Loyalty card reward ideas: stamps, points or tiers

Most loyalty cards that get forgotten have the same problem: the customer can’t tell how far away the reward is, or it’s so far away it doesn’t feel real. The fix isn’t a bigger prize. It’s a structure that suits how people buy from you, a goal they can reach, and a card that shows them how close they are every time they open it.

In the Pass Designer, a loyalty card starts with a choice of program style: Points, Stamps or Tiered. You can switch between them while you design, so it’s worth thinking through which one fits before you publish.

Stamps: one product, a simple promise

A stamp card is the paper punch card on a phone: buy a set number, get one free. Customers understand it at a glance, and staff can’t get it wrong, because every visit is one stamp.

It suits businesses where most visits look alike: a coffee, a haircut, a car wash, a class, a lunch. If most visits cost about the same, one stamp per visit is fair to everyone.

Reward ideas that work:

• A free coffee after nine paid ones (the classic “buy 9, get 1”).
• A free wash after five washes.
• A free class after eight classes, or a free trim after six cuts.
• Something people want but rarely buy for themselves: a pastry with the coffee, a treatment with the haircut.

How it works in Stow Cards. In the Pass Designer you set “Stamps to fill the card” anywhere from 2 to 30, and pick the stamp icon and layout. The pass shows a stamp grid that fills in as staff add stamps with the Stow Cards Merchant app at the till. When the last stamp lands, the customer gets your card-completed message instead of the usual one. When they claim the reward, staff redeem it from the member’s screen: redemption only goes through on a full card, it resets the grid to zero, and the customer gets your reward-redeemed message.

Points: when baskets vary

Points reward spending rather than visits. A customer who buys a loaf earns less than one who buys a week’s bread and a cake, which feels fair when your prices range widely.

It suits bakeries, bookshops, grocers, gift shops and anywhere a basket can be one item or twenty.

Reward ideas that work:

• A single target that’s easy to say out loud: “300 points gets you a free bag of coffee beans.”
• A short menu of rewards at different prices, such as a drink, a cake and a gift box, so customers can cash in early or save up. Put the menu on the back of the pass or by the till.
• A reward that brings people back on a quiet day, like a free pastry with any coffee before 10am.

How it works in Stow Cards. In the Notify step, “Default points per visit” sets how many points each “add points” tap gives at the till (staff can still change the amount for a bigger basket), and “Reward target” sets the balance that earns a reward. When a customer redeems, staff take the points off on the same screen by entering a negative amount. A balance never drops below zero, so a mistyped deduction can’t leave a customer owing points.

Tiers: status for your regulars

Tiers turn a points balance into a level, like Silver, Gold and Platinum. Instead of one free item, a higher tier unlocks a better standing with you.

It suits businesses with a core of very loyal customers who would value recognition: a wine shop, a salon, a gym, a specialty roaster.

Reward ideas that work:

• Perks that cost you little and feel special: early access to new stock, priority booking, a tasting evening, a member price on one product line.
• A small welcome gift on reaching a new tier.
• A top tier that only your most loyal regulars can reach.

How it works in Stow Cards. Choose Tiered and the Notify step gives you a list of tiers, each with a name and target points, starting from Bronze at 0, Silver at 500 and Gold at 1,500, which you can rename, change, add to or remove. A member’s tier is the highest one whose target their balance has reached, and staff see it on the member’s screen in the scanner app. When an adjustment moves a member up a tier, they get your tier-upgrade message in place of the usual one, with {tier} filled in with the tier they just reached.

A tier follows the current balance. If you take points off for a reward, the tier can drop with them.

That makes tiers best for status perks that don’t spend points. If you want customers to cash points in for items as well, a plain points card is usually the clearer choice.

Which one should you choose?

• One main product at a similar price: stamps.
• Baskets that vary a lot: points.
• A loyal core you want to recognize, with perks that aren’t free items: tiers.

If you’re torn, start with stamps. They’re the easiest to explain at the till, and you can design a points card later once you know what your regulars buy.

Set a goal people actually reach

The right goal comes from how often your regulars visit, not from what sounds generous. Work it out from a typical regular:

• Count the visits. If a regular comes in twice a week, a 10-stamp card fills in five weeks. A 20-stamp card takes ten weeks, long enough for the card to be forgotten.
• Work out what you give back. A free coffee after nine paid ones gives back about a tenth of what the customer spent. Decide what share you’re comfortable with, then pick the goal and the reward together.
• Make the first reward come quickly. Customers who reach one reward have seen the card work. A shorter first goal, or a first stamp on the day they join, gets them there sooner.
• Keep it easy to say. “Ten stamps, free coffee” or “300 points, free beans” is something staff can repeat at every sale.

Show progress on the pass

A reward people can see is a reward people chase. Stow Cards updates the pass on the customer’s phone whenever their balance changes, so the card can always show how close they are.

• Stamp cards show the grid itself: seven filled stamps out of ten says everything.
• Points and tiered cards can carry a countdown. In the Pass Designer’s Fields step, add a field such as “Reward in” and give it the value {{remaining}} pts. It shows the points left to your reward target, or to the next tier on a tiered card, and updates with every change. {{goal}} shows the target itself.
• Messages can count down too. In the Notify step, a message like {delta} points! Only {remaining} to your free coffee. reaches the customer each time staff add points. Tiered programs can also use {tier} and {nextTier}.

For more on how the update reaches the phone and what the customer sees on the lock screen, read how live pass updates work.

The short version

Pick stamps for one product, points for mixed baskets, and tiers for status perks. Set a goal your regulars reach in weeks, not months. Then put the countdown on the pass, so every time a customer opens their wallet they can see the next reward getting closer.