Stamp collecting
When people spend roughly the same each time
Ten coffees, one free. Simple, visual, and understood immediately. Strongest where purchases are frequent and basket sizes vary little: cafés, bakeries, fast food.
Loyalty card system
Which loyalty card system fits you?
Stamps, points or tiers? The choice is not a matter of taste — your business type and your basket size decide it. Here is what each one does.
What is a loyalty card system?
A system that keeps track of who buys from you and how often, and gives them something back for it. Call it a loyalty card, a loyalty card system or a points system — it is the same thing. A paper stamp card is one too, it just never tells you how many people use it and gives you no way to reach someone who stopped coming.
- It identifies the returning customer, rather than counting transactions.
- It gives them a reason to come back to you rather than to the shop next door.
- It shows you how many return, how often, and who has drifted away.
Three kinds, three situations
Point collecting
When basket sizes vary a lot
Points scale with the amount spent, which is fairer. Good where a guest spends 2,000 one day and 20,000 the next: restaurants, salons, shops.
Tiers
When you have a small, high-spending core
The guest moves up a level, and at the higher level their spend is worth more. It works once you have enough members for the levels to mean something. It sits on top of stamps or points.
In Revino the choice is not final: you can switch between stamp and point mode at any time, and tiers are a separate switch.
What does it cost?
There are two costs, and the second is the larger one: the monthly fee for the system, and the cost price of the reward. Always cost the reward at what it costs you, not at its menu price — that difference decides whether the whole thing pays.
Look at it by business type
Common questions
What is the difference between a loyalty programme and a loyalty card system?
In practice nothing — only the wording. 'Loyalty card system' is more common in retail, 'loyalty programme' in hospitality. They describe the same thing.
Do I need plastic cards?
No. The card lives on the guest's phone in the Revino app, and from there it can be added to Apple or Google Wallet. Nothing to print, nothing to replace.
How long does making a loyalty card take?
Making a digital loyalty card is not a print job: you set the rewards and the stamp count, upload your logo, and the card is ready. That is usually an afternoon, not weeks.
What is the difference between a stamp and a points system?
With stamps every purchase counts the same; in a points system the amount spent decides. If people spend roughly the same each visit, stamps are simpler; if the spread is wide, points are fairer.
How many customers should I have before starting?
There is no lower limit, but tiers and segmented campaigns start to work once you have a few hundred members. In the first weeks, stamps or points alone are enough.
What happens to my paper cards?
Run a transition period where both work and offer the switch at the counter. Existing stamps can be entered into the new system by hand.