The three formats, side by side
A small shop's loyalty card is nearly always one of three things: paper, an installed app, or a pass in the wallet already built into the phone. What separates them is what happens after it is handed over.
| Signal | Paper punch card | Dedicated app | Pass in the phone's wallet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Join friction | Handed over at the till | Store search, install, account | One scan, one Add, no install |
| If it is lost | Progress gone; nothing to look up | Reinstall and sign in | Re-issue from the member record |
| Identifying the holder | Staff recognition, or nothing | An account they stay signed into | A code bound to one member |
| Updating after issue | Not possible; reprint | Ship a release, wait for installs | Issuer pushes a change; pass refreshes |
| Cost to run | Printing, stamps, reprints | Build, two platforms, store fees | No print cost; it sits in the plan |
| Fraud exposure | Stamps copyable, cards transferable | Shared logins | Serial tied to a member, but a screenshot still scans |
Paper is cheapest to start and worst to operate. An app is the most capable and the hardest to get installed. A pass sits between them — the usual default when you cannot ask people to install anything.
How a wallet pass actually works
The pass is issued once, from a scan or a link, into the wallet app that came with the phone. It then lives beside boarding passes and tickets, which is the whole advantage: that screen already gets opened. When the balance changes, the issuer pushes an update over the air.
The limits deserve stating. A pass shows the state last pushed to it, so an offline phone can show a stale balance. Holding a pass does not prove you are the member, so a forwarded screenshot still scans. And it has to be added — one tap some people never take.
Rewardfinity issues a hosted member card that works in any browser. Google Wallet is available through its configured path. Apple Wallet remains in activation testing, with public launch dark pending the required physical canary. Confirm the exact channel state before printing signage.
What to put on the card, and what to leave off
One test for every element: does it help someone glancing at a lock screen, or a staff member glancing across a counter?
Put on the card
- The balance, in one unit — stamps or points, never both.
- The next reward, and how far away it is.
- A scannable code identifying the member.
- Shop name, and where to ask a question.
Leave off the card
- Anything you would not print on a receipt: a birth date, an address.
- A promotion with an end date, which goes wrong and stays visible.
- The full terms, or a cash value you would have to reissue to correct.
- Icons in place of words, which a screen reader cannot announce.
If the unit is undecided, settle that first — it changes every line on the card, and the points versus stamp cards comparison is a shorter argument than redesigning a live pass.
Designing for a space the size of a stamp
A pass gives you a logo, one image, and a few short labelled fields. Long labels truncate on a narrow phone, and the platform decides casing, not you. Colour behaves differently on each platform: the same hex sits over different chrome, one derives text contrast from the background you supply, and a lock screen at low brightness is a harsher test than a design tool at full. Safest recipe — a solid mid-dark background, a transparent logo, no hairline detail, and a real test on one device of each kind.
The customer without a smartphone is a real segment
Older regulars, people on basic handsets, anyone whose battery has died. A program reachable only through a wallet pass designs them out, and nothing in your reporting will show how many, because they were never enrolled to be counted.
- Keep the supported email lookup or member code, so identification never depends on a phone-number search.
- Let the counter enrol someone in seconds without an email address, which is what the in-store flow is for.
- Keep printed cards mapped to the same record, so paper is a format, not a second program.
- Respect the operating system's text size, keep contrast high, and label fields with words.
Migrating from paper without destroying progress
The failure mode is predictable. You switch the digital card on, a regular arrives with a half-full paper card, and an unbriefed staff member says it no longer counts.
- 01Set a cutover date and an honour window.Ninety days is a common choice, not a measured rate.
- 02Credit paper progress on sight.You never issued proof, so do not demand it. Count, credit, take the card back.
- 03Decide the remainder rule first.Say whether a converted card crossing the threshold carries the extra forward.
- 04Give staff one sentence.Bring the old card, we will move your stamps across in one scan.
- 05Log each conversion as an adjustment.An auditable entry answers a dispute months later instead of guessing.
Sizing the honour window
Assumptions, the owner's own: an eight-stamp card, about 300 handed out last quarter, roughly 40% of those still in circulation, about three stamps on a typical open card, and a reward that costs the shop about CA$2.20.
The arithmetic: 300 × 0.40 = 120 open cards. 120 × 3 = 360 stamps to carry across, or 360 ÷ 8 = 45 rewards on those averages. The ceiling is one reward per open card: 120 × 2.20 = CA$264 if every card were honoured in full. Substitute your own counts.
What you collect, and what that obliges you to do
A paper card knows nothing. A digital one creates a record: an identifier such as a phone number, visit times, often amounts, sometimes which staff member served. Useful — and also a file about a person who did not think hard before handing it over.
Collect only what the program needs, usually one contact field. Say at joining what it is used for, in a sentence rather than a policy page. Be able to export or erase a record on request, a legal obligation in several markets. Rewardfinity keeps an audit log and ships export and anonymisation. Consented email, SMS, and WhatsApp are merchant-composed Messages on operator-enabled provider paths; their callbacks distinguish acceptance from delivery. Web push separately requires member permission and records the gateway response. See the feature list for what holds what.
Questions merchants and customers ask
How does a digital loyalty card work?
A member record is created when the customer joins, usually from a scan at the counter. The card is a view of that record — a pass in the phone's wallet, or a hosted web page. Staff scan the code and the balance changes on the server.
Do customers have to download an app?
Not for a wallet pass or a hosted card: both open in software already on the phone, so joining is a scan and one confirmation. A dedicated application is a different product — find it in a store, install it, create an account, then earn a stamp.
What happens if a customer loses their phone?
Nothing is lost, because the balance lives in the member record rather than the device. Use the supported email lookup or have the customer re-open their member card, and the balance is unchanged. Paper has no equivalent: a card left in an old coat is gone.
Can a loyalty card go in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet?
Google Wallet is available through Rewardfinity's configured path. The Apple Wallet path is built but remains in activation testing, with public launch dark pending the required physical canary. Members can use the hosted card in any browser regardless of either wallet state.
How do I switch from paper punch cards without losing stamps?
Stop issuing paper on a set date, keep accepting old cards for a fixed window, and credit whatever stamps a customer shows rather than demanding proof you never gave them. Decide whether a converted card crossing the threshold keeps its remainder, and log each conversion.
What about customers who do not have a smartphone?
Keep a path that does not need one. A member code or staff-assisted email lookup can identify the account, and a printed card mapped to the same record covers anyone who prefers paper. Paper stays one format of a single program.
Decide the record first, then the format.
The card is the easy part. What it counts, and what happens when it fills, is worth an afternoon.