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Square Text Message Marketing FAQ

Want to know more about Square Email & Text Message Marketing? Learn more in the Seller Community.

Find answers to commonly asked questions about Square Text Message Marketing.

How am I charged for Square Text Message Marketing?

Square Text Message Marketing offers a 30-day free trial. After your first 30 days, we charge a $10 monthly subscription fee, plus the cost of the number of text messages you send each month, based on the tiers below:

Number of Texts Per Month Cost Per Month
0 $10 + Monthly subscription fee
1 - 250 $20 + monthly subscription fee
251 - 500 $25 + monthly subscription fee
501 - 1000 $35 + monthly subscription fee
1001 - 5000 $60 + monthly subscription fee
5000 - 15,000 $130 + monthly subscription fee
15,001 - 25,000 $195 + monthly subscription fee
25,001 - 50,000 $385 + monthly subscription fee
50,001 - 75,000 $570+ monthly subscription fee
75,001 - 100,000 $760 + monthly subscription fee
100,001 - 150,000 $1,135 + monthly subscription fee
150,001 - 200,000 $1,510 + monthly subscription fee
200,001 - 300,000 $2,260 + monthly subscription fee
300,001 - 400,000 $3,010 + monthly subscription fee
400,001 - 500,000 $3,760 + monthly subscription fee

Note: Additional fees will be based on how many texts you send per month.

How does Square Text Message Marketing pricing differ from Square Email Marketing or Square Loyalty?

Square email marketing charges for the number of subscribers you have.
Square Loyalty charges for the number of qualifying loyalty visits you receive every month per location. 

Getting Started

How do I get my phone number verified?

To use Square Text Message Marketing, you must have one verified toll-free number associated with your business. This is a requirement for all SMS providers as set by all carriers. Learn more about how to verify your phone number for Square Text Message Marketing.

Can I pause my subscription?

Yes, all of our subscription products support pausing.

Why do I need customers to opt in to Square Text Message Marketing instead of using the existing phone numbers in my Customer Directory?

In the U.S, a law called the TCPA (the same law that established the Do-Not-Call list) requires that you obtain prior, express consent from your customers to send marketing text messages. This consent was not obtained from your customers at the time you collected the phone numbers in your customer directory, so they aren’t automatically available with Text Message Marketing.

Loyalty sellers may notice that it’s possible to text most of their Square loyalty enrollees about the loyalty program, but manual (blast) campaigns show a smaller number of opted-in customers. This is for the same reason; some Loyalty enrollees agreed to receive texts about the loyalty program, but not about general marketing for your business. 

Luckily, once you subscribe, new customers and existing customers in your directory and/or your loyalty program can easily opt in to Square Text Message Marketing, too. 

How do I get customers to opt in to Text Message Marketing?

Currently, your customers can opt in to Text Message Marketing via the Square Point of Sale or by using the Text to Join functionality.Marketing-Text-Messaging-US-EN-1

POS Checkout: A Text Message Marketing enrollment screen will appear during customer checkout, asking them to opt into your marketing program by providing their phone number, and also providing them with their first coupon. After doing this, they’ll receive their coupon and be opted-in to your Text Message Marketing program.

Loyalty subscribers will be able to collect Text Message Marketing opt-ins via the Loyalty enrollment screen, which we’ve updated to also include consent to receive Text Message Marketing.  

Text to Join: During Text Message Marketing onboarding, you will be issued a unique phone number to which your customers can text JOIN to be added to your opt-in list wherever and whenever it’s convenient for them. After texting JOIN, they’ll receive a confirmation text that they need to respond YES to in order to complete the opt-in process. This number can be promoted anywhere: on your website, social media, email, or in-store. 

How do I use text to join?

When you sign up for Text Message Marketing, you will receive a unique phone number that you can share via social media, email or at your physical business. Customers can text JOIN to this number to agree to receive text messages from you.

When offering this number to your customers, the best practice would be to include the following information wherever you invite customers to sign up:

*By signing up, you agree to receive periodic automated marketing texts from (your business name). Joining this program is not a condition of purchase. Standard messaging rates may apply. Text END to unsubscribe from texts from this business at any point, or HELP for more information.

What’s a good number of opt-ins to send my first campaign to?

You can send your first campaign at any time after you start collecting opt-ins. However, we recommend you collect at least 10 opt-ins to contact before you send your first campaign. This number will increase the likelihood that you see real value in coupon redemption and returning customers from your first campaign. 

Can I upload a list of phone numbers?

Currently, we do not support phone number list upload because we cannot verify that the customers who provided the phone numbers on an uploaded list gave explicit consent to receive marketing text messages. However, every phone number collected through the Square Text Message Marketing opt-in methods described above is deemed opted into the program.

Campaign Creation

What phone number are these campaigns sent from?

You will be assigned a unique phone number when you sign up for Text Message Marketing. All text marketing messages from you will be sent from this number. This is also the number your customers can text to join your program. After you sign up, your unique phone number can be found under the Marketing Settings page.

Note: The assigned number used for sending marketing messages may change if you unsubscribe from Square Text Message Marketing and subscribe again later.

How do automated campaigns work?

Automated campaigns allow you to set up a text message to send to users automatically when they do certain things. Square Text Message Marketing automated campaigns include birthday campaigns, reminder of loyalty points to redeem, and a special coupon for lapsed customers who haven’t made a purchase in a while, among others.

You can customize the language and offer in automated campaigns.

Can I use Google Business Profile to send automated text message marketing campaigns?

