Customer Directory - don't understand where names came from

[maddy-b]

I have customer emails showing in my customer directory. They haven't bought an item and I'm assuming they have signed up via my contact form on the website (not a pop up, but the one built in as part of the actual site).

When I click on them though it says "email status unsubscribed" and the source is "third party". I don't know why they are unsubscribed if they have specifically signed up to stay in touch. And I have no idea where else they could have come from. It is also strange that under "last visited" site is says "never".... how can that be possible... ?

I'm wanting to send out my first email communication and am very confused

[phillipsrw]

Hi @maddy-b 

I have highlighted these issues to Square who I believe are looking at. It relates to GDPR opt-in, which they are looking at.

I'll copy in on some threads re this problem

[Breffni]

Hi @maddy-b, thanks for your post. 

I can appreciate this is confusing but to confirm, emails collected via Form Submissions on Square Online are not intended to be used for marketing purposes, and therefore they are automatically labelled as unsubscribed in your Customer Directory. 

The form submission function is intended for the following: 

Contact us: A basic contact form.

Catering request: A form to request catering, with fields for a date, time, location and number of guests. This is great if you're selling food and beverage items in large quantities.

RSVP/Registration: A simple form for responding to an event invitation.

Custom quote: A form to allow visitors to request a quote for services with fields to provide details. This is great if you already use Square Invoices to invoice for your services and want to allow visitors to start requesting quotes for them. Learn more about sending invoices online.

Appointment request: A form to allow clients to provide their contact information, along with a preferred date and time. This is great if you already use Square Appointments. Learn more about how to Set up online bookings with Square Appointments.

Event request: A form for customers to provide details on an upcoming event, with fields for date, time and number of guests.

Wholesale inquiry: A form for customers to request wholesale information, with fields for contact information and product details.

When it comes to marketing communications, it is a bit different and you need their explicit consent. A subscribed customer is a customer that has provided explicit consent to receive marketing emails from your business.

If you’ve collected customer email addresses through Square from (but not limited to) sending digital receipts, Invoices, Appointments or Loyalty — the customer cannot receive Square Marketing email campaigns unless:

• You’ve separately collected and recorded the customer’s explicit consent,
• You’ve manually imported an existing database of customers who have consented to receive marketing emails from your business, or
• Your customer has used one of Square’s customer information collection tools.

Here is more information on how to get started with Square Marketing and how to get started with customer information collection if you wish to have your customers subscribed. 

I hope this helps. 

[maddy-b]

Thank you for your reply, but the form I am talking about is not any of these "contact forms" you mention above, so this is not the relevant information. It is the specific part of the template relating to signing up "to stay in touch" eg receive communication via an email list. ( It is actually the identical issue that @phillipsrw is communicating with you about on the other thread... So I will revert to following the info on that thread I think is easiest.)

[Breffni]

And for your second question @maddy-b, just reposting my response from the other thread you mentioned this on too. 

If you use Square Online Checkout links and customers have inputted their information but never completed the payment on the checkout link, they would be saved in the system as third party. And checkout links wouldn't constitute as visiting your site. 

Alternatively, if you don't use Checkout links, when you place an order on a website and don't tick 'save my information for a faster checkout' or 'send me marketing updates' your profile is created in customer directory as Last Visited: Never and source :Third party.

[maddy-b]

The customers in my directory have not been sent checkout links or placed an order of any type - they have all simply signed up to receive information via the "stay in the loop" box at the bottom of my website (part of the Square template).I am going to insert a screen shot of the bit of the template I am referring to. These people are specifically wanting to receive my email. My question is still how come they are marked as "third party" and "last visited: never" and also unsubscribed? If this is not the right way to collect interested people's email addresses for marketing purposes, then why is it included as part of the template? It is not the same as the "contact us" form - which we also have - and which I would of course not use for marketing purposes. As mentioned before, it is the same issue @phillipsrw is raising.

[Breffni]

Hi @maddy-b, just checking back in here to confirm if you are using a Weebly Promote plan? 

If you are using Weebly Promote and your customer's emails coming through the form in your screenshot as opted out, then it is an error the same as phillipsrw. 

If you are using a standalone Square Online plan, then customers' emails coming through the form as opted out, is expected behaviour. 

For anyone using a standalone Square Online plan that is seeing customer sign-ups coming through the form submission field or the newsletter section from the screenshot above as opted out, this is expected behaviour. 

It is a current limitation and we understand how frustrating it is but it is being actively worked on, and when I have an update, I'll be sure to share it here.. 

[maddy-b]

Hi, wondering if any update on your above message re limitations to the standalone Square Online plan (form submissions being logged as opted out)? You said it was being worked on. Would love to be able to have clean data for my customer newsletter sign ins.

Thank you so much.

[phillipsrw]

Welcome to my world of complete confusion when it comes to email collection and loyalty sign up.

All I want to do is

1. Signup Customers at POS and online to the loyalty programme and at the same time collect their email address for direct marketing.

2. Have the signups held in one database.

3. Use Square loyalty to reward my customers at POS and online and Square Marketing to enable me to market direct to customers via newsletter email.

Simplez 🤪 

I think the problem is there are two systems in operation which run differently but are partly integrated. So the website runs using weebly promote, with email form collection beling stored in the website database, however your online customers sync with the customer database so you will see them on the Square dashboard in the customer section, however website sign up form will not show your customer here as subscribed. Using Square marketing through the Square dashboard has a whole different mechanism for collecting emails from POS and loyalty which if used will appear in the customer profile with subscribed in the marketing section. As for loyaty sign up online, we have the button there at checkout but not sure if it works and where the loyaty subscribers end up, hopefully on the Square Dashboard customer database

I have been trying for sometime to figure this all out and have to admit I am none the wiser and from a email, loyalty signup both at POS and Online and where this data ends up is just so confusing. Our staff in the shops have no idea, our customers have no idea, I just hope Square has some great ideas how to fix it. All I can deduce is the systems are a little confused and we as Square users are missing out by not having a clear and effect means to collect subscribers andcand an effect means to market to them. We are system straddled, squeezed between two system... we are being SQUEEBLY'D! 

[maddy-b]

Exactly this!! Thank you for replying and confirming I am not a) going mad b) an incompetent idiot!

Tbh @Breffni and anyone else at Square who may read this, I am seriously thinking about changing my provider. It's stopping me growing my business as it's hampering me from communicating effectively with my current and potential customers.

@phillipsrwhave you any clever work-arounds you could help me set up?

[phillipsrw]

Are you using POS and Loyalty or just Square Online?

[RSVPnyc]

Just chiming in to say I am having the same problem.  Amazing that square marketing emails for customer lists do not actually work as advertised!  

[k_atie]

Hi @RSVPnyc, I'm sorry to hear this. Happy to help.

How did you collect your customer's emails? Your customer’s express consent is required to enable this feature and to ensure that any consents you obtain are valid, you must take the following steps:

The Marketing Subscription toggle will be switched to “Off” by default. Once the customer confirms that they wish to receive marketing, you will need to take the active step of turning the toggle “On,” and then you’ll be prompted to “Confirm” that you have your customer’s express consent. You need to make sure that your customer is agreeing to receive email marketing messages from your business and that these messages may include information about discounts, sales, specials, new offerings and other promotional content. The customer’s engagement activity, including email opens, clicks and voucher usage, will also be tracked to provide you with marketing analytics. You must provide this information to your customer before toggling on the marketing opt-in.

If your customer signed up by providing their mail to receive a receipt from your business, they will need to re-sign up manually to sign up to your mailing list.