Ask the Squaremates team: How can Square’s AI help your business? | Q&A, November 12

[abhiroop]

Hi Square Community,

I’m Abhi (@abhiroop), Product Manager for Squaremates (formerly called Managerbot). Squaremates is now available to Square sellers in the United States, and I’d love to answer your questions about it.

Squaremates is AI built into Square. It uses the Square data already in your account (like sales, items, customers, team, locations, and more) to answer questions about your business in plain language. It can also help with tasks like drafting a marketing email, updating items, or building a report. You review and approve proposed changes before they’re applied.

Join me and @Donnie-M , Square Champion and owner of Table & Ledger, for a Squaremates Q&A. Ask us how to get started, what tasks Squaremates can assist with, how it handles your Square data, when it requests approval, or what features you want to experience in the future.

Post your questions in this thread between now and November 12, then come back on November 12 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET for our answers.

All sellers are welcome to participate, though Squaremates is currently only available in the United States.

Not sure where to start? Here are a few ideas:

“I run a coffee shop. How could Squaremates help me during a busy week?”

“Can Squaremates compare my item sales this month with last month?”

“What changes can Squaremates make, and when does it ask for my approval?”

“Can Squaremates help me create a promotion for customers who haven’t visited in a while?”

“I run a [type of business]. How could I use Squaremates to [task or goal]?”

Try it before the Q&A

Open Square Dashboard and look for Chats in the left navigation. You can also watch the video below or read the Squaremates guide in the Support Center.

Leave your questions below. Donnie and I look forward to hearing from you!

[JTPets]

Squaremates [Managerbot] is great!

[abhiroop]

@JTPets John is great!

[sacredheart926]

I love the Squaremates [manager bot]! Literally has made everything so much easier! From Scheduling to creating items and adding variations, literally anything you need it to do! (side note AI is not always accurate so always double check it before anything) 

[abhiroop]

@sacredheart926 100%. It's really like any software, the better your inputs the better your outputs. On occasion, I'm guilty of providing very limited context and it'll end up doing something unexpected (sometimes good, sometimes not so good).

[Donnie-M]

@sacredheart926 What makes it easy for me is that you phrase the change the way you would say it out loud. I would rather teach a manager to talk through what they want than walk them through tap here, click there. The complicated part gets handled by the computer.  In restaurants being able to make changes quickly is crucial, and having multiple people able to make those changes give you part of your time and freedom back!

[SVLFever]

I have had GREAT success using Squaremates [Managerbot].  From analysis of my F&B costs, to identifying in-depth business trends, scheduling suggestions, price changes and a slew of other things.  It even did a business comparison analysis with all sorts of great recommendations.  I'm really starting to wonder if there is anything the Squaremates [Managerbot] can't do!

[abhiroop]

Thanks @SVLFever , great to hear the cost and trend work is useful.

I love it, but there are certainly things it can't do (either for safety or because we're still working on it).

A few examples:
- It works from the data in your Square account and public web information, so it can't see systems outside Square. But we're working on integrations
- It can search the web, but it can't take actions on other websites (yet). Also working on this
- Some Square actions aren't available yet. When that happens, the response says the task isn't supported. We're prioritizing our most popular features, but soon everything will be available.

If it says it can't do something you need, post it here.

Since food and beverage costs are a big one for you, try asking Square: "Which menu items have the lowest margin after food cost this month?"

[Donnie-M]

@SVLFever The thing I tell people is that it cannot read your mind. It only knows what you need when you ask. When in doubt, just ask it straight: hey, what can you do to help me clean up my catalog? It will tell you, and that is usually the fastest way to find out what it can do.

[SVLFever]

I agree @Donnie-M .   I guess the best advice I could give people is that if you have any sort of thought about anything you are wondering about in your business, ask Squaremates [Managerbot].  Even if the first question is something vague, the Squaremates [Managerbot] can prompt some GREAT follow up questions to help refine your question and get the information that you need.   It's really a strong tool for a business if utilized correctly.  Nice work @abhiroop !

[TCSlaguna]

My challenges with Squaremates [Managerbot] are the same I have with Appointments, Reporting and Square APIs: 

Squaremates [Managerbot], make me an Appointments report for last week that shows a Service Provider's appointments, clients, payment for service, tip amount, paid/unpaid. 

Squaremates [Managerbot] creates report. 

Response: 

For October 25–31, I found 81 appointment records: 62 matched to paid checkouts, 8 cancelled, and 11 whose payments couldn’t be assigned confidently. Confirmed matches total $_____ in service payments and $____ in tips; those are partial totals, not the full week’s collections.

I’m building a visual report with provider totals, appointment-level details, and clearly flagged payment exceptions. 

The report shows most marked: 

Matched by customer, service, provider and appointment time

Many marked as: 

No matching payment found; payment status remains unverified.

Customer has paid receipts, but none could be tied uniquely to this appointment.

