Definition
Digital stamp card
A digital stamp card is a loyalty card that lives on a customer’s phone instead of in their wallet. Staff add a stamp by scanning a code at the counter, and once the card reaches a set number of stamps the customer has earned a reward.
Also called digital punch card, electronic loyalty card.
How it differs from paper
The mechanic is identical and deliberately so — buy nine, get the tenth — because the whole reason punch cards survived every wave of loyalty technology is that nobody has to explain them. What changes is everything around the mechanic: the card cannot be lost, forged with a stationery-shop hole punch, or left in a coat pocket in November, and the business ends up with a record of who is coming back rather than a shoebox of half-punched card.
What "digital" does not have to mean
It does not have to mean an app. The version most cafés want issues a pass to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, which are already on the phone, so joining is a scan and a tap with no download and no account. Products that require a customer to install something before their first stamp lose most people at the counter, which is why the distinction matters more than it sounds.
What it costs to run
Two costs, and the smaller one is the software. The larger is the reward itself: your food cost multiplied by how often a card completes. A café giving away a coffee that costs 60p to make, to 120 customers a month, is spending more on the giveaway than on any subscription. Working that figure out before choosing a product is the single most useful thing an owner can do.
Questions
- Do customers need an app for a digital stamp card?
- Not with a wallet-based one. The card is added to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet from a QR code, with no download, no account and no password. Some products do require their own app, which is worth checking before you commit.
- What happens if a customer changes phone?
- The balance is held by the café, not on the handset, so re-adding the card from the same code restores it. Nothing is lost by deleting the pass or replacing the device.
Related terms
Wallet pass
A wallet pass is a digital card held in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet — the same container as a boarding pass, event ticket or bank card. Unlike a screenshot, a pass can be updated by whoever issued it, so a loyalty balance changes on the phone without the customer doing anything.
Punch card
A punch card is a paper loyalty card that a business marks — with a hole punch or a rubber stamp — once per visit or purchase. When the card is full, the customer earns the reward printed on it.
Stamp
A stamp is a single credit on a loyalty card. Staff add one when a customer makes a qualifying purchase, and collecting the required number — often ten — earns the reward.
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