A loyalty programme gives customers a clear reason to return: every visit brings their reward closer. These five steps help you choose the rules, prepare your team and launch a stamp card that fits your daily routine.
What is a loyalty programme?
A loyalty programme rewards repeat custom under a clear rule, such as “Collect ten stamps for a coffee on the house”. A stamp card is one of the simplest formats: each qualifying visit moves the customer closer to a reward.
The main choice for a small business is whether to reward visits, spending or prepayment. Compare the options in stamps, points or prepaid credit. If you need to attract first-time visitors, see stamp cards and discount apps.
What makes a good loyalty programme?
A good programme offers a clear, reachable reward, is easy to join and fits your team’s routine during a rush. Point tiers, VIP levels and gamification are better suited to corporations.
Step 1: Decide what you reward
Reward the behaviour that helps your business. Not all revenue has the same value:
- Returning (the classic): one visit, one stamp. Right for cafés, bakeries, lunch spots.
- Specific services: one stamp per treatment. Fitting for salons and studios where the basket per visit is similar.
Thresholds such as “one stamp from €15” lead to checkout debates. “One visit, one stamp” takes seconds to explain and leaves no room for negotiation.
Step 2: Choose a reward that passes two tests
Test 1, concreteness: “After ten coffees, the next one is on the house” is clearer than a “surprise”. Customers want to know what they are collecting towards.
Test 2, reachability: use the visit rhythm. Daily coffee: 10 stamps in two weeks. Haircuts every six weeks: 10 stamps take over a year, so choose 5–6. A goal months away motivates; one years away discourages.
An ice cream card should fill in one summer, not three. An extra scoop after 5 stamps fits the short season and families filling several cards at once.
For the full breakdown of how to find the right number for your business, see How many stamps should your card have?; setting the reward itself takes just a few minutes.
Step 3: Choose paper or wallet
Everyone understands a stamp card. Choose where it lives: on paper or in the wallet. Paper is quick to print, but cards and stamps get lost and provide no analytics. A digital loyalty card lives in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet and is stamped by QR scan. Customers scan at the counter and enter their first name, last name and date of birth once. No app needed. See the paper-versus-digital comparison.
The details vary by trade, but the principle stays: stamp at payment. An extra step is easily forgotten. Examples below cover cafés, bakeries, salons and lunch spots. At an ice cream counter, a family’s cards can be scanned back to back in seconds.
Step 4: Launch it at the counter, not on a poster
Often the routine is missing, not customer interest. Three things help:
- One sentence, always the same. “Collecting stamps with us yet? Scan this, enter your name and date of birth once, and the card’s on your phone.” Not a lecture, an offer.
- The QR code sits where people wait: at the till, not on the door. Waiting time is scanning time.
- The team knows why. Explain the logic (regulars carry the quiet months), and have every person create and stamp a card once themselves. Each team member gets their own QR login, so nobody shares credentials, and from the Start plan the stamp log shows who stamped when. For staff privacy guidance, see our guide to the stamp log.
Step 5: Measure three numbers, no more
Check these three numbers once a month:
- Active cards: is the programme growing at all?
- Stamps per week: is it lived at the counter, or forgotten?
- Redeemed rewards: do guests actually reach the goal?
Many cards but few redemptions? Allow time for a full collecting cycle, then review the target and reward. Few cards despite busy trading? Check the team’s invitation and the position of your QR stand. Treubar Free shows cards and stamps. On Start and up, you also get the customer list and stamp log, including every redemption. With paper, you can only estimate.
Loyalty programme examples: café, bakery, salon, lunch spot
Choose a reward that fits your products and how often customers visit:
Café: After ten coffees, the next one is on the house. Each visit counts, whether for espresso or a large latte. Customers stopping on their way to work fill the card in a good two weeks, keeping the goal close. Stamp at payment, when the card is already out. See the calculation and routine on the coffee shop loyalty card page.
Bakery: a loaf of your choice after 10 stamps. At two or three purchases a week, the card fills in roughly three to five weeks. Every purchase counts once, whether two rolls or a weekend cake. The rule stays simple even with a queue to the door at seven in the morning.
Hair salon: a conditioning treatment on the house after 6 stamps. Ten appointments six weeks apart take over a year, hence the lower target. A conditioning treatment or short head massage feels generous, uses little product and costs less than a discount on the haircut. See example figures in is a stamp card worth it? Stamp at the till after treatment, not in the chair.
Lunch spot: a dessert on the house after 8 lunches. Two visits a week fill the card in a month. Lunch for half the office still counts as one visit and one stamp. A prepaid ten-visit pass works alongside it: one handles payment, the other loyalty. For table service, see the restaurant loyalty card page.
More businesses, from ice cream shops to car washes, are covered under loyalty cards by industry.
The three most common mistakes
- An over-ambitious target. Twelve stamps at two visits a month means six months until the reward. Check whether that suits your customers. That’s exactly what happens at a salon that borrows the café’s 10-stamp card. What fills up in two weeks with daily coffee takes over a year with haircut appointments. Always work the target out from your trade’s real visit rhythm, not from gut feeling.
- A programme without an owner. Nobody on the team feels responsible, the QR stand drifts behind the coffee tins, and four weeks later nobody stamps. Name one person who stays on it, who checks once a week whether the stand is still in place and the sentence is still being said.
- Set up once, never touched. Reward and target are hypotheses. If the numbers say otherwise after two months: change them. Digitally, that takes no reprint.
A loyalty programme needs a small, regular routine. The effort is modest, but without it the programme fades.
What does a loyalty programme with Treubar cost?
Free has no fixed end date and needs no credit card: one stamp card, one location, up to 20 customer passes and basic analytics. All 72 templates, full design tools, Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, and unlimited staff logins with roles are included.
As your programme grows, choose the plan that fits:
| Plan | Monthly price | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| Start | €7.99 | Unlimited customer passes, customer list, stamp log and Excel export |
| Pro | €39 | Push campaigns |
| Max | €69 | Up to five locations |
Prices include VAT. Compare all plans.
Your first card takes minutes to set up. Follow the step-by-step guide to creating a digital loyalty card.
Frequently asked questions
Is a loyalty programme worth it for a very small business?
Yes, if customers can visit regularly and the reward fits your margin. A stamp card keeps the rules and workload manageable, so you can start with a small group of guests.
Stamps or points?
Stamps suit repeat visits with similar spending. Points can work well when purchase amounts vary widely. For cafés, salons and lunch spots, “one visit, one stamp” is especially easy to explain.
What if a guest doesn’t have their phone on them?
Most people carry their phone, unlike a paper card. Without it, they receive no stamp for that visit. Their collected stamps stay on the wallet card.
Can I change the reward and target later?
Yes. After two months, check whether the reward and target work and adjust if needed. Digital changes need no reprint. New cards get them immediately. Cards with stamps keep their target, reward and appearance until full and redeemed.
Bring your loyalty programme to the counter
Choose a reward, design your card and invite your first customers. Start free with Treubar, with up to 20 customer passes and no extra app for your guests.