Square Point of Sale - Integration Guide for Loyalty & Referrals

Multiconnect is a secure cloud-based integration tool that allows merchants to run an omnichannel customer loyalty program in retail business. It connects the business’s Square POS to a customized Yotpo Loyalty program, allowing shoppers to earn points for their purchases and redeem those points for discounts on other items.

About Defsys and MultiConnect

Square and Yotpo have selected Defsys to build and operate a simple and secure middleware solution to integrate Yotpo Loyalty & Referrals with Square Retail POS. 

Using MultiConnect, a proprietary IPAAS, Defsys was able to deliver an affordable, reliable, and scalable solution for brands to seamlessly integrate Yotpo and Square, without the need for costly development and maintenance resources. Multiconnect allows your shoppers to:

• Earn loyalty points for in-store purchases in which they provided their email address, and accumulate points whether they buy online or in-store
• Redeem existing loyalty points for fixed amount discounts in-store using a simple customer-led experience on the shopper’s personal mobile device
• Automatically adjust the loyalty point balance after in-store refunds

About Square

Square helps sellers more easily run and grow their businesses with its integrated ecosystem of commerce solutions. Square offers purpose-built software to run complex restaurants and retail operations, versatile eCommerce tools, embedded financial services, and banking products, an appointment booking platform, staff management, payroll capabilities, and much more – all of which work together to save sellers time and effort. 

Millions of sellers across the globe trust Square to power their businesses and help them thrive in the economy.

Setting up the integration

You will find more detailed installation instructions on the Defsys MultiConnect website. The following is a summary of the installation steps with a focus on the steps that need to be taken in Yotpo specifically.

To set up the integration:

1. Go to the Square app marketplace and add MultiConnect for Yotpo & Square POS.
2. Register into MultiConnect (step 1 of the onboarding wizard) - you can go back and change these settings at any time. 
   1. Enter your personal contact details
   2. In Yotpo Loyalty & Referrals, go to the General settings page of the account/store you’d like to connect with Square and copy over your GUID, API Key & Process Order Status into MultiConnect.
      
      Please note:

      To see how to find your Yotpo API key and GUID, go here.

3. Copy the Webhook URL from MultiConnect into Yotpo.
   
4. Within MultiConnect, choose the physical store locations you want to reward purchases in.
5. Enter the payment method for the monthly connector fee. Click here for Pricing.
6. ConfigureCoupons For In-store Use within Yotpo.
   If your eCommerce platform is Shopify, follow these steps

   1. From your Yotpo Loyalty & Referrals main menu, go to Set Up Program > Rewards Program > Manage Rewards > Create Reward.
   2. Choose Custom Coupon.
      
   3. Configure the rest of the settings per the discount increment you would like to offer in-store (e.g. $5, $10, $25, etc.) and save your reward.
   4. Set the reward as In store - rewards set to ‘In store’ can then be viewed and added by store clerks. These rewards will only be available to customers buying at your brick-and-mortar stores. Rewards set to ‘Online’ will only be available to customers when shopping in your virtual store.

   Make sure to set the relevant rewards to In store to prevent the wrong coupons from showing up in the online experience.

   

   If your eCommerce platform is not Shopify, follow these steps

   
   

   1. Go to Yotpo Loyalty > Set Up Program > Rewards > Create a New Coupon
   2. Choose Custom Coupon from the Reward type dropdown menu.
   3. Enter the following settings for each of the custom coupons (fixed amount discount increments):

   • I want to use this coupon to reward customers... - when they redeem their points
   • Coupon Type - Custom coupon
   • Where the coupon will be used - In Store
   • Coupon Value in Cents - In store discount value in cents (for example “500” for $5)
   • How many points does this coupon cost? - Number of points needed for coupon
   • What should we display to the user - Enter a relevant value (for example 500 Points)
   • When the number of unused coupons goes below this number….” - Should be set up to a number higher than the total number of POS terminals you have in your stores (or simply set this to 100)

   4. Click Save Coupon.

   Please note:

   • If you do not see the setting called “Where the coupon will be used” please contact Yotpo Support and ask that the “In-store Module and In-store Coupons” are enabled on your account
   • In-store coupons are set up separately from online coupons (which should be set up for “online” use only).
   • Coupon Value in Cents, Name, Points & Display should be set up as per the fixed discount increment you are interested in offering In-store (can be repeated for multiple increments)
   • You may set up as many fixed amount coupon increments as you would like. In order to give shoppers flexibility yet keep a simple experience, we recommend offering 4-8 options
   • For additional information about setting up Custom Coupons for use In-store, please refer to the Creating a Custom Coupon article
7. Sync coupon codes from Square into Yotpo - you will now need to initiate the coupon code syncing between Square and Yotpo within Multiconnect for each redemption option you configured.
   1. Log into Multiconnect.
   2. Sign in using your Square credentials.
   3. Select the Coupons menu at the top.
      
      The new coupon(s) will be displayed in the Coupons list. Multiconnect will extract all coupons created in Yotpo as ‘In Store’ coupons with an amount greater than 0 cents (you should see exactly the amount of custom coupons you just created - if you are seeing a different amount, go back to Yotpo and make sure eCommerce coupons are set up to ‘Online’ only while the new custom coupons are set up to ‘In Store’ only. The screen in Multiconnect will update once you save the coupons in Yotpo and refresh the screen in MultiConnect.
      
