Setting Up Stamps

Stamps are the most used loyalty program and are been used for ages – do you remember the time you visited a coffee shop or a barber shop and gave you a paper card? Then each time you went there, you presented the card, you purchased a coffee and then the employee stamped the card. Once you had enough stamps, you could redeem these for a free coffee or something similar.

Well, nothing changed, except that now stamps are completely digital and if you run any type of business and want more loyal customers you do not want to:

• Print and waste your money on printed cards
• Pay a designer to design them for you
• Argue with the customers because they lost their cards and they need a discount
• Maintain a list of customers on an outdated Excel sheet or even worse, on an old-style notebook.

In this respect, these days are gone. Now, with LoyaltyNation.io you can create your own loyalty program using stamps, that you DO NOT HAVE TO PRINT. What’s even better, you get a full-fledged CRM with customer data.

But let’s see how you can create a digital stamp program.

1. Login to app.loyaltynation.io with your email and password.

2. Upon registration you will see your dashboard:

3. Then click on the icon with the mobile phone:

4. Once you click it, you will be transferred to the card creation wizard. There you will be able to see all available cards you have created and you will be able to create as many as you want using the “Create card” option. To create a card you have two options:

a. Choose a template

b. Create one from scratch.

If you choose from a template, we have more than 100 templates to choose from. Simply search your industry and click to create a card.

Let’s say you run a bakery. All you have to do is find a “Bakery” template and click on “Open”. Let’s see how step by step:

Once you select a template, you will see eight loyalty programs:

• Stamp
• Reward
• Membership
• Discount
• Cashback
• Coupon
• Multipass
• Gift

On this page we will deal with creating a stamp, so we will click on the stamp to select it (if it’s not selected by default) and then click continue.

The next page is Settings and will show us a wealth of options. Let’s explore them one by one:

The first thing you see is the card expiration date of this particular card. You get to choose between:

1. Unlimited – the card never expires

2. Fixed Term – it expires after a certain period, i.e. let’s say you want to issue Christmas cards, so once Christmas is over, the cards expire.

3. Fixed term after card issuing. This is a bit more complex, as you may not want to specify a certain calendar date, i.e. 24/12/2025. In this case, you want to select that the card expires 20 days after it is issued. This is great if you want to advertise a specific promotion that has a time-limited validity, i.e. “Discount good for up to 20 days after issuing this card”:

Of course, you are not limited in Days – you can select months or years as well:

The next step is to set if you want the stamps to expire – not the card. So you need to understand that these are two different things. You have the stamp (the digital loyalty card) which inside, it has stamps. So how much time do you want the stamps to last? Because, you can get a loyalty card last forever, but the stamps inside the card are to be of a certain period.

Same as above you have Unlimited and Fixed terms:

The next step is to create locations. This is a great feature when you have more than one store and you want each store to have the same loyalty program.

So let’s say you have one store in London, and another one in Frankfurt. Easy peasy. Click on “Add Location” and the system will ask your location. Select “Every time” and then you will see a popup to add a location. This is connected to Google Maps, so you can either click “Ctrl + scroll of the mouse to move out of the map you see and point to the location of your store, or just type it:

Optionally, you can write a Push message to be sent immediately to your customers’ phone, once they sign up for your loyalty program.

Then choose “Display” for the location to be visible and click “Add”.

Once you have a location, you will see it in the settings, where you can add more or delete it:

The next step is to select the language. English (International) is selected by default. If you are in a non-English country you can select hundreds of available languages. If you can’t find yours, you may ask us to translate the software into your language.

Then, select the date format you want the card to appear. For example, EU formats are Date/Month/Year, whereas in the USA it is Month/Date/Year. Simply select the format you need:

The next step is to select your Thousand and Decimal separator. This is especially helpful if your values (i.e. your product offer) have several. Let’s say you sell shoes, and one pair costs £150.99. In the Decimal separator (as the shoes do not cost more than one thousand) you can choose between a dot, comma or space so that the number appears respectively:

Dot: 150.99

Comma: 150,99

Space: 150 99

Same with the thousand separator – if you sell high-ticket products and services you use the applicable separator:

The next step depends on whether you need to register a purchase amount on the scanner app – the app you use to scan coupons that clients show you. We believe that whilst this is an extra step, it is also giving your marketing, sales and planning department to see what kind of values your clients buy each time they redeem a stamp. So for this tutorial, we will leave this on.

