QR code loyalty scheme for small businesses

Customers join by scanning the QR code at your counter, then collect stamps by showing a QR code on their phone. No paper cards, no app to download and no card reader.

What is a QR code loyalty scheme?

It's a stamp card that uses QR codes instead of ink. Two codes are involved. Your shop has one, printed on a poster, which customers scan once to join. Each customer then has their own code on their phone, which your staff scan whenever they have earned a stamp.

Doing it that way round matters. If customers stamped their own card by scanning a code on the counter, anyone could photograph it and collect stamps from home. In RewardForge the customer's code expires after 10 seconds and only a staff login can scan it, so every stamp is given by someone at the till.

Customers don't need an app. The card opens in their phone's browser, and Android users can add it to Google Wallet.

How it works

Four steps. The last one happens on every visit.

1

Create your programme

Sign up, add your logo and a picture of the reward, and choose how many stamps it takes.

2

Print the QR poster

The app makes a poster with your QR code. Print it for the counter, window or tables, or copy the join link to share online.

3

Customers scan to join

They point their phone camera at the poster, sign up with their name and email, and their stamp card appears.

4

Staff scan to stamp

The customer opens their card and shows their code. Staff scan it to add a stamp, and scan again to hand over the reward when the card is full.

Why use QR codes for a loyalty card

What changes for you and your customers compared with a paper card.

No app download

The card runs in the browser, so customers don't have to find anything in an app store before they get their first stamp.

Stamps can't be copied

The customer's stamp code expires after 10 seconds and only staff can scan it. A photo of the code, or of your poster, won't earn a stamp.

No cards to print

You print one poster instead of a box of cards, and there's nothing to reorder when you change the offer.

You know who your regulars are

Every stamp is recorded against a customer, so you can see who comes in, how many stamps they have and when they last visited.

Nothing to buy

Staff scan with the phones they already carry. There's no tablet, card reader or till integration to set up.

Google Wallet

Android customers can add the card to Google Wallet, so it's right there when they get their phone out to pay.

QR code loyalty cards vs paper stamp cards

Paper cards are cheap and familiar. This is where they fall short.

QR code loyalty card

  • Works on any smartphone with a camera
  • Can't be left at home or lost
  • Stamps can only be given by staff
  • A list of your customers and their progress
  • Google Wallet on Android
  • No cards to reprint
  • Optional referral bonuses
  • No limit on customers

Paper stamp card

  • Easily lost or left at home
  • Stamps can be faked with a lookalike stamp
  • No record of who your customers are
  • Reprinting when you run out or change the offer
  • Can't go in a digital wallet
  • Staff have to check cards by eye
  • No simple way to reward referrals
  • Cards end up in the bin

Where it works well

Any business where the same people come back regularly.

Cafés and coffee shops

"Buy 9, get the 10th free" works just as well on a phone. Customers who come in most mornings fill a card quickly.

Restaurants and takeaways

Give regulars a free starter or dessert after a set number of visits. The stamp goes on when they pay.

Shops

Bakeries, delis, gift shops and bookshops. You decide what earns a stamp: every visit, or every purchase over a certain amount.

Barbers, hair and beauty

Stamp each appointment and give a free cut or treatment after, say, six visits.

Set up your QR loyalty card

30 days free, then £14.49 a month. No payment details needed to start.