One way to look at this is that Square is responding to the pain points of small business owners (who generally dislike Yelp) even for things not directly payments related.
But another, more cynical, way to view this is that Square has hired a lot of great talent, raised a bunch of cash, and outside of the payments business which is growing and humming, there isn't enough to do there, or they aren't growing fast enough, so they are just doing a bunch of experiments. It's rare that we get to watch a company just iterate through a bunch of different products so publicly / quickly.
I'm not saying it's bad, but it certainly seems to lack some sort of cohesion or focus; unless that cohesion is "help all small businesses."
I believe this is good for small businesses because it a.) let's you have another direct communication channel with your customers besides the extortionists that are Yelp, etc. and b.) it let's you know that this customer has bought x amount of goods, I should listen to their input. A lot of times small businesses can't associate the dollar amount someone brings in with their customer service and this gives a very clear dashboard of just that. It really puts customer service first in a way but I would imagine the ones paying for such a service already do care about their customers.
Often times feedback is best left anonymously which allows the honest truth to come out. We run a home services company and have experienced this sentiment. Our customers won't likely leave a review for our contractors unless it couldn't be traced back to them. It's a bit different from Square but nonetheless, it's something that should have some sort of effect on Square's end.
Square isn't soliciting reviews for the small business, but instead private feedback. Should the customer subsequently go out and write a review (anonymous or not), the thought process is that the review may be influenced (hopefully positively) by the customer service.
This is a proactive approach to customer reviews as opposed to a reactive one.
I did a write-up yesterday about why Square Wallet failed. I listed the receipt not living up to its full potential as one of the reasons. Their receipts should be a source of interaction between the merchant and customer. Good to see this announced today.
Square certainly has put in the time to understand small business owners pains, and it shows with this new feature. I'm not quite sure how this "takes control" of your online reputation. Maybe you could catch a hate-spewer before they hop on yelp? In my experience people make snap judgements and often post their negative review while at the establishment on their smart phones (e.g. while waiting for their slow hostess or something).
But another, more cynical, way to view this is that Square has hired a lot of great talent, raised a bunch of cash, and outside of the payments business which is growing and humming, there isn't enough to do there, or they aren't growing fast enough, so they are just doing a bunch of experiments. It's rare that we get to watch a company just iterate through a bunch of different products so publicly / quickly.
I'm not saying it's bad, but it certainly seems to lack some sort of cohesion or focus; unless that cohesion is "help all small businesses."