How many stamps should a loyalty card have?
It’s the first question every owner asks when designing a stamp card – and the one most often answered by copying the shop next door. Here’s a simple way to work out the right number of stamps for your business.
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The short answer
For most counter-service businesses, somewhere between five and ten stamps works:
- Coffee shops, bubble tea, bakeries: 8–10. People visit often, so the card still fills in a few weeks.
- Takeaways and pizza: 6–10. Usually with a minimum spend per stamp.
- Barbers, salons, nail bars, groomers: 5–8. Visits are weeks apart, so fewer stamps keep the reward in sight.
- Car washes: 6–8.
But the right number for you depends on two things: how often your customers visit, and what the reward costs you.
Rule 1: the reward should be weeks away, not months
People lose interest in goals that feel distant. A useful rule of thumb is that your typical occasional customer – not your daily regular – should be able to fill the card in about one to two months.
Work it out backwards:
- How often does a typical occasional customer visit? Say, once a week.
- Multiply by six to eight weeks. That’s six to eight visits.
- That’s your number of stamps – roughly.
For a barber where clients come every four weeks, the same maths gives you two stamps in two months – too few to feel like a loyalty card. That’s why salons and barbers usually accept a longer journey (five to eight stamps, several months) but offer a bigger reward to match.
Coffee shop – 8 stamps, visits every other day
Car wash – 6 stamps, a wash every fortnight
Barber – 5 stamps, a cut every 4 weeks
Rule 2: the reward should be worth the wait
The longer the card, the better the reward needs to be. A free coffee for ten coffees feels fair. A free coffee for twenty doesn’t. A free haircut for eight haircuts is generous; £10 off after five also works.
A simple way to check: divide the reward’s price by the number of stamps. That’s how much “value” each visit feels like to the customer. If it feels like loose change, add a stamp less or improve the reward.
Rule 3: work out the real cost
Owners often worry that a reward costs too much. Usually it costs less than it looks:
- The cost to you of a free coffee is the ingredients and a minute of time – not the menu price.
- Not everyone finishes. Some customers move away, change habits, or simply forget.
- Completed cards mean repeat visits. Someone who finishes an eight-stamp card has visited eight times.
If the reward still feels too generous, make it smaller rather than the card longer.
Give people a head start
A card with ten spaces and two already stamped feels very different from a card with eight empty spaces – even though both need eight more visits. In a study of a real car wash’s loyalty cards, people given a head start were more likely to finish, and finished faster (we cover it in do loyalty cards work?).
In practice: give new members one or two welcome stamps. It makes joining feel rewarding and the goal feel closer.
Starts empty.
Two stamps given on day one.
Odd numbers, even numbers, and shapes
Some numbers suit some designs better. Eight stamps make a neat pizza of eight slices. Ten stamps make two tidy rows. Six fit a single row on a small card. Don’t overthink it – but if your card has a visual theme, pick a number that suits it.
Match the earning rule to the number
Stamps per visit is the simplest, but it isn’t always fair. If one customer spends £3 and another spends £30, consider:
- One stamp over a minimum spend. E.g. one stamp when they spend £10 or more.
- One stamp per £ spent. E.g. one stamp for every £5, capped at a few stamps per visit.
If you stamp per £, you’ll usually want more stamps on the card, because big orders earn several at once.
Start, then adjust
The beauty of a digital card is that you can change your mind. Start with your best guess. After a month or two, look at:
- How many members come back for a second stamp? If very few, the reward feels too far.
- How many cards are completed? If almost none, reduce the stamps or improve the reward. If almost all, very quickly, you can afford a few more stamps.
With a Wallet card you can change the number of stamps or the reward and press publish – every customer’s card updates itself, stamps kept.
Quick reference
- Visits every few days: 8–10 stamps.
- Visits weekly: 6–8 stamps.
- Visits monthly: 5–6 stamps with a bigger reward.
- Varied order sizes: stamp over a minimum spend, or per £.
- Always: consider a welcome stamp.
Ready to try your numbers? Create a card in a few minutes and see how it looks in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet.