Set up and manage Square Messages

About Square Messages

Square Messages allows you to create a single channel for all your communications with customers. There are two plans: Free and Plus.

With Square Messages Free, you can communicate with customers and reply to messages via text or email. This facilitates responding to customer feedback or receiving replies to service messages, such as receipts, appointment updates, invoices, retail orders, Square Online order updates, and loyalty status updates.

With Square Messages Plus, you can reach customers through personalized communications. You can initiate text or email conversations with customers from your dedicated business phone number and receive voicemails from customers.

Before you begin

You can access Square Messages from:

• Square Dashboard

• Square Point of Sale (POS) app

• Square Appointments POS app

• Square for Restaurants POS app

• Square for Retail POS app

• Square Invoices POS app

Square Messages is also available on Square hardware, including:

• Square Stand

• Square Terminal

• Square Register

When you start a conversation with your customer, you will be asked to confirm that you have consent from your customer to send a text message to their phone number. No action will be needed from your customer.

When you send a text message containing marketing content (such as a coupon), you will need to request consent from your customer to send marketing messages over text. This protects 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.

Set up Square Messages Free

Subscribe to Square Messages Plus

1. Log in to Square Dashboard, then click More from Square > Messages.

2. Click the gear icon and follow the prompts to get started.

3. If you have multiple locations, choose which locations you'd like to allow access to Square Messages Plus and click Next.

4. Add, update, and confirm your business information and click Next.

5. Review the terms and toll-free number verification information.

6. Select your subscription payment method or click Add new payment.

7. Click Subscribe to sign up for Square Messages Plus and start your toll-free number verification process.

Ineligibility for Square Messages Plus

Network carriers impose stringent restrictions for SMS messaging that apply to both the type of business and message traffic. These restrictions classify some businesses as ineligible for a toll-free phone number through Square Messages Plus. Common examples of restricted businesses include those that:

• May be subject to SHAFT-C rules, which stands for Sex, Hate, Alcohol, Firearms/Fireworks, Tobacco and Cannabis. Learn more about SHAFT-C rule requirements.

• Sell fireworks

• Provide high risk financial services including but not limited to debt collection and forgiveness, credit repair and gambling,

• Offer prescription medication that cannot be legally sold over-the-counter

• Have marketing and sales business models that are considered high-risk and restricted by carriers, such as multi-level marketing.

For CBD and cannabis, these restrictions apply to any business selling or providing services that contain CBD or any type of cannabis. If your business is currently part of the Square CBD program, but no longer sells CBD items or provides CBD as part of your services, you need to exit the CBD program before trying to sign up for Square Messages Plus again.

If you sell alcohol or tobacco, you will need robust age-gating for your website to be eligible for a toll free number as part of Messages Plus. Robust age-gating requires asking for your visitor's birthday in month/day/year format, rather than yes/no questions such as “Are you 21+?”.

Please note that these restrictions are imposed by carriers to help ensure toll free number traffic excludes prohibited use cases and comports with applicable law and industry best practices. In the future, we may contact you to provide updates on your eligibility. If you still have questions about your eligibility, please contact Square Support.

Local Exceptions: In some locations, Square is required by law to support or consider supporting certain SHAFT-C categories. In these instances, the above limits won’t apply.

Manage Square Messages Plus

Manage locations

1. Log in to Square Dashboard, then click Account & Settings > Business information > Pricing & subscriptions.

2. Under Subscriptions, click Update Locations next to your Square Messages Plus plan.

3. Check the box to add locations or uncheck the box to remove locations from your Square Messages Plus plan.

4. Click Apply to locations.

Use a dedicated business number

When you subscribe to Square Messages Plus, you get a dedicated toll-free business number for each paid location, subject to an industry-wide, mandatory verification process. We request and submit the necessary business information to complete the verification process on your behalf. You will receive an email when there are updates to the verification status, which may include a successful verification, request for further information to resubmit your number for verification, or a failure of verification notice.

In the event that we request further information, review and resubmit your information as soon as possible since any delays extend your toll-free number verification process and delay your access to Square Messages Plus features.

To check the verification status of your business number(s):

1. Log in to Square Dashboard, then click More from Square > Messages.

2. Click the gear icon to open your Settings.

3. View the verification status under Your business number.

Access and manage your voicemail

Square Messages Plus allows you to set up a customized voicemail greeting for your customers. When your customers call your dedicated business number, they hear this voicemail greeting and have an option to either leave a voicemail or request a follow up text. If your customer leaves you a voicemail, you can then playback customer voicemails, read the automatic transcription and reply to the voicemail directly in your conversations in Square Messages.

To access and manage your voicemail settings:

1. Log in to Square Dashboard, then click More from Square > Messages.

2. Click the gear icon to open your Settings.

3. Click Play to listen to your current voicemail greeting.

To edit your voicemail greeting:

1. Click Edit voicemail next to the business number(s) for which you want to manage voicemail settings.

2. Click Record new greeting.

3. Click the microphone to start recording your greeting.

4. Click Stop when you are done recording.

5. Click play to preview your recording or click the trash can to delete.

6. Click Save.

Use missed call notifications

Square Messages provides visibility into missed calls from your customers. When your customers call your dedicated business number and you couldn't answer, a missed call notification shows in your Square Messages inbox — in the same conversation you have with that customer.

Under the missed call notification, you can see the action your customer took (like if the customer requested a follow-up text) and you can follow up via text using Square Messages or use the call back feature to use your own mobile wireless plan to call your customer back.

To call back:

1. Open the Square app and tap More > Messages.

2. Tap the existing conversation with the missed call notification.

3. Tap Call back. The call back action will use your device's native calling app and the cell phone number associated with the device. Call charges are subject to the mobile wireless plan associated with the device.

4. Tap Continue to populate the customer's phone number on your device and start the call. Tap Dismiss if you don't want to call your customer using the phone number associated with your device.

Send a new message

Unsubscribe

1. Log in to Square Dashboard, then click Account & Settings > Business information > Pricing & subscriptions.

2. Under Subscriptions, click Unsubscribe next to Messages Plus.

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