Moving to the next step in the Settings page, we have the Card Issuing form. This is valuable as this is shown when a customer registers for our stamp program. Here, with the help of your marketing department, you can add or remove fields and test responses from customers.

By default, we have:

• First name
• Last name
• Phone (to send SMS messages and free push notifications)
• Email
• Date of birth (if you want to send birthday wishes and promos)

Please note that you have the option to have them as “Required” or optional and whether these will be “Unique” or not. Also, you can remove a field by clicking the trash can button:

Once you finish the fields you want the customers to provide to register to the program, you can add UTMs (Urchin Tracking Modules). UTMs are snippets of text added to the end of a URL to track the metrics and performance of a specific digital marketing campaign, in our case, if you promote this via Facebook ads, you can add text called “Facebook” and this will be presented in your metrics so as to know where you customer came from.

You can add as many UTMs as you want – for example, if you run campaigns on Tik tok, Google ads etc you can add the text snippets there. In this case, we added the Facebook snippet text and we got a unique link, and now we have the option to add another text snippet.

Next, add a phone mask. This is good if you have a store in one country but your headquarters and your tech setup is based on another. In this case, if you are using i.e. a London-based number to your Frankfurt store, it is better if you mask it with a German-based mask.

The next part is crucial – you need to provide a privacy policy for customers to read. The shorter – to the point- it is, then the better the conversions you will have.

Next, select if you want people to install their cards using Google Waller button – this is recommended if you want to show customers more options.

Then you have the option to limit the number of cards (not stamps) that you can issue. This is useful if you want to test a few customers first, or if you are creating a special program with the scarcity model – a program for a select few customers, i.e. the first 30 people.

Use zero (0) for UNLIMITED cards or enter a number to limit the number of cards issued.

Finally, on the Settings page, we have the option to place your Google or other analytics tracking code. In the digital age, it is crucial to monitor every step of the customer journey and check your KPIs. So enter your analytics code here and cross-check with your LoyaltyNation.io analytics as well.

Once everything is set, click the blue “Continue” button to move to the “Design” stage:

On the Design page, you have the opportunity to shine by designing the best card your customers will ever see! And the best part? You do not need a designer! Everything is done via this page with point-and-click:-)

First, select how many stamps your customers will need to digitally stamp at your store(s) to get a discount/offer/free item (whatever you choose to give as an incentive). You can select up to 30 stamps per card. In this tutorial, we went with the default, which is 10:

Then the fun begins. In this specific Bakery template, we have already designed the card, so you don’t have to. However you have unlimited options like:

Choose how your Active and non-active stamp will appear:

For that reason, we have selected a croissant icon to show inside the stamp circle:

which you can change of course by selecting something else from the dropdown list:

or uploading your own icon:

The next three steps are to :

Upload a logo

Upload your general icon that will displayed in the push messages and when the customer installs the card on their screen

and in this step, upload a background image that will be shown below (or under if you prefer) your stamps in the app.

This is the background, which we can easily change:

The next step to our design is to change the colours:

Simply select the colours for each colour palette and you will immediately see the change in the mockup on your right. For example, in the default card template we selected (the Bakery) the background colour is this:

And we can change it to something else, using the colour chooser:

to this color:

Ok, enough playing around. After customising your colours, it is time to change the default text in the “Fields name”, which will be displayed on the front of the card:

You have several options like these, from the drop-down menu:

Simply select the option and if you don’t want the name to be displayed change it to what you like. For example, the First Name field could be “Your First Name”.

Finally, you have the option to show your logo on the form, and also show your selected background at the form as well – the form being, what the customer sees when registering.

