How to create a digital loyalty card for your shop

How Iterum works: a digital loyalty card in 4 steps

1. Create the card

   Stamps or points, design, target and reward.

2. Put the QR code on the counter

   Or send the customer the link.

3. The customer saves it

   In the browser or in Wallet, with no app.

4. Staff confirm the visit

   In «Al banco», with the card’s QR or code.

1. Decide the rule before designing the card

Choose which completed visit qualifies, how many stamps are needed and what the customer receives, then write the rule in one sentence staff can explain at the counter. For example: «one eligible breakfast earns one stamp». This is an example, not a universal recommendation: consider how often your customers come back and what the reward really costs you.

If products or services have different margins, write down the conditions: what is excluded, whether only one visit a day counts, how long the reward stays valid. Decide too who may confirm a visit and who checks redemptions, so nobody at the counter has to improvise.

2. Create the card: stamps or points, target and reward

In Iterum, choose a design, enter the business details and pick the card type: stamps, with 1 to 20 boxes, or points, with a point value and rewards priced in points that you decide. Then describe the reward. Choose the type before inviting customers, because it cannot change once the card has members. Check that the name, instructions and conditions are readable on a phone: that is where the customer will read them.

If you cannot decide on the type, the stamps or points guide compares the two mechanics; if you are starting from scratch, the digital loyalty card guide explains what it is, and the loyalty programme guide helps you set the target and the reward cost. The page includes a 39-second video demo and an illustrative card gallery: preview cards and data are examples, not customer screens or results.

You can prepare the card before paying. To activate the service, choose a plan and start the 7-day free trial: a payment card is required and you pay €0 today. Unless you cancel, the selected plan continues after the trial; pricing and conditions, taxes and renewal are shown before you confirm.

3. Share the QR code and test enrolment

Display the QR code somewhere visible without blocking the counter, or share the card’s link on WhatsApp, by email or in your social profile: it opens in the browser just like the QR code. There is a third way in too, an invitation from a customer: if you switch on Refer a friend, available on every plan and off until you turn it on, each customer finds «Invite a friend» and «Copy the link» buttons on their card page to send their personal link to a friend (the link is also on the back of the pass in their Wallet). Customers have no box to tick: by adding or creating the card they accept the card Terms, and extra rewards and offers are a separate, optional choice («Yes, I want them» or «No, thanks»).

Before printing the QR code, test it with another phone and check that it opens the right card. Offer a paper option for anyone who does not want or cannot use a smartphone; where to place the QR code and how large to print it is covered in the QR code loyalty card guide.

How it works for the customer: what do they see when they scan the QR code?

Customers do not install an app or create an account or password. What they see depends on where the shop’s QR code or link opens.

Name and contact details are added later, in the card’s profile, only if the customer wishes, and the «Complete the card» panel asks for no consent. Extra rewards and offers are a separate, optional choice: the card asks «Would you like extra rewards and offers from …?» and the customer answers «Yes, I want them» or «No, thanks», with nothing pre-selected. The shop’s privacy notice stays reachable from the card and the back of the pass.

4. Record a visit and handle the reward

After an eligible visit, the customer shows the card, from Wallet or the browser. Authorised staff open «Al banco» in the browser on a phone, tablet or computer, scan the card’s QR code with the camera or type its code, and confirm the stamp: it appears on the card, updates in Wallet and stays in the panel’s activity log. On a points card, staff type the points due and can undo an entry within 10 minutes.

Customers cannot stamp their own card: if they scan the shop’s QR code again they only see their card, and if the same card is shown again before the minimum interval set by the owner, the visit is not recorded twice. No barcode reader is needed and Iterum does not read receipts or the POS; the difference between QR codes and barcodes is explained in the barcode loyalty card guide.

When the target is reached, «Al banco» shows the available reward and staff record its hand-over. Enrolment and stamping need an internet connection: there is no offline stamping. Test the complete flow with one customer phone and one staff device before inviting customers.

What happens after the first visit: messages, birthdays and packages

A card saved in Wallet also becomes a channel: from Messages you write to customers, the message arrives on the pass and the latest one can also be read on the card’s page. Offers only reach those who accepted them, and how many messages you can send each month depends on the plan. No notifications arrive in the browser.

Among the automations is «Buon compleanno» (happy birthday), off until you switch it on: it sends birthday wishes to the pass on the day or a few days before, with an optional gift in stamps, points or a free item, only to customers who left their date of birth and accepted offers. Example wording and consent rules are in the guide to birthday messages for customers.

From the Pro plan you can also sell prepaid packages at the counter, for example 10 blow-dries or 5 sessions: the customer pays as usual, adds the package card to Wallet with a QR code that works only once within 24 hours, and at each visit staff use up one entry. It is not the same as a loyalty card, which rewards visits paid one at a time: the prepaid punch card guide explains when each one fits.

5. Review visits and costs without assuming a return

Record enrolments, confirmed visits and redeemed rewards during a normal period, then compare similar periods and account for seasonality, promotions and changes in opening hours. More stamps alone do not show that the programme caused extra purchases or visits.

Aggregate analytics and the customer list are included in every plan, with unlimited total customers; the new customers included each month and the active cards can vary. The reward cost calculator spreads your stated cost over the required visits, but does not estimate profit.