Square POS → EMR directly · 9 min read
Set up restaurant review requests after a Square payment
Written by Mannie Gill, Founder & Lead Developer at EmbedMyReviews. LinkedInPublished
A restaurant that takes payment after the meal can use EMR’s direct Square connection to send a review request the next morning. The key is attaching a customer with an email before payment completes. This walkthrough combines that checkout habit with location selection, a branded campaign and a real delivery test.
TL;DR
The short version
- The manager supplies Square access and teaches staff to attach the diner’s email before payment. You connect the correct location and campaign in EMR.
- Select The next morning in the Square automation and choose a suitable local sending time. Use campaign duplicate rules for regular diners.
- Anonymous payments and phone-only records cannot use this native workflow. Offer a QR card as an optional way to leave a review.
Worked client example
A neighbourhood restaurant using Square POS
“When a diner pays after their meal, can we ask for a review the next morning? We also want to keep using our QR cards for walk-ins.”
Their starting point: The restaurant uses Square for final bills and has one location. Some diners agree to provide an email; others prefer not to. Staff can attach the customer at checkout before completing payment.
Why this route: Use the native Square connection. There is no reason to pay for Zapier when the completed-payment event already fits. Keep the QR card available for diners whose payments have no usable email.
What happens automatically?
- 01
Diner pays after the meal with an attached customer email
- 02
Square sends the completed payment to EMR
- 03
EMR schedules the review request for the next morning
Choose this when: A restaurant where the Square payment is the final bill after the dining experience and the diner has agreed to an email follow-up.
Choose another route when: Advance deposits, gift-card purchases or payments before the meal. The native connection does not filter by menu item, order channel or service type.
Who does what?
The business owner
Approves Square access, confirms the restaurant’s location and makes customer attachment part of checkout for diners who agree to follow-up.
You, the agency
Builds the restaurant’s campaign, connects Square, sets the next-morning schedule, tests payment-to-inbox delivery and checks activity.
Set up EMR Automations while signed in as the agency owner and working in the intended client location. The business owner handles access to their own software. They do not need your agency login or a daily EMR task.
A message you can send the business owner
“We can connect your final Square payments to a review email the next morning. You will approve Square access and have staff attach the correct customer email before taking payment when the diner agrees to follow-up. I will set up the restaurant’s campaign, test it with our own purchase and monitor it. We can keep QR cards available for diners who prefer them.”
Once it is connected
Staff attach agreed customer details before payment. Square and EMR handle the request. The agency checks integration activity, campaign delivery and credentials; the manager reports checkout or location changes.
Have these ready
- Access to the restaurant’s Square Developer Console and permission to use its production token.
- A tested EMR email campaign for this restaurant, with the correct review destination and local sending hours.
- A checkout process that attaches the diner’s customer profile and email before payment completes.
- A genuine production payment you can test with the owner and your own contact details. Square Sandbox does not exercise this native production connection.
First client? Prepare the review campaign first
From your agency, open Business → Customers → Manage Customers → Open dashboard (or the Customer tab if shown). Select the business location you are setting up.
A campaign is the review message and any follow-ups you want EMR to send. A feedback form controls where the customer is invited to leave their review.
Use Grow → Review Tools → Feedback Forms to prepare the customer’s review destination, then Grow → Campaigns → Request Reviews to create the campaign. Choose its feedback form, message and working sender. Start with one email step for this walkthrough. Add your own test contact through Grow → Campaigns → Invites and verify the message and link.
Set the campaign’s sending window and duplicate-request window. Honour opt-outs. For Google review campaigns, ask eligible customers consistently, leave review gating off and offer no incentives.
Do I need to understand APIs or write code?
EMR already has the Square connection. The owner supplies a production token and you follow the wizard. You do not need Zapier, a separate webhook tool or custom API code for this restaurant example.
A key or token is a private connection credential. A webhook is an automatic notice that something happened, such as a payment completing. Keep connection credentials private; the business owner does not need to share their everyday login password.
The walkthrough
Set it up, step by step
Prepare checkout, then connect Square once. Work through this together the first time.
Together
Choose which restaurant payments should trigger
Use the final bill after the meal. Confirm whether the same Square location also collects booking deposits, gift cards or advance takeaway payments. The native automation follows completed payments and cannot recognise that one line item is only a deposit.
If those payment types are mixed together and must be excluded, use a workflow that can filter a proven completion event instead. Do not promise product or order-channel filtering in EMR’s native Square connection.
Agree a repeat-customer window in the campaign and check for other review messages already being sent after checkout.
Before moving on: The chosen Square location’s completed payments are an appropriate moment to ask about the experience.
Business owner
Attach the diner before taking payment
In Square POS, make customer management available at checkout. Where shown, open More → Settings → Checkout → Customer Management.
Before completing the sale, choose Add Customer, or Actions → Customer. Select the correct existing customer or create one with the diner’s name and email, then save and complete payment.
Ask permission for the follow-up and respect a diner’s choice not to provide an email. Do not assume an address used for a receipt is available to this connection. Check the attached customer record. Adding the profile after payment may be too late for the payment event EMR has already processed.
Before moving on: A safe test checkout has your customer profile and correct email attached before payment.
Business owner
Copy the Square production token
Open Square Developer Console with the restaurant’s account. Open an application or create one named Review requests. Creating this connection app does not require writing code.
In Credentials, select Production, show the Production Access Token and copy it. Enter it into EMR during setup, or share it using your agreed secure credential-sharing method. Do not send the manager’s Square password.
Before moving on: You have a production token for this restaurant’s Square account.
