How to run a loyalty programme for a café in India: stamp cards that bring people back.

Decide the reward before anything else

The reward is the whole programme. The card is only a way of counting to it. So start there, and use a simple rule of thumb: reward the second-most-ordered item on your menu, not the cheapest one.

The cheapest item (a cookie, a biscuit with the chai) feels like nothing, and nobody changes where they buy coffee for nothing. The most expensive item feels like a loss to you every time it is redeemed, and you will quietly start hoping people do not fill their cards. The second-most-ordered item is something people already want, costs you only its ingredients, and reads as generous. For a coffee shop that is usually a regular coffee. For a bakery, a slice, not the whole cake. For a chai stall, the chai itself.

Then write it in plain words. "A free filter coffee" beats "one complimentary beverage (T&C apply)". The words go on the card the customer sees on their phone, so they should sound like your counter, not a contract. Put the small print in the terms line, where it belongs: "Any regular coffee, dine-in only" is enough.

How many stamps

These are rules of thumb from counters, not data: cafés and coffee shops usually do 6 to 10 stamps; salons 4 to 6; bakeries and sweet shops 6 to 8; a tiffin service 10, one for every working day of a fortnight. The right number is the one where a regular fills a card in roughly a month, so the reward arrives while they still remember starting.

• Too few and you give away a lot of coffee to people who were coming anyway. Too many and the card never fills, which is worse than no card: a half-full card is a small, visible disappointment.
• Think in visits, not in weeks. Someone who comes twice a week fills eight stamps in a month. A salon customer comes every four to six weeks, so five stamps is already half a year; four is kinder.
• One stamp per visit is the rule everyone understands. Points on the bill amount (₹100 = 1 point) is harder to explain in the ten seconds you have at a counter.
• Pick a number you can live with and leave it. Changing it halfway confuses the regulars who are halfway.

Where the QR goes

The QR goes where a person is standing still with their phone already out: next to the UPI QR at the billing counter. They have just scanned one code; scanning a second one is nothing.

• An A5 stand card at the counter, beside the payment QR, at chest height. Any acrylic stand from a stationery shop holds it.
• A table tent on tables if people sit. It gives them something to do while the order comes.
• A sticker on the takeaway window for shops that mostly serve through a hatch. Print the QR image at any size.
• Not on the door. People are moving and not thinking about you yet. Not on the back wall. Nobody scans across a room.

One QR is enough for one shop. A second branch gets its own QR, so you can see stamps and members by branch without running two programmes. The stand needs three words and nothing else: "Scan to collect stamps".

The script staff say

Nine words, said after the payment, as a fact and not a question: "Scan this, type your number, you get a stamp." Then carry on with the bill. Do not explain the programme; the card explains itself once it is open.

• Do not say "Would you like to join our loyalty programme?" A question invites a no. A fact invites a scan.
• Do not say "Download our app". There is no app, and the words alone make people put their phone away.
• When the card fills: "Your card is full. Tap Redeem and show me." The customer's screen goes full-colour with a big code. That is the moment people tell their friends about.

Why a phone number beats an app

Every extra step at the counter loses people. An app needs a download, a sign-up, a permission prompt and storage on a phone that is already full. An OTP needs an SMS to arrive while the queue waits. Each of those steps ends a few loyalty cards before they start.

A phone number is something everyone can type in five seconds. It is the same number they used to order on WhatsApp, and it is the number you would message them on anyway. On SitesPlaced the card lives on your own store address, at /rewards, the browser remembers the number on that device, so the next visit is one tap, and an online order placed with the same number adds a stamp to the same card.

The trade is that without an OTP the number is not verified. For a stamp card that is fine. The worst case is someone typing a regular's number and giving them a free stamp; the controls in the next section handle everything else.

Handling abuse without spoiling the mood

A loyalty programme is not a bank. The aim is "not worth the bother", not "impossible". Four controls, in the order most cafés need them:

1. Cooldown. One stamp per phone number and per device within a period you set; four hours by default. A person cannot scan five times at one visit. Set it to 20 hours if you want strictly one stamp a day.
2. Staff confirmation. Switch it on and each scan waits on the Today panel until someone taps Confirm. Useful when the QR is somewhere staff cannot see, or when the reward is worth more than a coffee.
3. Secure QR. Your dashboard shows a QR whose code changes every two minutes. Only that QR stamps; the printed one just opens the card. A photo of the stand card stops being a free stamp.
4. Undo and block. A wrong stamp is removed with one tap from the activity list. A number that is clearly farming stamps is blocked from the Members list. Rewards also expire after the number of days you set, so unredeemed codes do not pile up.

