inbox with Square Messages.  When a customer replies to a contact form on your website, a new message thread and notification will appear in your Square Messages inbox. If the customer isn’t in your Customer Directory, they’ll be automatically added when they submit a form.

To respond to a contact form submission with Square Messages:

  • Open Square Messages from your online Square Dashboard by clicking the Messages icon in the navigation bar or go to ≡ More > Messages in the Square apps.

  • Select the conversation from your inbox > type your message in the field box > select the arrow to send your reply.

  • Open your email inbox associated with your contact form and select Respond.

Learn more about adding a contact form to your Square Online site.

Notifications

For your customer/client: Your customer will receive messages to the most recent channel they used to contact you, whether through email or text. You can update the phone number or email on file for your customer if needed. Learn how to manage your Customer Directory online.

For your business: Square Messages has two notification options so you never miss a message, email and push notifications.

When you enable notifications, owners and full access employees will receive email notifications. Push notifications are sent to every device you are logged in to, including Square hardware, iOS devices, and Android devices. If your message is not delivered, you will receive a push notification on the device that attempted to send the message.

To adjust either of these settings, go to your Square Dashboard and select Messages > Settings.

You can also configure which employees can send and receive messages from your Team Management permissions sets in your Dashboard.

Do Not Disturb Mode

Let your customers know that you are not monitoring your Square Messages Inbox and that they should contact your business directly. Once you turn on Do Not Disturb mode, you won’t receive notifications for any Square Messages — text or email — that customers send to you. Turn off Do Not Disturb when you’re ready to start receiving notifications again.

If customers send you a message while Do Not Disturb is on, they will receive an automated reply letting them know your direct messaging is not active and that they should contact your business directly. You can still view customer replies when Do Not Disturb is turned on through the Square Assistant sections in Messages.

Note: Only the business owner or full access team member can turn on Do Not Disturb mode.

To enable Do Not Disturb mode:

  1. Go to your Square Dashboard and click the Messages icon.

  2. Click the gear icon to open Settings.

  3. Toggle on Do Not Disturb.

  4. Click Confirm > Save.

Note: Only the business owner or a full access team member can enable Do Not Disturb mode.

Block a Customer

Using the Block Customer option, you can prevent your business from receiving unwanted contacts through Square Messages. This feature will halt the conversation between you and a specific customer. Customers will not be notified of the block, and your business will not receive any future messages until you unblock them. Your customer will still receive system messages, such as receipts and appointment reminders. 

To block a customer:

  1. Select a conversation from the Messages section of your online Square Dashboard or go to More > Messages in the Square app.

  2. Select more options ••• to open the menu.

  3. Select Block and confirm.

Repeat the steps above to unblock a customer.

Troubleshooting

If using a mobile device or iPad:

If encountering trouble on your online Square Dashboard, check out our video on Square Dashboard troubleshooting steps. Our website sometimes encounters errors when trying to connect to your browser. 

You may see an error message giving a reason why you aren’t able to text a customer. For instance:

  • When your customer unsubscribes from receiving messages from your business, you’ll see an alert in your conversation and you will not be able to message your customer. If your customer unsubscribed by mistake, they can text “START” or “UNSTOP” to receive messages from your business.

  • If your messages fail to send, you can select Retry to try sending the message again.