Step 1 — Enrollment
The customer scans an enrollment QR, usually printed at the counter or shown on the business's link-in-bio page, and gives a minimal identifier. They receive their own member card with a unique code.
This step decides whether the program lives or dies. Every additional field, confirmation email, or app install loses a share of customers at a counter with a queue behind them. Keep it to one scan and one field.
Step 2 — Awarding a stamp
At each qualifying visit the customer shows their member code and staff scans it. The stamp is recorded against the customer's record, and the updated count is visible to both sides immediately.
Direction matters. When the business scans the customer, a stamp cannot be claimed without being physically present. When the customer scans a code displayed at the register, anyone with a photo of that code can claim stamps from anywhere.
Step 3 — Redemption
At the goal, the card is marked as complete and the customer claims the reward. Staff confirm redemption in the app so the reward cannot be claimed twice, and the card resets for the next cycle.
Decide up front whether stamps expire. Expiry protects against a customer returning after two years with a completed card, but it is also the most common source of complaints — if you use it, say so on the card itself.
Where programs break
Staff who do not offer it. A program nobody mentions at the counter gets no enrollments regardless of how good the software is.
A goal nobody reaches. If the average customer visits monthly, a ten-stamp goal is most of a year, and the card is abandoned long before the reward.
A reward that is not worth the trips. Customers do the arithmetic. If ten visits earn something worth less than a normal discount, they stop collecting.