In practice most cafés run on the cooldown alone. Turn the others on when you see a reason, not before; each one adds a little friction for honest customers.

Scratch cards: the surprise layer

The stamp card is a promise: eight visits, one coffee. A scratch card is a surprise: maybe something, right now. Use both. The promise brings people back; the surprise gives them something to talk about on the way out.

• Keep prizes small and frequent, plus one rare one. A cookie at 10%, 10% off the next visit at 20%, a free cake at 1%. The rest is "better luck next visit", and that is fine.
• The odds you set must add up to 100% or less. Every prize has its own expiry in days, so a surprise does not turn into a liability months later.
• Show the card after every stamp, or after every third stamp if you want it to stay special.
• A prize can also be an online coupon (a percentage or an amount off), so the customer who orders on WhatsApp wins something they can use.

Measure repeat rate, not scans

Scans are a vanity number. The number that matters is how many members came back for a second stamp, because the second stamp is the first sign the programme works. Look at four things once a week:

• Members, and how many came back. If most members never take a second stamp, the problem is usually the reward or the number of stamps, not the QR.
• Stamps this week against last week. A steady line is good; a line that only moves when you remind staff means the script is not being said.
• Rewards unlocked against rewards redeemed. A gap means people are not being told to redeem, or the reward is not wanted.
• By location, if you have more than one branch. A branch that lags usually has the stand in the wrong place.

Change one thing at a time and give it a month. A different reward, then a different number of stamps, then a different spot for the stand. Export the members list as a CSV once a month and keep it; it is your customer list, and it is yours.

What to send members (and what not to)

You now have a list of phone numbers of people who have stood in your shop. Treat it carefully. Three messages are worth sending; almost everything else is noise.

• The nudge. To anyone close to filling a card: "You are at 6 of 8. Two more this week and the coffee is on us."
• The new thing. A photo of the new dessert and one line. People who liked your shop enough to scan want to know.
• The occasion. A festival or weekend offer with a coupon code they can use online or show at the counter.

• A few messages a month, not a few a week.
• Always something they can use, never "we miss you".
• Never at odd hours, and never to someone who asked you to stop.

On SitesPlaced, every member row in the Members list has a WhatsApp link, so a nudge to one regular is one tap from your own number. When you want the messages written and sent for you, the AI Co-founder plan (₹1,499/month, everything in Growth included) adds your loyalty members to its broadcast audience: a Diwali broadcast, a poster made from a phone photo of the new dessert, a weekend coupon, and a Monday note on what sold and who came back.

How it works on SitesPlaced

1. A free website from a photo of your menu. Upload a photo of the menu board or price list (or a PDF) on the import page. Every item and price becomes a product in a store you can edit, grouped into sections. Publish free on a SitesPlaced address. WhatsApp orders, UPI and cash on delivery are included on every plan, with 0% commission.
2. Loyalty on the Growth plan, ₹499/month. The Loyalty tab in your store dashboard has six panels: Today, Set up, QR kit, Members, Scratch cards and Locations. Your own domain and badge removal are on Starter at ₹199/month; loyalty, scratch cards, locations, the reviews system and the sales boosters are on Growth.
3. Set up. Stamps to fill the card, the reward and its details, whether stamps come from counter scans, paid online orders or both, a minimum order for an online stamp, the cooldown, staff confirmation, the secure QR, the card colour, a welcome line and the terms. Switch Programme on when you are ready.
4. QR kit. Download the QR as a PNG, or open the print kit: an A5 stand card and an A4 table tent, in your colours with your logo, headed "Scan to collect stamps". With more than one branch, each location gets its own QR and its own print.
5. Customers scan, type their number, get a stamp. No app, no OTP, no password. The card appears on their phone at once, at /rewards on your store address, and the device remembers them. A paid online order or a confirmed cash-on-delivery order with the same number adds a stamp to the same card, and the stamp is taken back if the order is cancelled.
6. Redeem in front of you. A full card shows the reward with a 6-character code. The customer taps Redeem at counter and the screen goes full-colour for 60 seconds with the code, or you type the code under Today. For online shoppers the same code works as a coupon at checkout, worth the percentage or amount you set, and it is emailed to them when the stamp came from an order.
7. Members, scratch cards, locations. The Members list shows phone, name, card, visits, rewards and last stamp, with a WhatsApp link, a block button and a CSV export. Scratch cards take your prizes, odds and expiry. Locations give each branch a QR and count stamps by branch.

To put the card in your store menu, go to Settings → Navigation & menu, press Add menu link and choose Rewards (stamp card) as the destination. The full picture, with the comparison against standalone loyalty apps, is on the cafés and local shops page.

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