Digital membership cards

A digital membership card puts the member’s name, plan and Member ID in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. Members stop turning up without their card, and you stop printing, posting and replacing plastic ones. Gyms, clubs, museums, libraries, co-working spaces and societies all use it the same way: show the card, get scanned, walk in.

Joining and getting the card

Each program has its own sign-up page and QR code. Put the code at the front desk, on your website or in the welcome email you send new members. New members fill in their name and email address and add the card to their wallet in one tap. If they change phone, they get the card back from the same page with their email address.

Plans, tiers and expiry dates

Show the plan, tier or home club beside the member’s name, and add fields for anything else that matters at the door, such as guest passes, the number of adults and children, or a locker number. Give the cards a fixed expiry date, or a period from the day each member joins, such as 12 months. After it, Apple Wallet and Google Wallet both show the pass as expired.

Checking members in

At the door or the front desk, staff scan the card with the Stow Cards Merchant app. The app finds the member and confirms the pass, so nobody searches a spreadsheet while a queue builds. Staff can also look a member up by Member ID, name, email or phone number. Every scan is logged, and the console charts scans by hour so you can see your busy times.

Reaching members

To tell members something, send a campaign that updates every card at once, or a message to one member’s card. On iPhone the message can appear on the lock screen; on Android the Google Wallet card updates in place. Add your locations and the card can surface on the iPhone lock screen near them, which is handy on the way to a class or a match.

Apple Wallet and Google Wallet

In Apple Wallet the member’s name is the main field, with the plan or club beside it, and there is room for up to four fields on the front with a QR or Aztec code, or two rows with PDF417 or Code 128. In Google Wallet the card shows the member’s details under your logo, with your artwork or Stow’s gradient as an optional banner. Terms and contact details can go on the back of the pass.

Moving from plastic cards

You don’t have to switch everyone on the same day. Put the sign-up QR code at the front desk and in your next member email, and let members add the digital card as they come in. Staff scan the new card with the app and keep accepting the old one until the plastic cards have run their course.

New members get the digital card from day one, so the number of plastic cards only goes down. When a member asks for a replacement, send them to the sign-up page instead of printing a new card: the digital one is ready in a minute and can’t be left at home.

More than one location

Add your locations under one account and give staff role-based access. Members use the same card at every location, and each scan is recorded against the location where it happened.

New to wallet passes? Read how to add your loyalty card to Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, see how Stow Cards works in four steps, or find out why a wallet card beats another app.