Where to put your loyalty QR code so customers scan it

Most shops put their loyalty QR code in one place: taped beside the card reader. It is one of the worst spots in the store. At the moment of paying, the customer has a card or a phone in one hand, often a coffee in the other, and a queue behind them. Nobody stops there to scan a code and fill in a form.

This guide covers where a sign-up code earns scans, what to print beside it, how to make sure it scans, and how to see which spot is working. The examples use Harbor Coffee, our demo café.

Put it where people wait, not only where they pay

The spots that work have three things in common: the customer’s phone is already out or close at hand, they have a minute with nothing else to do, and they can see what they get for joining. Think of waiting for a drink, sitting at a table, the salon chair or the gym’s front desk. Keep a code at the till too, because that is where staff can mention the card, but don’t make it the only one.

Placement ideas, and when each one works

A counter card at eye level

A small stand-up card beside the till, angled toward the customer. Flat on the counter, a code ends up under cups, receipts and elbows. A counter card works best when staff point to it as they take the order, so the customer can scan while they wait.

The pickup point

In a café, the place where people wait for their order is often the best spot in the shop. Their phone is already in their hand and they have a minute or two. Put a card where they stand, at eye level, not behind the coffee machine.

Tables

A table tent reaches people who have sat down and have time. One per table, facing the seat, works for cafés, bakeries and restaurants. A customer who joins at the table can show the card when they pay.

Reception desks and stations

In a salon, barbershop or gym, put the code at reception and in the waiting area, and a small card at each station where customers sit for a while. A customer under the dryer has more time than anyone at a coffee counter.

Receipts and takeaway bags

A code on a printed receipt or a sticker on a takeaway bag gets scanned later, at home or on the way. Expect fewer scans than in the shop, but it costs almost nothing and reaches the customers who were in a hurry.

The window or door

A window sticker reaches people walking past who are not customers yet. On its own it gets few scans, so make the reward the biggest thing on the sticker and keep the code large enough to scan from a step or two away.

Online

The code opens your sign-up page, and the page has a plain link too. On your website, your social profiles and your newsletter, share the link rather than a picture of the code: on a phone a link is one tap, while a code needs a second screen to scan.

In your team’s hands

The Stow Cards Merchant app keeps your sign-up QR code on its Home screen, one tap away. At a quiet moment, staff can open it, turn the phone or tablet round and the customer scans it with their own camera. For a customer who would rather not fill in the form, staff can add them in the app with their name and email address, and the customer then scans a code on the staff screen to put the card in their wallet.

What to print beside the code

A code with no words around it gets ignored. Three short lines are enough:

• The reward, in plain words. Harbor Coffee’s counter card in the picture above says “A free coffee at 300 points”. Say what customers get, not that you have a loyalty program.
• How little it takes. The form asks for a name and an email address, plus a phone number or birthday only if you switch those on. Say so: “Scan, add your name and email, done.”
• No app needed. “Adds to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet” answers the question most people have before they scan.

Keep logos and decoration off the code itself. A code with a picture over its middle may scan on your phone and still fail on an older one.

Print it so it scans

• Use the full-size file. When the Stow Cards Pass Designer creates your program, the Download QR button on its last step saves the code as a 1024 by 1024 pixel image, sharp enough for a counter card or a table tent. The console shows the same code on the program’s page. If you need a print file again later, make a QR code from your sign-up link with any QR code generator: it opens the same page.
• Make it big enough. About 3/4 inch (2 cm) across is a sensible minimum for a code people scan up close. Go much bigger for a window or a poster across the room.
• Dark on light, with a margin. Print a dark code on a white or pale background and leave a clear border around it. Avoid light codes on dark backgrounds, and busy photos behind the code.
• Matte, flat and well lit. Glossy laminate throws back the shop lights, and a code wrapped around a cup or folded over an edge is harder to read. Keep codes out of dark corners.

Test it before you print a batch

1. Scan it with two phones. Use an iPhone and an Android phone, each with its normal camera app. Your sign-up page should open straight away.
2. Publish first. Until a program is published, its page opens as a preview but does not take sign-ups, so publish it before the codes go up.
3. Settle the link. You choose the sign-up link when you publish, and you can change it later in the Pass Designer, but codes already printed keep the old link, which then stops working. Print once the link is final, and reprint every code if you ever change it.

See which spot works

The console’s dashboard shows sign-ups day by day, and the Analytics page shows where new members came from, with customers who signed up on their own counted apart from members your staff added.

The simplest test is one change at a time. Add the pickup-point card this week, leave everything else as it was, and compare the week’s sign-ups with the week before. Give each change a week or two, because a quiet Monday or a rainy Saturday can hide the difference.

If you want a count for each spot, give each printed code its own tag. Add ?qrSource= and a short name to the end of your sign-up link, such as https://enroll.stow.cards/harbor-coffee?qrSource=pickup for the pickup point and ?qrSource=window for the window, then make a QR code from each link with any QR code generator. Under Acquisition sources, Analytics lists each tag on its own line among your top sources, such as “QR code: pickup” and “QR code: window”. For a link you share online, ?source= and a name, such as ?source=newsletter, gets a line of its own the same way, shown as “Link: newsletter”.

Make it part of the routine

• Offer the card to anyone who comes back a second time. A word from staff does more than any sign.
• Save the app’s code for quiet moments, rather than typing a customer’s details at a busy till.
• Replace a scuffed card or a missing table tent with the same file. As long as the link stays the same, every copy works.

Getting started

If you don’t have a card yet, design one in the Stow Cards Pass Designer, free and without an account. Stop issuing passes manually explains why a QR sign-up beats hand-issued cards, and how to add your loyalty card to Apple Wallet and Google Wallet walks through the whole setup. The digital stamp cards and digital loyalty cards pages cover the card itself.

Questions shop owners ask