Setting up a loyalty program in under 5 minutes

Most loyalty schemes die in the planning. Somebody starts a spreadsheet about tiers, the conversation moves to whether it should integrate with the till, and eight months later there is still a jar of rubber stamps in a drawer.

You can be live before lunch. Here is the whole thing.

Three decisions that actually matter

1. How many stamps

Ten, unless you have a reason. Ten is easy to say, easy to picture, and lands the reward at a cost you will not notice. Go to eight if your average spend is under £3, and to twelve if you are over £8.

2. What they win

The thing they came in for, in its smallest form. A single scoop, a regular flat white, a small smoothie. Not a discount, not a percentage, not a free upgrade on a purchase. Free, and the actual product.

3. Where the QR goes

On the counter, at eye level, where somebody waiting for change will look at it. Not on the wall behind the till. Not on a table tent at the back. This one placement decision will affect your sign-up rate more than anything else on this list.

Things you can decide later, or never

• Tiers. You do not need tiers.
• Points with variable earn rates. You do not need points.
• A referral scheme. Later, if ever.
• Integration with your EPOS. Later, if the numbers ever justify it.
• An app. See why link-based cards win.

The five minutes

1. Minute 1. Create the account, set the stamp count and the reward text.
2. Minute 2. Set your shop colour and, if you have one, drop in a logo URL. The customer card is branded to you, so it should not look like software.
3. Minute 3. Print the table card with the join QR on it and put it on the counter.
4. Minute 4. Add each staff member with a four-digit PIN and open the staff page on the shop phone. Add it to the home screen.
5. Minute 5. Sign yourself up as a customer, from your own phone, and stamp yourself once. Now you have seen exactly what a customer sees, which is the only way to brief staff properly.

The one sentence staff need

Whatever you do next, give your team a single line to say. Not a script, one sentence:

Do you want to scan our card? Ten and you get a free one.

Sign-up rates in shops are driven almost entirely by whether staff ask. The technology is not the variable. A shop where everyone asks will beat a shop with better software where nobody does, every single time.

What to check after a week

Just two things. Sign-ups per day, which tells you whether staff are asking and whether the QR is in the right place. And second visits, which tells you whether the card is actually bringing anyone back. If sign-ups are low, move the QR and re-brief. If second visits are low, your reward is not compelling enough.

Everything else can wait until you have a few hundred people on the list.