   4. Click Create Coupons and specify the number of coupons you want to create initially for each redemption option - we recommend entering at least a few hundred coupons for each redemption option.
      You can make multiple requests for the same or different redemption options at the same time.
      Important:

      • The number of coupons you create should be significantly larger than the minimum number set up in Yotpo (under the field that says “When the number of unused coupons goes below this number”). This setting in MultiConnect controls the number of coupons that will be created and synced to Yotpo each time the ‘Minimum coupons’ threshold in Yotpo is met.
        
        
      • You should create enough coupons so that the system does not need to refill coupons constantly but avoid having a large liability outstanding
   5. You may follow the synchronization of coupons in the progress bar in Multiconnect. You may start the sync for multiple coupons in parallel. Depending on the number of codes to be created by the system it may take up to several hours to complete this process. The system will perform this task in the background, you may close the browser.

5. Configuring your in-store module - follow the instructions here to configure and customize the Yotpo in-store module- this will be the experience your shoppers see on their mobile devices whenever they want to check their loyalty balance and redeem points in a physical store.

The in-store module was designed to make it quick and simple to log in to the loyalty account without having to remember passwords or navigate through the full experience. It will also prompt customers who do not have any points (or do not have an online account, if that is your opt-in rule in Yotpo) to create an eCommerce account, giving you access to valuable customer data.

Finally, make sure you also customize the in-store authentication link email following this guide.  If you would like to authenticate your email domains in Yotpo, check out our Authenticate Yotpo emails on your domain - Adding CNAME record article.

In-store Loyalty experience

Promote your loyalty program in-store:
Help your customers take advantage by placing signs in-store to promote the loyalty program, including a QR code that links to your Yotpo-powered in-store module, or custom-built mobile app.

Customer-led loyalty experience:
The in-store module can be customized in Yotpo and is optimized for a customer-led loyalty experience in-store, on the customer’s smart mobile device. Customers can quickly create an online account with your store, access their account without needing to remember their password, and quickly view their status and available redemption options.

Points that are redeemed in-store are turned into a Square POS discount code that will be entered into the POS. Customers can change their minds and initiate a return of the coupon for points so they can use them on future online purchases - as long as the coupon was not already used in Square.

The shopper experience will differ according to the type of shopper that’s using the app:

Loyalty opt-in rules for in-store purchases:
Your Loyalty Opt-in strategy works the same for in-store and online purchases. This means that if your setting in Yotpo is to reward all purchases, any in-store purchase that includes a customer (that has an email associated with them) will be rewarded.If you choose the eCommerce platform account strategy, the same will apply to in-store purchases, and customers who do not have an online account will not receive points, even if they identified themselves and have a contact in the Square directory.This integration does not support custom / API-based opt-in in-store.

Train your in-store team:
Educate your in-store team (clerks) to ensure the customer is always added to an order and has an email address in Square to ensure the smooth operation of the loyalty program, otherwise, points will not get rewarded and redemptions may go unreported within Yotpo.

Awarding Loyalty points

Points for purchases: If you have a Points for purchases earning rule set up in Yotpo, shoppers will get awarded loyalty points the same online and in-store. It is important to note that shoppers will only get rewarded for purchases in which they identified themselves to the clerk and had (or provided) their email address (which is the same one they used for their online account if they have one).

Returns / Refunds: Shoppers who return products in-store will get their points back automatically once the refund is processed. MultiConnect is only in charge of sending refunds made and returned in a physical store (on Square). Buy online return in-store or Buy in-store and return online are not supported through MultiConnect (however if you are syncing these refunds back to the original platform of purchase through another method, Yotpo will return the points as it normally does).

VIP Tiers
VIP tiers will behave the same in-store and online (double points or any other perks will happen automatically on Yotpo's end). 

Shopify and Generic eCommerce platform merchants onlyIf you installed Yotpo Loyalty on Shopify or a generic eCommerce platform you may also exclude by order tags Create different earning rules with different rewards based on store location using the [Location Name] tag. For example, you can use a tag like [Soho] to provide customers who shop at the Soho location more exclusive rewards.

Redeeming Loyalty Points

Shoppers will be able to redeem loyalty points in-store towards fixed amount discounts only in-store. Product redemption and variable redemption are still available online.

Redemptions will be made by shoppers using the in-store module. Loyalty points are deducted once a shopper makes redemption in the in-store experience. 

The in-store module will display a code the shopper needs to show to the clerk. The code is a 6-digit alphanumeric code that is set to one-time use only.

The clerk should enter the code manually into Square POS

1. Tap Rewards > Redeem Rewards > Use Code.
   2. Enter the coupon code your customer has provided.
   3. Select the coupon to apply it to your customer’s cart.
   4. Add the customer to the transaction after the code is applied.

Redemption Reversal
If the shopper decides not to complete a purchase after redeeming points in-store, they will be able to hold on to the coupon until their next in-store purchase, or initiate a ‘Redemption Reversal’ which will give them back their loyalty points to be used on any future redemptions.
Multiconnect will first verify in Square that the coupon was not used and invalidate it for future use.