Customer profiles - duplicate detection, merging, and customer-controlled contact info

[tomven]

Posting this as a feature request for Square to consider, based on years of using the platform and seeing opportunities for improvement.

In particular, having full customer profile pages in the dashboard (rather than the pop-out widget) would be amazing for usability.

We’re regularly challenged by duplicate customer profiles in Square. This often happens because customers use different emails or phone numbers (personal vs work), or make small changes like capitalising a letter in their email.

These duplicates create issues for:

• Booking reminders and future appointments
• Preventing blocked customers from bypassing restrictions
• Maintaining accurate contact details for communication and payments
• Businesses being confused with appointment history and notes
• Customer loyalty and statistics

We recently had a blocked customer join our waitlist by creating a near-identical profile with a slightly altered email. This highlights a potential gap in duplicate detection and blocked customer logic.

Current gaps and challenges

• When merging two profiles, it’s unclear which fields will become the primary data
• Sellers cannot specify which phone or email should be retained as the main contact info
• No support for multiple emails or phone numbers in a single profile
• Customers cannot update their own contact details easily (eg I had to change my own personal Square email via the business side recently)
• Better UI for customer profiles (ie their own page in the dashboard instead of the current tary / slide out style)

Suggested improvements

• Better duplicate detection logic (possibly using AI to flag potential duplicates and notify the business via dashboard or app push)
• Ensure email field is not case sensitive
• Apply blocked status across all profiles linked to the same email or phone
• Make customer profiles universal across Square Pay and all Square businesses
• Enhanced profile merging controls (allow sellers to choose which email and phone number become primary)
• Display a clear preview of merged data before confirming
• Support for multiple emails and phone numbers in one profile
• Customer-controlled contact info
• Allow customers to update their own details via their Square profile
• Sync changes across all businesses they interact with

Keen to hear others’ thoughts on this topic too! After years of using this amazing platform, I think these improvements could be a massive enhancement for everyone.

[DinaLRosenberg]

We also have 1000s of customers and think all your suggestions would be amazing improvements.

[KoastalAU]

Would be an Important and needed update to the customer fields.

[HandsomeMuscle]

Wow this is a VERY detailed and well thought out request. I agree 100%. We had a client re-book under her “middle name” to get a promotion she wasn’t qualified for. The system needs to detect duplicates and reject them. She used the same phone number and a different email and middle name as first name and got in. It should reject if the phone number is the same. ALSO, what’s the point of loginng in to book with phone number if they can’t instantly rebook with their existing contact information and if it’s the same credit card, don’t make them have to enter it again. Or let them book switch Apple Pay instantly for no show protection.  It would be great if clients could edit their contact information like changing email or phone AND when they do it, or if we do it. It showed as a note in the profile of the date and time it changed and by whom. LOG everything. 

[SVLFever]

I agree with you @tomven .  I have over 55000 customers in my database right now and the number of undetected duplicates is astounding to me.   The reasons causing it are what you mention. 

It would be nice if Square would improve the AI here to better detect the duplicates at least, and implement other changes you have mentioned.   If this thread could gain some traffic, that could happen.