Notice before taking payment?

[skafte]

Hi there,

We have a problem with staff taking payment before putting together an order. We know for a fact that we upsell a lot more if we take payment as the very last thing.

I was therefore wondering if it's somehow possible to force some kind of pop-up or similar at checkout just before taking payment with a custom message asking the employee if they've remembered to take payment as the last thing?

I've already put a post-it note up next to the till, but I'd like to integrate a reminder within Square as well as people just go blind to post-it notes 🙂

Has anyone in here had the same problem, and if so, how did you get around it?

[frances_a]

Hello @skafte 👋

While the exact solution you are looking for is not currently available, I am curious to learn more about your business and the workflow your staff follows because I am confident we can find an appropriate workaround for you. 

Let me know what you're selling and why it's important to put the order together first. I'll start thinking of something and tagging sellers who might have some ideas! 

Thank you. 

[skafte]

Thanks @frances_a,

I run a small take-away-only coffee shop. It's like a hole in the wall; people come to the window, place an order, wait for it there and then go on their way with their coffee and cake.

Once someone has placed an order the barista then has to go and make the coffee and collect the items for the customer. In this time we upsell quite a bit if people haven't already paid for their order as they find more stuff in the window that they would like. If they pay as soon as they place their order, then it's very unlikely that they will decide to buy more.

I have put up a little sticker on the iPad we use for taking payments reminding staff to take payment last, but despite that it appears to be really hard for some to shake the habit of taking payment first. I'm therefore keen to find out if something can be done within the Square checkout process to remind people to take payment as the last thing.

I hope you can help me find a solution – as it would also be in Square's own interest to take larger payments.

Many thanks and all the best,

[Lou8]

Hi @skafte, thanks for providing more details about your business!

Setting up a customised reminder on your Square app would be a feature request at this stage. You can file it on our Ideate page, which is monitored by our Product team.

Based on what you've described, I think Square for Restaurant, especially the Open Bill feature, would be a good solution to what you're trying to achieve.

With Square for Restaurant you'll be able to create an open bill, add an item to the bill, send this item to the printer and keep adding items while the first item is being prepared. The "Pay" button isn't located on the main screen so your staff won't accidentally process the order before the customer can order more. In addition, the bill will stay opened until it's paid.

Trying the Restaurant mobile POS demo on our website might help you get a better idea of how the solution works. Note that the demo displays a floor plan, but you can customise your own POS so it doesn't have a floor plan.

You can also take a look at the following support articles :

• Set up Square for Restaurants
• Take Orders

I hope this helps get you rid of your sticky note ! Let me know if you have any questions 🙂.

[skafte]

Hi there @Lou8,

Many thanks for your help.

I'm afraid we'll have to keep using sticky notes for now as I believe that switching to Square for Restaurants will, for us being a takeaway coffee shop, cause a lot of confusion in every other regard. On your website it also says:

"...Businesses like coffee shops, bakeries and food vans that don’t require these features and want a solution for simpler operations choose Square Point of Sale."

Many thanks though and I hope to see this feature in the future! -it would, for our matter, definitely lead to more and faster sales; ultimately resulting in higher earnings for Square 😉

[Lou8]

No problems @skafte 🙂. 

I can understand how switching to a different POS and learning the new features might not be ideal in your case. 

Let me know if you ever want to give it a go, and I'll be happy to provide more information !