A busy grand opening is a great start; the second visit is what builds your business. Use this three-phase plan to prepare your loyalty card, opening offer and team before the first guests arrive.
The problem with the opening high
The first few weeks mainly show curiosity. Once the wave fades, you see who stays. Many founders respond with rushed promotions. Use opening week instead: you’re unlikely to meet so many first-time guests in so little time again.
“20 percent off everything on opening day” fills the shop at a low margin. Queues can spoil the first impression, and normal prices can feel expensive afterwards. Choose an offer that needs a second visit. Coming twice is the start of a habit.
Phase 1: two weeks before
Prepare the card before your first guest arrives. Set the reward, calculate the stamp goal around visit frequency and design the card. The guide to how many stamps your card should have helps with the calculation. Then print your counter QR code. Opening week won’t leave time for it.
You don’t have to start from scratch. The pages on a digital stamp card for your industry show which reward and rhythm suit your kind of shop. For the design, pick one of the 72 stamp card templates and adjust it with your logo and colours.
Practise once with your team. Everyone adds the card to their phone and stamps it once. Five minutes make the steps familiar before opening day.
One sentence for everyone. For example: “We’ve just opened. Want to start collecting right away? Scan this, add your name and date of birth, and the card’s on your phone.” A sentence any part-timer can say in a few seconds beats any flyer.
The stand goes by the till, not by the door. On opening day the wait is long, and waiting time is scanning time. More in the QR stand playbook.
Phase 2: opening week, a head start instead of a discount
Give opening guests a head start instead of a percentage discount: two stamps on their first visit instead of one.
The idea draws on a café field study of gifted progress. Kivetz, Urminsky and Zheng (2006) gave customers either a card with 10 empty fields or one with 12 fields, 2 of them already stamped. The effort to reach the reward was identical: ten purchases. Yet the customers with the head start completed their cards faster. What’s been started is hard to abandon. A bonus on a card whose target stays the same also shortens the route to the reward. We explain the full study in the psychology of stamp cards.
A card with visible progress gives guests a reason to return before curiosity fades. The bonus only costs you something when they return often enough to fill the card.
Two additions that work well in opening week:
- A come-back voucher with a start date. Instead of a discount today, a small extra with the next coffee, valid from week two to the end of week four. That puts the second visit right in the window when curiosity fades.
- Learn names. Anyone who comes twice in the first week is a candidate regular. A “good to see you again” on their second visit works better than any promotion.
Phase 3: weeks three to eight, the real test
Now you find out who stays. Three things to do in this period:
Count second visits. Use the stamp log to check how many guests returned on separate days. Two starter stamps count as one visit. Issuing lots of cards tells you little on its own. If they haven’t changed since the first visit, review the experience, your offer and opening hours. Ask guests what would make another visit easier. Free shows cards in circulation and stamps given. From Start, the customer list and stamp log show how often individual guests have been stamped.
Remind people of the card once. If you send push messages to your cardholders on Pro, week three or four is the right time for the first one, on a quiet day. For example: “Open for three weeks now, and you were here from the start. This week there’s a slice of fresh brioche with your coffee.” One message, no fireworks. More wording ideas are in the push campaign ideas.
Adjust early. If few guests get past three stamps, the goal may be too distant. With a digital card, change the stamp count or reward in the app. There is no reprint. Cards already in progress keep their existing stamp target.
The four most common mistakes
- Percentages off everything. A full shop, a thin margin, no reason to come back.
- The card comes later. “We’ll do that once things calm down” means the biggest wave of first-time visitors has passed without a single card in circulation.
- Too much at once on opening day. Prize wheel, balloons, raffle, new till, new team. Something gets dropped, and it’s usually the one sentence about the card. A soft opening with friends and neighbours a few days earlier takes the pressure off.
- Only looking at the opening. Opening week is the sowing. Whether anything grows shows between weeks three and eight, and that’s exactly when you still need energy for the shop.
What it costs
Set up your Treubar stamp card free before opening. Free includes up to 20 customer passes, a limit a busy opening can reach quickly. Start for €7.99 a month incl. VAT removes it. Push messages are available from Pro. For reward costs, see is a stamp card worth it?.
Frequently asked questions
Soft opening or a big opening day?
Ideally both, in that order. The soft opening is your team’s dress rehearsal, stamping included. The official opening day then brings the wave, and everyone knows what to do.
How long should the head start run?
One week is enough. If new guests get two stamps on their first visit throughout the first six weeks, they see it as normal rather than an opening bonus.
Is an opening discount worth it at all?
For building regulars, a benefit on the second visit is especially useful. Give it a clear redemption window, such as weeks two to four, so guests can plan their return.
What if it’s a reopening after a change of owner?
Your predecessor’s old paper cards are an opportunity, not a problem. Offer to move people’s progress onto your new card. It costs you a few stamps and shows the old shop’s regulars from day one that they’re welcome with you.
Get ready for the second visit today
Set up your Treubar card before the soft opening. Choose the reward, print the QR code and practise stamping with your team. You will be ready when the first guests arrive.