Loyalty Register glossary
Stamp card
A loyalty card, paper or digital, that gives one stamp per qualifying visit or purchase and a reward when the card is full.
A stamp card is a loyalty card that gives one stamp for each qualifying visit or purchase and a reward when the card is full, for example a free sandwich after 8 stamps. A loyalty stamp card works the same way as a punch card, and the two names are used interchangeably. It can be paper, kept in a wallet, or a digital stamp card held in an app or a phone’s wallet.
Updated · By Loyalty Register Editorial TeamRelated terms
What design choices does a stamp card involve?
Five decisions shape it. What earns a stamp: any visit, a specific item, or a minimum spend. How many stamps the reward needs. What the reward is: a free item, a discount or a choice. Whether stamps or cards expire. And whether the card starts with a stamp or two already filled in, which many businesses do because a card that already shows progress tends to feel easier to complete.
You can also choose between a single reward at the end and several rewards along the way, such as a free drink at 4 stamps and a free meal at 10. Milestones give customers an earlier win but add cost.
How many stamps should a stamp card have?
Work back from how often your customers visit. A card should be finishable within a few weeks or months for a typical regular, or most cards will be abandoned. A coffee shop seen several times a week can ask for 8 to 10 stamps; a hair salon visited every six weeks needs far fewer. More stamps lower the cost of each reward, but past a point they stop changing behavior because the reward feels out of reach.
What does a stamp card cost?
The reward cost is spread over the purchases needed to earn it. In a hypothetical coffee card with 10 stamps at $5 per coffee, a completed card represents $50 of sales and a reward with a $5 menu price, or 10% of tracked spend. The real cost is lower, because the business pays only the cost of the coffee, and some cards are lost or never finished. That unfinished share is breakage, and it should be estimated rather than counted on.
How are digital stamp cards different?
A digital card adds stamps when the customer scans a code or identifies themselves at checkout, so nothing is lost or forgotten, and many work as a wallet pass without an app. It also gives the business data a paper card never could: who its regulars are, how often they come, and when someone stops visiting. That makes it possible to send a reminder when a card is nearly full, or a bonus stamp to a customer who has not visited in a while. Digital cards are also much harder to fake than paper. If you switch, honor paper cards already in circulation for a set period.
What should you watch?
A stamp card counts visits, not value, so a small purchase earns the same stamp as a large one unless a minimum spend applies. Make sure staff follow the same rules, since stamps handed out freely become an unplanned discount. If you change the card’s terms, honor stamps already collected, and state any expiry clearly on the card or in the app.