Customer has a paid receipt, but its appointment association could not be verified.

Several paid receipts exist; no unique appointment-time match.

So the system is guessing the appointments -> transaction link, because Square doesn't provide the connection. 

We cannot payout our Service Providers if we do not have an accurate report of what services were rendered, what services were paid. 

I have had the same issue with Claude + Square APIs.  @tranguyen, it seems Squaremates [Managerbot] has the same issues as we discussed with Square APIs. 

I am hoping @abhiroop and the Squaremates [Managerbot] team can address this because its been an ongoing issue of Square not having this report for 8 years now. The report Squaremates [Managerbot] is creating is amazing. Now we just need the accuracy. 

[abhiroop]

Thanks @TCSlaguna , this is a really clear write-up, and I hear you on the stakes. Payouts depend on an accurate report, and I know you've been asking for this one for a long time.

I'm taking this to our Appointments and reporting teams, and I'll post back here when I have an update. 

[TCSlaguna]

Thanks @abhiroop!

[goxmonumentbar]

Thanks for having this AI tool as a part of the Dashboard. We have couple of retail locations for Spirits & Wine including a sports bar. We are using it to create 'receive only' purchase orders and update retail inventory from invoices and also using it for some email marketing.
It will be a great help if this bot can design recipe for a cktl and associated ingredients in the item screen.

[abhiroop]

Thanks @goxmonumentbar  good to hear purchase orders from invoices and email marketing are working across your locations.

On cocktail recipes: Squaremates can draft a recipe and ingredient list in chat today, and it can add that text to the item's description after you approve it. Try: "Write a recipe for an Old Fashioned with the pour for each ingredient, then add it to the description of my Old Fashioned item."

[Donnie-M]

@goxmonumentbar You have already figured out that there is so much you can do with Squaremates.  This is an example of how you can explore the abilities to get even more detail with the tools that are there now.  I am sure the team has more improvements they are working on every day but here is what I would do.

Put the recipe in the description with exact pours, two ounces bourbon, a quarter ounce simple, two dashes bitters. Once that is in the item, ask it to pull last week's Old Fashioned sales and total the bourbon you poured. It is not true inventory, but it gives you a usage number to check against the bottle count.  This is that theoretical usage.  If you have a certain allowance for spills etc, then you can have it factor that in.  i.e.  I use a 10% spice factor on certain recipes to account for things I don't track exactly.

Try asking Square, step one: "Add this recipe to the description of my Old Fashioned item: 2 oz bourbon, 0.25 oz simple syrup, 2 dashes Angostura bitters, orange peel. Show me the change before you apply it."

Then step two: "Read the recipe in the description of my Old Fashioned item. Using units sold for the last 7 days, total how much bourbon, simple syrup, and bitters that pour adds up to, and show your math."

When I was exploring this idea with Squaremates here is what it said:

"Yes—if the ingredient quantities are saved in the item’s description, I could read that description when you ask for a usage calculation. You wouldn’t need to repeat the recipe each time.

For example, “2 slices cheddar per burger” gives me enough to calculate theoretical cheese usage from burgers sold. Just “cheddar” wouldn’t give me a quantity, so I’d need clarification.

One limitation: the current description may not reflect the recipe used for older sales. If the recipe changed, we’d need to account for when that happened."

[EdwardP]

I've been using this lil chump for a bit now, and he's great! He can do a lot, and he is taking HOURS of menial, tedious, repetitive tasks off my hands. 

One thing it told me it wasn't allowed to do was upload pictures to products for me. It knew which photo went to which, but said it didn't have permissions. Why? 

[Donnie-M]

@EdwardP Photo management is never as easy as it should be, on any system I have run. I am hoping to see that one added too. Until then, the Dashboard item library is the fastest path I know.

The other trick is using descriptive naming like all_american_cheeseburger_ltop.jpg  This helps sometimes with sorting and finding things when you are digging through files.

[essentialnails]

I run a nail salon, how can Squaremates [managerbot] help count package redemptions for clients (especially in multi-service appointments)?

Can Squaremates [managerbot] be used to help monitor client to client referrals?

What other ways can Squaremates [managerbot] be used in a nail salon setting?

[abhiroop]

Thanks @essentialnails  Here's how Squaremates can help a nail salon today, and where it can't yet.

Package redemptions: Try asking Square: "Show each client's package redemptions last month, including multi-service appointments, and how many sessions they have left."

Referrals: How are you tracking referrals today within Square? Squaremates can only report on data that already exists within Square currently.

A few other prompts salons may find useful:
- "Which services brought in the most revenue last month, and which technicians performed them?"
- "List clients who haven't booked in 60 days and draft an email inviting them back." You review the email before it's sent.
- "Show my busiest days and hours last month so I can plan staffing."

[Orchid]

How can I apply a discount only to certain items?  How can I exclude items from being calculated in the tip?