Agency
Connect the restaurant in EMR
From your agency, open the restaurant’s client dashboard and select the correct EMR location. Go to Connect → Integrations → Automations → Connect Square. If already connected, use Manage Square → New Integration.
Give the connection a recognisable name, paste the production token and validate it. Select the restaurant’s email campaign and the matching Square location. Do not choose All locations if other branches should use different campaigns.
Before moving on: The campaign, EMR location and selected Square location all refer to the same restaurant.
Agency
Choose the next morning and activate
In the Square wizard’s timing settings, choose The next morning. Set a time such as 09:00 and confirm the timezone is appropriate for the restaurant. Keep that time inside the campaign’s allowed sending window.
Continue through Create Webhook & Send Test, then Activate Integration. The wizard test checks the connection. You still need the fresh production payment in the next step to prove the diner receives the right message.
Use the automation’s timing for the first request. Do not expect the campaign’s first-step delay to be added again; later follow-ups stay in the campaign.
Before moving on: The Square connection is active with the intended restaurant, campaign and next-morning schedule.
Together
Follow a new payment into your inbox
With the owner, make a genuine test purchase after activation using your own customer email attached before payment. Do not use a real diner as your test recipient. Account for any normal payment costs.
Open the Square connection’s activity in EMR. Find that payment and confirm the scheduled time. Then check the campaign invitation and your inbox after that time. Open the link and verify the correct restaurant’s review destination.
Do not refund the payment before the scheduled request when testing delivery: a refund received while it is still scheduled can cancel that request. If the owner refunds later, remember that a source refund does not withdraw a request already passed to the campaign.
Before moving on: Your test payment leads to the correct restaurant email and review destination.
Together
Give staff a simple checkout routine
For diners who agree to an email follow-up: confirm the customer profile, check the email, then take payment. Staff do not log into EMR or send the review request.
For anonymous diners, leave the QR card available as an optional invitation. Ask for honest feedback consistently; do not offer a reward or reserve the invitation for customers you expect to leave five stars.
Explain that split bills do not identify every person at the table. The automation uses the customer data on each payment. Keep the repeat-customer rule in place to reduce repeated requests to the same diner.
Before moving on: Staff know what to do at checkout and the manager knows who monitors the connection.
Follow one dinner from the bill to the next morning
Illustrative service: a diner finishes dinner at 8:30 pm. With their agreement, the server attaches the correct Square customer and email before taking payment. EMR receives the completed payment and schedules the review request for 9 am the next morning in the chosen timezone. Another table pays anonymously; there is no usable email for this automation, so no automated email is expected. Those diners can use the QR card if they choose.
How to know it is working
Follow the event all the way to a message you receive. A green connection or a successful test response is only part of that journey.
Where to look: Open Automations → Square, click the connection name and look under Recent payments. Then go to Grow → Campaigns → Invites, find the test email and open its activity. Finish by checking your inbox and the review link. In the automation’s activity, Sent means the contact was passed to the campaign; the inbox check confirms the message actually arrived.
When to expect the message: The first request is scheduled for the next morning at the time and timezone selected in the Square automation. The campaign’s allowed sending hours still apply, and its first-step delay is not added again. Follow-up timing stays in the campaign.
Testing again? Use another email address you control for a second successful-send test. Reusing the first address can correctly trigger your duplicate-request rule. Keep that protection on for real customers.
Test 1: Complete a fresh payment with your email attached beforehand
Expected result: The selected restaurant’s Square activity records it. The campaign sends to your inbox at the scheduled time, within allowed sending hours.
Test 2: Check a payment with no available customer email
Expected result: No native email invitation is expected. Check the Square activity rather than treating this as a broken connection.
Test 3: Check repeat payments from the same test customer
Expected result: The campaign’s configured duplicate-request window prevents repeated invitations to that contact while the rule applies.
Test 4: If connecting several branches, test the location selection
Expected result: A payment at a Square location excluded from this connection does not enter this restaurant’s campaign. Each branch should point at its own intended review destination.
If something does not work
The diner got a receipt but no review request
A receipt alone does not prove EMR received a customer email. Check the completed payment’s buyer email or attached Square customer. Make customer attachment happen before payment and test again with a fresh transaction.
The email did not arrive exactly at 9 am
Check the automation’s selected timezone and scheduled time, then the campaign’s sending window, sender and contact activity. The scheduled time is not a guarantee of inbox arrival to the minute.
Deposit customers are getting requests too early
The native trigger follows completed payments, including advance payments. It has no product or service-type filter. Stop using this route for mixed payments until you can isolate an appropriate source event or use a bridge with verified filtering data.
Regular diners get asked too often
Review the campaign duplicate window and any other review systems. A new payment is a new source event, even when the payer is a regular. Keep the contact rule in the campaign and avoid parallel review-request workflows.
At handover, record the connection name, source account, client location, campaign, timing, test result and person responsible for failures. Test again after changing the workflow. Keep passwords, API keys and private webhook URLs out of the handover notes.
Cost, reliability and the simpler alternatives
Cost: No separate Zapier or Make subscription is needed. Budget for the normal Square account and transaction costs, EMR and message delivery. Staff entering or checking the customer email is part of the checkout process; the connection does not create an email for an anonymous payer.
Reliability: Square sends payment notices directly to EMR, which tracks each payment once. A refund or cancellation received while the request is still scheduled in this automation can stop it. Once the contact has been passed to the campaign, the source event does not withdraw that campaign request.
When to use something else: Keep QR cards for diners who prefer to respond on the spot or do not leave an email. Use a bridge only when you need a source-event filter that the native Square integration cannot provide. For appointment businesses such as spas, the general Square guide covers the same native connection with a service-checkout example.