App onboarding for merchants

Your published apps on the Clover App Market help improve the way merchants do business. The best way for an app to help a business is by creating a predictable app journey to success.

When we review your app, we test the onboarding experience as if we are a Clover merchant. If we cannot predict how to perform the core functions of your app, there could be issues with onboarding which will require you to rework the app.

At the minimum, follow these steps to ensure that merchants have a good onboarding experience:

Create a predictable onboarding flow for merchants

Great onboarding helps merchants use your app faster. An app that is easy to set up and use can lead to recurring subscriptions, memorable experiences for merchants, and great ratings and reviews on the App Market.

To help merchants with onboarding faster:

Provide all necessary instructions

If your app has five buttons with different functions, explain how each function can help the merchant. Similarly, if there is a benefit to using the app in a certain way or at a certain time, state that explicitly.

Be upfront about any additional setup

This could involve requiring merchant setup specific to a business use case or simply using a specified license key to have full access to the app. If merchants cannot use the app unless they complete a certain step, be explicit about that.

Submit meaningful app screenshots

Your app screenshots (submitted on your app’s Details page) can help merchants even before they have installed your app. Meaningful app screenshots help merchants in making decisions about installing and subscribing to your app.

Onboarding inspiration

Look at the onboarding flows of apps that you enjoy using. These examples can be a great source of inspiration for building an onboarding flow for your app.

Auto-populate sign-up forms for merchants

With the merchant read permission, you can retrieve Clover merchant information by calling the needed /v3/merchants endpoints.

We expect that when merchants use your app, all merchant-related information is automatically populated in any form that the merchant is expected to fill.

Generalize the experience for all merchants and bank channels

Apps on the Clover App Market are for all Clover merchants. We do not restrict any merchant or channel from installing your app. Ensure that you do not impose any such restrictions on use.