Yes. Once you’ve connected Google Business Profile to your Square account, you can set up automated text message campaigns to:

  • Increase discoverability on Google Search and Google Maps.
  • Improve your online presence and allow your potential customers to quickly find and contact you by automatically sending them a Google review or text message marketing or email marketing campaigns.

To get started:

  1. Go to Customers > Marketing from your online Square Dashboard.
  2. Click Create Campaign > Text Message.
  3. Select Get more Google reviews > Design Campaign.
  4. Design and customize your text message campaign with text, emojis, or hyperlinks. Note: There is a 250 character limit per text. Click Continue.
  5. Name your campaign, then click Activate Now.

Learn more about using automated campaigns.

Are there limits on how many times I can text, or how many campaigns I can send monthly?

Currently, Square is not limiting the number of times you can text a specific customer, or how many campaigns you can run in a month.

We advise you not to text more than once a week unless there is a time-specific offer or event. Your customer can unsubscribe at any time just by texting END to your number. To avoid shrinking your list and annoying your customers, it’s best to text less and only send valuable information.

How can I manage the number of texts I send in each campaign?

Text message marketing best practice is to keep texts as short and succinct as possible.

With Square Text Message Marketing, each campaign sent can contain up to 600 characters (or 250 if emojis or other special characters are used). 

Can I send an image in my text campaign??

Yes, you can add images and GIFs (MMS messages) to your text campaigns to help make your messages stand out.Marketing-Text-Messaging-US-EN-2

How much does an MMS message cost?

Since MMS messages involve the transmission of more data, an MMS message counts as three texts in your monthly total, while a regular SMS message counts as one text in your monthly total.

Can customers respond to my texts?

Customers can respond to your texts, but you won’t be able to see the responses. For this reason, we don’t recommend including questions in your messages.

I sell alcohol, CBD, or vape/tobacco products — is there anything I should be aware of when using Square text message marketing?

Sellers in these categories are more likely to be affected by a rule called SHAFT-C. This acronym stands for sex, hate, alcohol, firearms, and tobacco/cannabis. SHAFT-C was created by the CTIA, an association of mobile carriers who create best practices and requirements for text message marketing. Mentioning content related to SHAFT-C topics can cause mobile carriers to block your messages from being delivered.

Square Text Message Marketing monitors text message delivery rates, and you will receive a notification in your Square Dashboard if it appears your message was blocked due to SHAFT-C restrictions. Because Square is not responsible for the blocked message and has no visibility into SHAFT-C enforcement, we cannot tell you how to alter the message to make it SHAFT-C compliant. 

Under SHAFT-C, network carriers have created a set of rules to determine what content can and cannot be sent via text message. Businesses sending content or messages related to SHAFT-C are either completely banned or faced with extra restrictions. Learn more about SHAFT-C rule requirements.

If you are selling alcohol products, your business website must use age-gating technology to use text message marketing. Age-gating prompts visitors to your website to confirm they are over 21 years of age to prevent minors from being able to view or purchase alcohol-related products.

Can I use a toll-free number for my Square text message marketing?

Yes. In order to use text message marketing on a toll-free number, your business must be verified by the network carriers, which can take up to 14 business days. As part of this process, we submit the following business information you provide us to the network carriers on your behalf:

  • Business name
  • Address
  • Phone number
  • Website and social media

While your account is pending verification, your use of Square Text Message Marketing is restricted and you can’t send messages.

If any of the above information is incomplete or invalid, your verification will fail, and you must resubmit the information. Resubmission sends you to the end of the verification queue (adding up to another 14 business days of wait time), during which time, the same restrictions apply.
Learn more about how to verify your phone number with Square Text Message Marketing.

Note: If any of the above information is incomplete or invalid, your verification will fail, and you will need to resubmit it. Resubmission will send you to the end of the verification queue (adding up to another 14 business days of wait time), during which time, the above restrictions will continue to apply to your account.

Note: The assigned number used for sending marketing messages may change if you unsubscribe from Square Text Message Marketing and subscribe again later.

Can I send an abandoned cart follow-up campaign?

Yes. Abandoned cart follow-ups can help you convert high intent buyers into purchases and drive engagement and sales.

To get started:

  1. Go to Customers > Marketing in your Online Square Dashboard.
  2. Under Campaigns, click Create a campaign > Text message.
  3. Select Automated > Recover an Abandoned Cart.
  4. Design your campaign. You can personalize your campaign with text, emojis, and up to three custom links.
  5. Click Send.

Note: If you have a Square Online Premium or Performance plan, check to see if your abandoned cart template is active by going to Communication in your online Square Dashboard.

Reporting

How can I check if I texted a specific customer?

You will be able to see all activity associated with a specific customer in the Customer Directory. Simply click a profile to view past transactions, text marketing messages, email marketing messages, customer feedback, etc.

Where can I see how many texts were sent in each campaign?

Get real-time reports wherever and whenever you want. Use our text marketing software to see how many text messages were sent, how many people clicked on your link, as well as how many made purchases as a result of your campaign.

To view reporting on a marketing campaign:

  1. Navigate to Customers > Marketing in your online Square Dashboard.
  2. Select Campaigns. By default, all your campaigns will be shown. To filter by campaign type click Campaign Type.

How are sales tied to my text message campaigns?

You can track attributable sales and purchases (the amount of money you make from sales and the number of purchases) by customers who have received a Square Text Message Marketing campaign and then made a purchase within 14 days of receiving the message.

How do my customers redeem the coupon I sent?

When you send customers a coupon campaign, they will receive a link that contains their unique coupon code. Read more about how to apply coupons to your customers’ transactions.

If you use Square Appointments, you can also collect opt-ins via the Square Appointments Online Booking site.