Item: Square Customers
Rating: 9
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Square Customer Engagement as a point of sale tool, but also as our online customer appointment booking and payment system. As a 2-person start-up, we needed something very simple that could serve as both an in-person POS system and online, that way we didn't have to maintain two separate customer databases. Square Customer Engagement not only did that, but serves as an appointment scheduling system for our customers, fully integrating with our Google Calendars, which takes out the guest work out of availability. As our system of record for customer information, we can also use Square Customer Engagement to contact customers regarding their appointments, set up automated messaging (Email and SMS) and send marketing campaigns. Really love that everything is under one roof with Square Customer Engagement.

Pros and Cons

Appointment Scheduling
Invoicing and billing of customers
Customer messaging
Marketing

Inability to transfer funds to bank in real time (PayPal offers this option, for a fee)
The option to create a website on Square is very limited. We opted to integrate the Square appointment setting tool into our site, as the site Square offered was subpart.
Google Calendar integration is now a premium feature, and it used to be included!

Return on Investment

Significantly expedited out go-to-market launch by giving us a quick way to take customer payments and appointments
Huge time saver with automation of customer communications during and after the purchase/appointment setting process
Time saving by taking away the need to manage separate appointment calendars (Square integrates with existing Google Calendars)

Key Insights

Do you think Square Customers delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Square Customers's feature set?

Yes

Did Square Customers live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Square Customers go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Square Customers again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Google Workspace, Google Calendar, Constant Contact

Usability

Square is very straightforward and easy to use. They have recently added new features to the UI, but everything is very user friendly, so one can intuitively figure out how to accomplish what needs to be done in the UI or figure out what new features are used for. The integration with other tools, such as Google Calendar, is seamless, as well as the customer communication center. Square gives a wholistic view of the customer and that is also a great feature!

Support Rating

Square is mostly focused on FAQs and online support, and they do a very good job creating a rich knowledge base. But, if you are not very tech savvy, it could be easy to feel a bit overwhelmed. I would recommend that they add a direct line or chat feature to call, rather than email or Knowledge base first. This might be due to staffing issues at Square, so perhaps it is the best they can do for now.

Likelihood to Recommend

Square is absolutely brilliant if you are just starting out and your business has both an in-person and an online component to it, as Square will solve both in-person POS and online booking/billing. Square also offers the option to create a free website for your company, though it is a very basic site, if you don't have a website yet, this is a VERY helpful option, as it takes away a huge cost. Square allowed us to be up and running in no time, taking away the need to worry about an expensive appointment-setting add-on from our current website provider (Square integrates quite nicely with our current site).

Square is probably less ideal for more advanced users or companies with a need for more detailed inventory/service management. But even then, Square will more than likely be able to get the job done!

Easy and Quick Customer Management, POS and Appointment Setting system

Overall Satisfaction with Square Customer Engagement