Then once you are happy with the changes, click “Continue” to move to the “Information” page where you will display information on how the client with get the card, redeem etc. Everything you type here, you will be able to see in real-time in the mockup on the right of your screen.

So lets do this step by step:

1. In the card description, write what is your program is all about. For example, the default message is “Collect stamps to get rewards”. Maybe you need to make it more to the point, like “Collect 10 stamps and get a free sandwich”.
2. On the field “How to earn a stamp” you could be more specific. For example, “One bagel equals one stamp” or “Buy €10 worth on each of your visits and get one stamp”.
3. Company name: type your store’s name or your company name here.
4. In the “Reward details” write what the rewards include. For example: “Every time you spend $10 in our store, you will get a stamp. Collect 10 stamps and you will get a free sandwich valued at $20 (ok, a little expensive for a sandwich, but you get the point).
5. This text needs changing
6. In the Earned Reward message, simply type whatever text you need that notifies the customer that he earned a reward, for example: “Congrats! You just earned a free sandwich! Please come and collect on your next visit!”

The Multi rewards option below allows you to add multiple rewards in levels – for example, let’s say you have 10 stamps, and you want to give the customer a gift in every 3rd stamp, like a coffee and a brownie at the 5th stamp. Just enter at which stage (stamp) a reward will be given separated by commas, like 3,5,7 etc

The next step allows to redeem a reward automatically or manually. We recommend keeping it automatically so as to avoid any mistakes with your staff and any complaints from your clients.

Moving forward the next step is to decide if you want your customers to become customer advocates. This is a fantastic way to get your customers to promote your business to their immediate circle and get rewarded. Its free advertising, and nothing beats a good word from a customer to a new prospective one.

So here you have the option to activate the Referral program. Customers can get a bonus when their friends is using the card they will refer – for example, John shares your loyalty program with a friend, called Tom. Tom comes to your store and shows you their card. John gets a bonus!

So the options are to give a bonus to the customer who referred a friend either:

• During the first visit
• Or when the card is issued to the referee (the customer who is referred by another customer)

The next option is rather obvious – you get to give extra stamps to the referrer – the customer who is referring others to your store, i.e. John, per our example, so select as many extra stamps you want.

And finally, select how many stamps a new customer will get who has been referred by John.

See the screenshot below to understand the mechanics:

The next step allows you to add links to your website and various review services. These links will be displayed on the “back” of the card and you have the option to select between

• URL
• Phone
• Email
• Address

Bear in mind these are clickable and when a customer clicks on one it will open a browser on their phone.

Finally, you have the option to add feedback links either to your website – allowing customers to add reviews – or to popular review sites like Yelp for example.

In the final steps to creating and designing a Stamp Loyalty Program, you have:

The terms of use, where you display the terms as you want them

The link to full legal terms where your loyalty program is displayed

And the issuer information, like your legal company name, your customer help email and your telephone number where customers can actually call and inquire.

Once you fill out these details, we are in the final step to activate the card and issue it to the world! Once you click “Finish” you will be presented with this pop-up:

You have the following options:

1. Save the QR code and add it to any promotional materials you want to send out – these could be a poster, an email, a social media post, or anything. The customer scans the QR code with their camera and lands on the loyalty program where they sign up.
2. Copy the link of the loyalty program and email it, put it on your company page, add it to your social accounts etc
3. Download a complete, premade PDF in A4 where you can print it and display it on your store door, on your counter, on your tables or even mail it to people
4. But before these work, you need to click on the Activate card (the 3rd button). Once you do this you will see another popup confirming all the above you just created:

Simply click “Activate” and then the software will also ask you to download the pdf, in case you haven’t done it so far:

Click “Download PDF” to download the ready-made tent for you or skip it if you already did that on the previous screen. Next, you know that everything is ready when you see this screen:

Click Continue and then the Home button to go back to your dashboard. Congratulations, you just created a Digital Loyalty program using stamps!

If you are reading this without having tried LoyaltyNation.io powerful rewards system, then you can start with a 14-day trial here. Prices start at just $27/store.