An ice cream shop loyalty program has to work differently from a café's, because the whole year is won in a handful of warm months. The customer who comes in three times in July is your most valuable regular, but if the card only pays out in September, just as you close, it has missed the point. Here is how to shape the program around the season, and how to keep your members through the winter.
Why an ice cream shop is its own case
Most loyalty advice assumes a customer can drop by every week, all year. An ice cream shop does not work like that. The season is short, the weather decides a lot, and a big share of your customers are tourists or people who happen to walk past on a sunny afternoon.
That creates three concrete problems:
- Pace. A customer has to be able to reach a reward while the season is still running.
- Groups. Ice cream is rarely bought alone. A family or a group of friends queues together, and one person pays.
- The break. When you close for the winter, months go by without the customer seeing you. That is where most seasonal businesses lose their regulars.
A good program handles all three. Plenty of this applies to other seasonal businesses too, and the food truck loyalty guide shows how a business with changing opening days holds on to its customers.
Set the stamp goal from the length of your season
The most important number is how many stamps the card needs. Work backwards from your season instead of copying the ten stamps that are standard in cafés.
Picture an ice cream shop open from April to September, roughly 26 weeks. A good regular might come every other week, which is 13 visits in a season. With a goal of 10 stamps, that customer earns one reward, and not until week 20. With a goal of 6, they earn two, and the first arrives in week 12, in the middle of summer.
Stamp goal | Rewards per season | First reward |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | 2 | Week 12 |
| 8 | 1 | Week 16 |
| 10 | 1 | Week 20 |
| 12 | 1 | Week 24 |
These numbers are an illustration, not an industry average; your own season and customers decide yours. The point holds, though: a lower goal means the reward lands while it is still warm, and the customer actually gets to feel rewarded. A goal of 12 means the first reward arrives just before you close.
What should one stamp be worth?
MightyLoyalty can award stamps in three ways, and you pick one when you set up the program.
One stamp per visit is the simplest. The customer gets one stamp whether they buy one cone or five. It is quick at the counter, but the parent paying for the whole family earns no more than someone buying a single scoop.
One stamp per item often suits an ice cream shop better. Staff enter the quantity when they scan, and you name the unit yourself, for example "ice cream" or "cup". The family buying four cones gets four stamps, and whoever pays for the group has a reason to use their card every time.
Stamps per amount spent fits if you also sell cakes, coffee or tubs to take home, so the basket varies a lot.
With per item and per amount, you can cap how many stamps a single scan can give. That protects you from typos and from the school class that would otherwise fill a card in one go.
Rewards that suit ice cream
The obvious reward is a free ice cream, and it works. It costs you the ingredients, not the menu price, and everyone understands it instantly. Other options:
- An extra scoop or topping on the next order, as a small reward along the way.
- A large tub to take home, as a bigger reward for the most loyal customers.
- An ice cream that can only be used next season, as a reason to come back in spring.
The last one is the most interesting for an ice cream shop, because it works for you during the break. More general ideas on reward value are in the guide to choosing a stamp card reward.
Sign-ups in the queue
An ice cream shop has an advantage most businesses envy: a queue. People stand still for minutes, reading signs. Use that time.
Put the QR code where people wait, not only at the till. The customer scans it, the card opens in the browser, and there is no app to download. That matters for tourists and passers-by, who would never install an app for an ice cream. The QR poster placement guide covers where a sign actually gets noticed.
Then ask staff to say one short line at payment, something like: "Want a stamp? You're set up before your cone is ready." When joining takes less time than choosing a flavour, more people say yes.
Keep your members through the winter
This is where an ice cream shop wins or loses its program. When you close in September, the card is still on the customer's phone with every stamp they collected. The stamps do not disappear, and the customer picks up where they left off when you reopen. But they have to remember you exist.
Put the QR code in the queue and sign up members from day one.
A low stamp goal, so the reward comes while it is warm.
Tell customers their stamps are kept for next season.
The card stays on the phone. Say nothing, or very little.
One message to every member: we are open again.
The last few weeks before closing are a good time to tell customers their stamps will be waiting next year. A sign at the counter and a line at payment are enough.
The message that matters most is the one you send when you reopen. With email marketing, or push and announcements, you can reach every member at once: "We open on Saturday, and your stamp card is ready." These are add-ons on Standard from 19 DKK a month each and included in Pro. How to write a message people actually read is covered in the guide to push notifications.
Do not send a stream of messages in winter, when nobody can come in anyway. One message when you reopen, and perhaps one as the first warm weekend approaches, is worth more than ten about offers no one can use.
What does it cost?
MightyLoyalty costs 99 DKK a month on Standard and 249 DKK a month on Pro, both excl. VAT, with unlimited members and unlimited stamping. Paid yearly, it is 990 DKK or 2.490 DKK a year. You can try every Pro feature free for 14 days with no payment card, and there is no setup fee and no binding period. See what the card looks like for your customers on the stamp card app page.
Frequently asked questions
Do customers lose their stamps when the shop closes for winter?
No. The stamps sit on the customer's card, and the card stays on their phone while you are closed. When you reopen, they scan the same card and carry on where they left off. Say so out loud in the last weeks, so nobody assumes their stamps are gone.
Should tourists get a loyalty card too?
Yes, as long as it is easy for them. Many tourists come back several times during a holiday, and some return the next year. Because the card opens in the browser with no app, it costs them a moment. Keep the stamp goal low so a holiday week can add up to a small reward.
How many stamps should an ice cream loyalty card have?
It depends on your season and how often your regulars come. Work backwards: count the weeks from opening to closing, and choose a goal that lets a good regular reach the first reward mid-season. In the example above, 6 or 8 stamps gave a first reward in week 12 or 16, while 12 only paid out in week 24, just before closing. Your own numbers are the real answer.
