What is a Loyalty Card App?

Loyalty Card App Types

There are 4 types of loyalty card apps which we will explain here.

1. Wallet style application which allows you to store and upload your existing physical loyalty cards on to an application for easy use and access.
2. A merchant loyalty card app that local business use to manage their loyalty program, these are typically the buy X get Y free style offers.
3. A hybrid of the repository and offer style apps.
4. Brand specific loyalty card app.

Wallet Loyalty Apps

These apps typically allow you to create or upload your existing traditional physical loyalty cards into the application. They then act as an easy go to place to store all your cards. The idea is that you then don’t have to carry around multiple cards in your wallet.

The more successful application also now provide easy signup to retailers programs directly through the app.

Some of these applications have been hugely successful and have had millions of downloads. In theory and practice these often work extremely well however the ability to scan the cards barcode at the point of sale is dependent on the retailers scanning equipment. Some of the older scanners can’t recognize the barcode on the phone screen. Access to the smartphones built in NFC chips are now allowing some programs to provide a better solution to this problem. An examples of this is the Woolworths Rewards card in the Apple and Google Wallets.

More recently Apple and Google have provided wallet features built into their systems.

Some successful examples of wallet style apps include Stocard and Keyring.

Merchant Loyalty Card App

These loyalty apps provide merchants and businesses with a platform that allows them to manage their loyalty programs and provide their customers with offers and rewards.

Typically this would replace the traditional paper card that is prevalent throughout the high street.

Many merchants offer simple offers such as the Buy 6 Coffees Get 1 Free style that make successful loyalty programs for cafes and coffee shops. The customer generally receives their stamp or punch by scanning a special code, placing their phone upon a loyalty device or by having their phone scanned by another device such as tablet at the point of sale.

Some good examples of merchant loyalty card apps include Loyalzoo, Belly and Stamp Me.

Hybrid Loyalty Card App

The hybrid version offer both the wallet functionality and the local merchant offers. The French based FidMe app is one of the most successful of these products.

Brand Specific Loyalty Card App

The most successful and well-known loyalty app is the Starbucks Rewards application. Essentially this is a digital version of their coffee loyalty card and they measure the value in stars. Customers earn stars depending on their dollar spend. This is currently 2 stars for every dollar spent (US).

The success of the application has been well documented and often provides a great case study to other businesses on why they should offer either their own branded loyalty card app or join an existing loyalty card app platform.

Some other successful own branded loyalty card apps include Fleet Feet, Muffin Break Rewards and Subway Rewards.

At Stamp Me, we provide brands, franchises and agencies with enterprise loyalty marketing tools including own brand, private label solutions.

Some of the custom branded loyalty apps we have built for our clients include Ridley Rewards, AAFCANS and Marriott Waters.

If you’re in the market for a loyalty card app for your business, speak with our team of loyalty experts today.

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