A salon loyalty card is a digital card with stamps or points that a client saves to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet and that rewards them for coming back, for example with a free fifth service. A salon launches it without a new till, without a new booking system and without an app of its own: the client scans a QR code at the counter, and staff add a stamp by scanning the card on the client's phone with their own phone.

This guide is for hair and beauty salons, barber shops, nail and lash studios and massage studios. It covers the whole way, from choosing the reward to the first message to your clients.

Why a salon needs a loyalty card

Salon clients come in on a schedule: a haircut every six weeks, a manicure every three, a massage once a month. That makes it easy to notice when they stop coming, if anyone is watching. In practice almost nobody is. The appointment simply isn't booked, and that is all.

The other thing every salon owner knows: clients are often attached to a person, not to the salon. When a stylist or a beautician leaves, some of the clients leave with them. A card in the wallet carries your salon's name and stays with you, and so does the record of who comes in and how often.

A paper stamp card does none of this. It gets lost or left at home, and it doesn't tell you who has stopped coming.

What a wallet pass is and how it works is explained in What is a wallet pass?. Everything about the program for salons is on the Walletap Loyalty for salons page.

What you need before you start

• A phone or tablet with a camera, your own or the business's.
• Internet at the salon.
• The salon's logo and colours, or its Instagram, Facebook or web page.
• A decision on the reward: what the client gets, and after how many appointments or how much spend.

You don't need a new till, a new booking system or a new device. You keep booking appointments the way you always have.

Step 1: Choose stamps or points, and the reward

This is the most important decision in the whole program. Start from your clients' rhythm: the reward has to be close enough for a regular to actually reach it. Three rules:

• A reward after 4 to 5 appointments. On a six-week cycle that is half a year. Nobody finishes a ten-appointment program.
• Give a service, not a percentage. "The fifth styling is free" is clear. "10% off" is not a reward, it is small change.
• Stamps for services at similar prices, points when prices vary a lot. A haircut is always a haircut, but for beauty treatments, points for what clients spend are fairer to them and to you.

No two salons are the same, and no program has to be:

Step 2: Create the card

The card carries your salon's name, logo and colours. In Apple Wallet and Google Wallet the client doesn't see a "Walletap card", they see yours.

1. Download the Walletap app to your phone.
2. Personalize the card and choose loyalty.
3. Set the rules: stamps or points, the reward, and whether the card works at all your salons or only one.

The same design works in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet. You can change the rules and the look later, and the cards clients already have update on their own.

Step 3: Put the QR code where clients wait

The client scans the QR code, taps "Add to Wallet", and the card is on their phone. No app and no password.

Where to put the QR code:

• At the counter, not only on the receipt. Clients scan it while they wait, with no queue behind them.
• In the waiting area, by the mirror at each station, or on a sticker at the entrance.
• As a link in your Instagram bio, on your Google profile and on your website.
• In the appointment confirmations you send by text message, WhatsApp or Viber.
• On an NFC sticker: the client just holds their phone to it, with nothing to scan.

For clients without a smartphone there is a physical NFC card with your brand. It works in the same system.

Step 4: How staff add a stamp and hand out the reward

At the counter nothing changes except one scan:

1. The client opens the card in their wallet.
2. Staff scan the QR code on the card with a phone.
3. The stamp is added, and the card updates straight away.

Any staff member with access can scan, each on their own device, and it all ends up in one place: on the salon's card, not in one stylist's notebook. If you have an NFC reader at the till, the client just holds their phone to it.

When the client collects the last stamp, the card shows on its own that the reward is ready. Staff scan it, the reward is marked as used, and the count starts again. No slips of paper, and no redeeming the same reward twice.

When a QR code is enough and when NFC pays off is covered in QR or NFC? How to choose the right technology for your wallet pass.

Step 5: The first 30 days

The card only works once clients know about it. This is what separates a program that works from one that just sits there:

1. Have staff mention the card once, when clients pay. One sentence, not a sales pitch. A QR code at the counter works, but a member of staff who points it out works better.
2. Bring the whole team in. If staff don't ask, clients don't scan.
3. Post the card on Instagram and your Google profile. One link, two new channels.
4. Send the first reminder once the usual gap between appointments has passed. In a barber shop that is two to three weeks, in a hair salon six. Clients who are close to a reward come back fastest.

Messages to clients through the card

A card in the wallet is also a channel to the client. A message lands on the lock screen, with no app and no email nobody opens. For example:

• "✂️ Six weeks have passed, and your 4th stamp is waiting. Get in touch for a slot."
• "🎉 The fifth appointment is yours! The styling is on us."

Messages are tied to the card: the stamp count, a new reward, an offer that is about to expire. That is what Apple and Google require, and it is why clients don't switch them off. If you've added the salon's address to the card, Apple Wallet can suggest it on the lock screen when the client is nearby, if they've allowed location access.

How to send messages clients actually want, and what GDPR says about them, is in the guide Push notifications from Wallet.

What you see after the first month

On your phone or computer you see:

• how many cards have been issued, and how many regulars you really have;
• how often clients come in, and at what time;
• who has stopped coming, and when;
• which reward gets used the most.

Staff recognize the regulars by face, but that knowledge leaves with them. What the card records stays with the salon.

After a month, look at the numbers. If clients collect stamps but rarely reach the reward, lower the number of stamps. The cards in your clients' wallets update on their own.

What it costs

Walletap Loyalty has a free plan with no time limit and a capped number of cards, so you can try the program before you pay anything. Prices for the paid plans are on the Walletap Loyalty for salons page.

Frequently asked questions

Want to see what your salon's card would look like? Open walletap.com/demo on your phone and add a demo card to your wallet, or get in touch and we'll show it to you in person, at your salon.