How to make a loyalty card for your business
A loyalty card works when it is simple: a reward people want, a number of stamps they can reach and a way to join that takes ten seconds. Here is how to set one up, on paper or digital, in an afternoon.
3 min read · Updated October 19, 2026
1. Choose a reward people want
Start with the reward, because everything else follows from it. It should be something your regulars already buy and would be glad to get free: the coffee, the haircut, the pizza. A discount on a future purchase works too, but a free product feels more generous and is understood at a glance.
Pick a reward that costs you little and is worth more to the customer. A coffee that sells for €1.80 costs a café a fraction of that in ingredients; to the customer it is still a free coffee.
2. Set how many stamps it takes
Most cards ask for somewhere between six and ten stamps. Fewer than five gives too much away; more than twelve feels out of reach, and a card that feels out of reach ends up forgotten in a drawer.
Think about how often a regular comes in. A bakery customer who comes daily fills ten stamps in two weeks; a hair-salon client who comes every six weeks needs a shorter card, five or six visits, to see the reward within the year.
3. Write down the rule
Decide what earns a stamp and write it down for the team. Most disagreements at the counter come from a rule nobody wrote down.
- What earns a stamp, and whether one visit can earn two
- Whether the reward expires, and when
- Whether a card can be shared with someone else
- What to do when a stamp is added by mistake
4. Design the card
The card is your brand in the customer's pocket. Put your logo and your colors on it, state the reward in plain words and keep the stamps easy to read. A customer should understand it in two seconds: what they get, and how far they are.
With a paper card, print enough of them and keep the stamp at the till. With a digital card in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, you design it once and every customer gets the same card on their phone.
5. Make joining take ten seconds
The best card is useless if nobody joins. Put a QR code where people wait: by the till, on the tables, on the door. Next to it, say what they get in one line.
For the first weeks, ask the team to offer it with every payment. One question at the counter, whether they already have the card, is what turns a sign by the till into dozens of new cards a week.
6. Look at who comes back
After a month, look at the numbers: how many people joined, how many came back for a second stamp, how many reached the reward. If few reach it, the card is too long or the reward too small. If everyone reaches it in a week, it is too short.
A paper card can't tell you any of this. A digital card can: every stamp is recorded, so you see who your regulars are and who stopped coming.
Doing it with Loyalshy
Loyalshy puts the card in your customers' Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, with no app to download. You design it in the dashboard, print the QR code, and your team stamps it with the Loyalshy app on their own phones. It is free for up to 50 customers.