Digital loyalty card and punch card in Google and Apple Wallet

What a digital punch card is

A digital punch card does exactly what a paper card does: the customer collects visits and gets a gift. The difference is that it does not stay at home, does not tear, and nobody can draw a stamp on it.

With Shortip the card is saved in the phone wallet, on Android and iPhone. After every visit it updates by itself, for example "2 more visits to a gift". Near the business, the iPhone offers the card by itself on the lock screen.

A digital coffee punch card is the familiar example, but the same card also works as a prepaid package that counts down, for example ten pilates classes. The package opens only when you confirm that the customer paid.

How it works at the counter

1. A sign with a code stands on the counter. The customer scans it, types a phone number and gets a code.
2. The card is saved in the phone wallet. You can give a few visits as a gift when a customer joins.
3. On the next visit the staff member scans the card and presses the button. The customer forgot their phone? Find them by number.
4. A stamp lands on the card, only after the visit is recorded.
5. When the card is full, the customer gets the gift, and you see in the portal how many gifts went out this month.

What the customer sees on the card

The card in the wallet is only the door. Tapping it opens the customer's own page: how many visits, what they received, when the next gift is. The card also tells them: at your pace, the gift is in about a week.

• The business details inside the card: address, today's hours, call and directions.
• A link to join that the customer can send to a friend.
• A customer whose phone is in Arabic gets everything in Arabic.
• The customer is in control: they can delete the card or ask for no marketing.

And what your staff see

Each employee installs the scanner from an invitation you send them on WhatsApp. If the business has one phone at the counter, each employee picks their own name on it. A visit recorded by mistake is undone with a reason, and you see who undid it. Many visits for one customer in a day, or cancellations by an employee, are flagged for you.

Paper, app or wallet: what to choose

There are three ways to run a punch card for a business. No single way fits everyone, so here is the comparison, drawbacks included.

If almost all your customers are older people without a smartphone, paper still works. And if you already have customers with a paper punch card, you do not have to choose: their visits move over to the digital card, with your approval.

Who a digital punch card is for

• Cafes, bakeries and coffee carts: a punch card with a gift, and you can have two punch cards on one card, for example coffee and pastry.
• Beauty salons, laser clinics and studios: a prepaid package that counts down, and you see who is about to finish a package.
• Barbershops: a card that counts visits, with or without a gift.
• Car washes, ice cream shops and dog groomers: any business customers come back to.

In the birthday month the card reminds the customer of the reward you set. And a customer who changed phones recovers the card with a code, and the visits stay.

The card looks like your business: your colors, logo and stamp. Several branches? A manager for each branch, with their own link. So customers know there is a punch card, you get a counter sign to print and a picture ready to post. If the signal in the business drops, the visit is saved on the staff member's phone and sent when it returns, so no visit is lost in the middle of a rush.

How much a digital punch card costs

The punch card is part of the Shortip subscription, together with the scanner for your staff, the portal and the on-site setup.