How to set up a loyalty program in Square

Before you start

Square Loyalty is a paid add-on to your Square account — you turn it on from the Loyalty section of your Square Dashboard, and the subscription scales with how many loyalty visits you get. Setup takes a few minutes and doesn't touch the rest of your point of sale.

Step 1 — Open Loyalty in your Square Dashboard

Sign in to your Square Dashboard, then go to Loyalty in the left menu (on some accounts it sits under Customers). Choose Get started to begin a new program.

Step 2 — Choose how customers earn points

Pick the earning rule that fits your business:

• Per visit — a flat number of points each time someone checks out. Simplest for cafés and quick-service.
• Per dollar spent — points scale with the order total. Best when ticket sizes vary.
• Per item or category — points for specific products. Useful for pushing a particular line.

Then set the number of points per visit, dollar, or item — that's the rate customers earn at.

Step 3 — Set your reward tiers

Reward tiers are what those points buy. Add one or more, for example:

• 50 points → $5 off
• 100 points → a free drink

Make the first tier easy to reach, so new members feel progress quickly.

Step 4 — Pick locations and activate

Choose which of your locations the program runs at, review the details, and activate. Your program is now live — customers can enroll at checkout with their phone number, and their loyalty status shows on the receipt.

Step 5 — Add a welcome bonus (optional, but it works)

Here's the gap worth knowing about: Square awards points for purchases, not for joining. So a member who just enrolled has zero points and no reason to come back yet — Square Loyalty has no built-in welcome bonus.

Perk fills that gap. It connects to your Square account, watches for new loyalty members, and credits a welcome bonus — the points you choose — the moment someone joins, automatically and on top of your existing program. Setup is about a minute:

1. Create your Perk account and connect Square in one click.
2. Choose how many points each new member receives.
3. Turn it on — every new member is rewarded from then on.

You're set

With Square Loyalty live and a welcome bonus running, every new member earns from their very first visit — and has a reason to come back for the second.