Stamp card setup is not the hard part. Creating the card, generating the QR code, and printing the poster take about ten minutes with no technical experience and no point-of-sale integration. What takes real thought is the five decisions underneath, because those are the ones you have to live with once guests start collecting.
This guide assumes you have already settled on a stamp card. If you are still weighing stamps against points or tiers, how to start a loyalty program walks through that choice first.
Decision 1: What the reward actually is
The reward is what motivates customers to take part. It needs to feel worth waiting for, while still making commercial sense for you.
The three shapes that work in cafes, restaurants, and salons:
- A free product: a coffee, a pastry, a starter, or one menu item.
- A discount on the next visit: 20 to 30 percent off the bill or a fixed amount.
- An upgrade: a larger size, an add-on, or a special treatment.
Imagine a cafe offering a free coffee after ten purchases. The customer knows from day one exactly what is waiting. It is concrete, easy to explain, and staff can describe it in one sentence. That is what you are aiming for.
A useful rule of thumb: the reward should feel worth more to the customer than it costs you. A coffee that costs you a few kroner to make, but that the customer receives as a genuine gift, sits close to ideal. A percentage discount rarely lands the same way, because a discount is arithmetic and a free coffee is a treat.
Keep the description short. "Free coffee after 10 visits" beats a long sentence with conditions attached.
Decision 2: How many stamps it takes
The stamp goal is the number of visits required to earn the reward, and it is the number most people get wrong first. Too low and you give away margin you did not need to; too high and customers stop believing they will ever get there.
A practical rule: choose a number your typical customer can reach within two to three months. Five to ten stamps works well for businesses with frequent visits. A hair salon where clients come every six weeks might work with four to six; a cafe with daily regulars can go up to ten.
Start lower rather than higher. You can adjust upward once you see how quickly people actually collect. Raising the goal later is much easier than lowering it, because a reduction feels like moving the goalposts on customers who are already partway there.
Decision 3: What the card looks like
Once the reward and the goal are settled, the build itself is quick. The card should reflect your brand: your logo, your colors, not the platform's. Your best customers open this screen repeatedly, so it is a small piece of marketing rather than a utility.
What to have ready before you start:
- Your logo (a JPG or PNG is fine)
- Your primary brand color (a hex code or a color sample)
- Your business name and a short description of the reward
Most platforms walk you through this in a simple flow. You pick the design, write the reward description, and set the goal. A QR code and a printable poster are then generated automatically, ready for the counter. Our stamp card app page shows what that setup produces, so you can see the card, the poster, and the dashboard before you start filling anything in.
The whole build typically takes five to ten minutes if you have the logo and color ready in advance. For what to compare if you have not chosen a platform yet, the nine questions to ask a provider covers the ones with no acceptable wrong answer.
Decision 4: What your team says at the counter
Even a well-built program fails if the team does not use it. The good news is that there are only two things staff need to know, and demonstrating both takes minutes.
- How to stamp: they open the staff scan screen on a device at the counter (a phone or a tablet), and the customer holds up their QR code to the camera. One tap, one stamp.
- What to say: a single sentence covers it. "Do you have our stamp card? Scan this QR code and start collecting towards a free [reward]."
The wording matters more than it looks. Staff need to ask actively, not passively. Not "we have a loyalty card if you want one" but "do you have one already?" The first invites a polite no; the second invites a scan.
Keep the initial briefing to five or ten minutes. Show it in practice, let everyone try it once, and leave a short written note with the two steps so anyone on a later shift can look it up.
Decision 5: Where the poster goes
Launch is mostly about visibility. Customers will not join something they do not know exists, and the poster is doing most of that work in week one.
- Put it where people wait. The cash desk and the exit are the two best spots, because that is where a guest has thirty idle seconds and a phone already in hand.
- Ask the first thirty guests directly. That creates early momentum and signals to the team that this is being taken seriously.
- Lead with the reward. "Seven of ten stamps and your next coffee is free" lands better than "we have a loyalty program."
Make sure the poster sits at eye level and is not hidden behind a menu stand, a cake display, or a product rack. To see how the same choices look in a running program, we walk through our own restaurant's setup in the Maiya Nepali Kitchen write-up.
After launch: the two adjustments that matter
Once the program is live, let it run and look at the numbers after two to three weeks. A digital card gives you visit frequency, sign-ups, and redeemed rewards in one view, which is enough to see whether anything needs changing.
Lots of sign-ups but few rewards redeemed? The goal is probably too high. Rewards redeemed almost immediately? Consider raising it in the next period.
Those two or three small adjustments in the first quarter are what separate a program that quietly fades from one that keeps building. To see how loyalty fits alongside the rest of your marketing, read our guide to restaurant marketing in 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What should I choose as a reward if I am unsure?
Pick your most popular low-cost product: the classic coffee, a pastry, or a single menu item. It is easy to communicate, everyone understands it immediately, and the cost to you is low compared with the value the customer places on it. You can always add more sophisticated rewards later, once you have seen what motivates your specific customers.
Can I change the reward or stamp goal after I have launched?
Yes. Customers who already have stamps keep them, but future visits count under the new structure. It is good practice to give advance notice of the change, around a month if you can, so nobody feels they have lost something they had already earned.
What does it cost to get started?
Standard is 99 DKK per month and covers a full digital stamp card program with QR poster, dashboard, and unlimited stamping. Pro, with personalized offers and advanced analytics, is 249 DKK per month. There is no setup fee and no binding period, and you cancel in the portal, so the cost of finding out whether it works in your business is one month.