Guide
How to promote your loyalty program
Almost every failed loyalty programme failed at the same point: nobody mentioned it. The software worked, the reward was fine, and the staff forgot. Promotion is a staff habit problem long before it is a marketing problem.
· 6 min read
The counter script
Write one sentence and have everyone use it: "Want a stamp? Ten gets you a free coffee — scan that code." That is it. No explanation of wallets, no mention of apps, no asking for an email. The failure mode is a barista improvising a thirty-second technical explanation, deciding it is awkward, and quietly never doing it again. Give them the words and the awkwardness disappears.
Where the QR code lives
On the counter at the point of payment, facing the customer, at the moment their phone is already in their hand. Not on the wall behind the machine, not on the door, not on a table tent by the window. The single biggest determinant of signup rate is whether scanning requires the customer to move.
Start the card, do not just offer it
A card at zero of ten is an abstraction. A card at one of ten is a thing in progress that people are reluctant to abandon — the same instinct that makes half-finished punch cards live in wallets for years. Giving the first stamp at signup costs you almost nothing and measurably raises the number of cards that get completed rather than forgotten.
Make it the staff's programme
Because every enrolment records who did it, you can see which of your team signs people up and which never mentions it. Used badly that is surveillance; used well it is the basis for a small competition, a round of coffees for whoever signed the most this week, and a reason for staff to care about something that is otherwise extra work for no reward. Programmes with an engaged counter team outperform ones with better rewards and a silent till.
What not to bother with
Posters alone do very little — they are a reminder for people already told, not a recruitment tool. Discount launches teach customers to wait for discounts. Social media posts reach people who already follow you, which is to say your existing regulars. The counter is where signups come from, and every hour spent on the rest is an hour not spent training the sentence.
Questions
- What signup rate should I expect?
- With a script and a code at the payment point, a decent share of regulars within a few weeks. If it is close to nothing, the cause is almost always that staff are not mentioning it, not that customers refused.
- Should I offer a bonus for signing up?
- A free first stamp, yes — it costs little and raises completion. Avoid launching with a discount, which attracts people shopping for a discount rather than people forming a habit.
- How do I get staff to remember?
- Give them one written sentence, put the code where they cannot avoid seeing it, and show them their own signup numbers. Asking them to "push the loyalty thing" reliably produces nothing.
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