Start here14 min read
How to create a loyalty program: a step by step guide for small businesses
Pick a structure, set a reward that pays for itself, launch it properly, and know within two months whether it is working.
Read the guideLoyalty guides
How to run a loyalty program that works
Reward design, launch plans, staff training and retention, written for independent cafes, salons, bakeries and shops rather than for chains.
New to this?
Three reads that answer the questions most owners have before they commit to anything.
Basics9 min read
What is a loyalty program? A plain explanation for business owners
What a loyalty program is, how the mechanics work, what it costs, and how to tell whether your business needs one.
Read articleStrategy11 min read
Loyalty program examples that actually work for small businesses
Six loyalty program structures, what each one costs you, and which type of business each suits best.
Read articleStrategy9 min read
How much does a loyalty program cost? A breakdown for small businesses
The two costs of running a loyalty program, what software actually charges, and how to work out whether yours pays for itself.
Read articleEvery guide
19 articles, grouped by what you are trying to do.
Basics
What loyalty programs and loyalty cards are, and how they work.
Basics7 min read
How to earn loyalty points and rewards without wasting your time
A customer's guide to collecting stamps and points, spotting programs worth joining, and not losing rewards you already earned.
Read articleBasics8 min read
What is a loyalty card? How they work, and paper versus digital
What a loyalty card is, what happens when a customer uses one, and the practical differences between a paper card and a digital one.
Read articleBasics10 min read
Types of loyalty programs, and which one fits your business
Stamps, points, tiers, paid memberships, cashback and coalitions. How each behaves in practice and what it costs to run.
Read articleBasics9 min read
What is a loyalty program? A plain explanation for business owners
What a loyalty program is, how the mechanics work, what it costs, and how to tell whether your business needs one.
Read articleGuides
Step by step: building a program, making cards, choosing rewards.
Guides14 min read
How to create a loyalty program: a step by step guide for small businesses
Pick a structure, set a reward that pays for itself, launch it properly, and know within two months whether it is working.
Read articleGuides8 min read
How to make loyalty cards, from a printed card to a digital one
What goes on a loyalty card, how to design and print one properly, and when a printed card stops being the right answer.
Read articleGuides10 min read
Loyalty programs for small businesses: what works when you are not a chain
Small businesses have advantages chains cannot buy, and constraints chains never face. How to design a program around both.
Read articleStrategy
Reward economics, program costs, and what actually moves retention.
Strategy11 min read
Loyalty program examples that actually work for small businesses
Six loyalty program structures, what each one costs you, and which type of business each suits best.
Read articleStrategy9 min read
How to increase customer loyalty without discounting more
Loyalty is mostly built by things that are not a reward. Here is what moves it, in the order that matters.
Read articleStrategy9 min read
How much does a loyalty program cost? A breakdown for small businesses
The two costs of running a loyalty program, what software actually charges, and how to work out whether yours pays for itself.
Read articleStrategy9 min read
The benefits of a loyalty program, and the ones that are oversold
What a loyalty program genuinely does for a small business, what it does not do, and how to tell which is happening to you.
Read articleStrategy9 min read
Loyalty rewards that feel generous without eating your margin
How to cost a reward properly, which formats give the most perceived value per pound, and the rewards that cause trouble at the counter.
Read articleStrategy9 min read
How to structure a loyalty program people finish
The structural decisions that decide whether members reach a reward, and why the threshold matters more than everything else.
Read articleGrowth
Bringing customers back more often and getting them to bring others.
Growth8 min read
Refer a friend offers: how to structure one that people use
Referral rewards are the only loyalty mechanic that brings in new customers. Getting the structure right is most of the work.
Read articleGrowth9 min read
27 loyalty program ideas you can run this month
Reward ideas, bonus mechanics and campaign angles that cost little and give customers a reason to come back sooner.
Read articleGrowth10 min read
How to get repeat customers in a local business
Seven things that actually move repeat visits, in the order they are worth doing, and none of them is a bigger discount.
Read articleOperations
Launching, training staff, and running the program day to day.
Operations9 min read
Your first 30 days running a loyalty program
A week by week plan for the launch, what to watch in each one, and the numbers that only start meaning something in month two.
Read articleOperations9 min read
Getting staff to mention the loyalty card without it sounding forced
Enrolment is decided at the till by whether somebody asks. Here is how to make that happen consistently.
Read articleOperations10 min read
Moving from paper stamp cards to digital punch cards
How to switch from paper to digital without losing customers, including how to honour stamps people are already holding.
Read articleSetting one up in StampClub
The guides above cover the thinking. These cover the buttons.