How do I send messages and offers to my customers?

Sending is paused at the moment. We're changing how customers choose to receive messages from shops, and sending stays off until that's in place. Nothing you've written is lost and no allowance is being used up — the Connect tab will tell you when you open it, and your monthly count will be exactly where you left it when sending comes back. Stamp nudges from the Loyalty screen are paused for the same reason. Everything else is unaffected: receipts still reach your customers, stamps still accrue, and rewards still work.

The rest of this article describes how sending works, and will apply again when it is switched back on.

Customers choose whether shops can send them offers and news. Most make that choice when they set up the app; some allow individual shops from a receipt. You can message the ones who said yes — no email list needed, and no list to buy. The Connect tab is where you talk to them.

Someone who taps your stand and reads their receipt in a browser is not a follower and cannot be messaged. They can still see your business card and your offers on the receipt itself — that is how you invite them to install the app.

Messages are written in the app. The Connect page on the ReceiptWave website still shows your monthly allowance and every message you've sent, but it no longer has a form for writing one. Stamp nudges are still sent from Portal → Loyalty → Send a nudge.

Go to the Connect tab. The card at the top shows how many messages you have left this month.
Pick a message type: We're here, Offer, What's new, Thanks, Heads up, or Event.
Write your message (up to 280 characters). For an Offer, add the discount — % off, $ off, free item, or buy one get one.
To add a picture (if pictures are switched on for your business): under Picture, tap the Camera icon to take a photo or the Photo library icon to choose one you've made. We check it automatically, which takes a few seconds; tap Remove picture (the bin icon under the picture) to send without it.
Tap Preview to see exactly what customers will see, then Send to customers.

Tips

The number shown is the people who will get a notification. They have the app, they follow you, their notifications are on, and they have allowed offers. It is the same list the send uses. A few more may see your message in their Messages tab without an alert — customers who allowed offers but turned notifications off.
Someone can stay a follower and still stop your messages — by muting your offers, stopping messages from you, or never allowing offers in the first place. Turning notifications off stops the alert, not the message. They keep their receipts and stamps either way; only the messages stop.
A customer who turns offers off stops seeing your messages straight away, including ones you sent earlier. Your own list of sent messages and your monthly count don't change.
A message to a stamp group reaches only that group — in the notification and in the Messages tab.
Zero means nobody has allowed messages from you yet — either nobody has been in, or people have and none has said yes. The screen says so in those words.
If we can't work the number out, the screen shows no number at all rather than a zero. A blank is "we don't know right now", usually a connection problem; it is never a quiet way of saying nobody is there.
Messages expire after 7 days, so "this weekend only" offers work well.
Pictures: one picture per message, up to 10 a month on the Business plan. The screen shows how many you have left. Location and camera details are removed from every picture, and pictures are deleted 90 days after you send them. If our automatic check flags a picture it isn't sent; choose a different one, or send your message without it. See Why was my message held or not sent?
If Connect says "Couldn't load everything on this screen", part of the page (your customer numbers, your allowance or your receipt banner) didn't arrive. Check your connection and tap Try again. You can still pick a message type and send while it shows.
Sent messages (from View sent messages on Connect) lists what you've sent; the Send a stamp nudge button is at the bottom of that screen. Tap Send this again on a message to reuse it: pick the message type, and the words are already filled in, ready to change or preview.
A stamp nudge sent from the website counts towards your monthly messages, the same as one from the app, and can't be sent once they're used up. A "your reward is ready" nudge never counts and always goes out.
You have a monthly message allowance — the Connect tab always shows what's left and when it resets.
Some messages wait before they go out, for example one sent at night waits until 8am, and some can't be sent until you change them, for example a discount over $50 or 50%. The app tells you which and why. See Why was my message held or not sent?
If a payment to ReceiptWave is still outstanding 14 days after it failed, customer messages and stamp nudges pause until the payment goes through, and the Connect tab tells you why when you go to write one. We email you before that happens, and your receipts are never affected. See What happens if I cancel my plan or a payment fails?

Did this answer your question? Still stuck? Contact us