Square launches Square Loyalty to help businesses attract and keep customers

Square is making it easier for Canadian businesses to set up digital rewards programs. Called Square Loyalty, this integrated tool is accessible through their Square Point of Sale app. Businesses don’t need any extra hardware or software to implement this. The payments and point-of-sale company considers this an easy way for businesses to thank customers as well as entice them to come back. “We are thrilled to make Square Loyalty available to our Canadian sellers as we know customers enrolled in Square Loyalty return and spend on average two times more than other customers,” said Alyssa Henry, seller lead at Square.

Businesses pay a monthly cost, which starts at $60, for Square Loyalty based on each location’s total Loyalty visits per month. There’s a 30-day free trial for those who want to test it out first. Quick-service businesses can keep it simple and run a more traditional loyalty program where customers receive points from purchases to earn rewards points. Meanwhile, specialty boutiques can opt for multiple reward levels, which allow customers to bank their points to earn tiers or higher-value loyalty rewards. The great thing is businesses can keep track of sales as well as how many new and returning customers are participating in the rewards program through the Square Dashboard.

Save time, earn more sales with Square Appointments

Make sure clients don’t ghost an appointment again with Square’s new booking and scheduling app, Square Appointments. The app comes to Canada with the hope of helping out service businesses—everything from dog groomers, hairstylists, to personal trainers. The app can help its users automatically remind clients of upcoming appointments using preferred methods of getting in touch with them (whether through text or email reminders). Square Appointments can also help the clients reschedule appointments themselves online. Individuals get access to this for free, while businesses with multiple calendars get to try out the app and service for free for the first 30 days.

“Gone are the days when people were willing to play phone tag with businesses or only schedule appointments during business hours,” said Alyssa Henry, Seller Lead at Square. “We are thrilled to bring Square Appointments to Canadian businesses, further leveling the playing field for service providers across the country and helping them bring in more business by letting their customers book online at any time of day.”

Square launches new contactless chip reader in Canada for $59

Square founder and CEO Jack Dorsey leads a roundtable of Canadian entrepreneurs during the launch of the Square readerBy Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Toronto- Payments innovagtor Square held an event this morning in downtown Toronto where they launched a new contactless reaer for local businesses to take debit and credit payments. Designed in part by hardware engineers from Toronto's North York office, now allows businesses to acceot various ways to pay including Interact as well as Apple Pay, Android Pay and Fitbit Play.

The new reader allows customers to tap their cards, mobile devices or wearables to make a payment securely in seconds.

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Square makes it easier to give customer feedback with new feature

A new tool coming to Square is making it easier for local Canadian businesses to interact with their customers after a sale to help resolve any issues that might have arisen from a transaction. Aptly called Square Feedback, businesses can get customer feedback through their digital receipt. If you make a purchase through a Square retailer, you will be prompted to receive their receipt via email or text. Right from the receipt, there is a question that asks “How was your experience?” You can select the smiley face and say satisfied or the frowny face and express your dissatisfaction with the experience. You can then elaborate about what went wrong. Sellers will receive your complaint and if you opted to get a response from the seller, the seller can respond to you directly via the Square Dashboard and ask any follow-up questions or clear up any misunderstanding or issue.

Sellers can manage customer feedback right from the Square Dashboard. It’s a free tool and part of Square’s latest Point of Sale app. Instead of having to take your grievances to social media, this new Square tool will help solve your problems immediately and help the sellers improve their service at the same time, too.