Yes, you can run a loyalty club without an app. The card lives in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, which are already on your customers’ phones: they scan a QR code at the counter, fill in a short form and save the card, with no download, no account and no password.
For a small shop in Sweden, that is often the difference between a kundklubb people actually join and one that never gets past the sign on the counter. This guide covers why apps put customers off, what the alternatives are, how a Wallet card works day to day, and what you give up compared with an app of your own.
Why don’t customers want to download another app?
Think about what you are asking for when you say “download our app” at the till. The customer is holding a tray, there is a queue behind them, and to get one stamp they need to:
- find the app in the App Store or Google Play and wait for it to download, sometimes on mobile data
- have free storage on the phone, which not everyone has
- create an account with an e-mail address and yet another password, often followed by a confirmation link
- decide on permissions for notifications, location and terms, one pop-up at a time
- remember the app next time, somewhere among all the others on the home screen
Each step is a point where the customer can lose interest. And someone who makes it through now has an app for a single burger bar or café that they might open once a month. Saying no is a perfectly reasonable reaction. The problem is not the loyalty club, it is the way in.
A Wallet card removes most of those steps. The wallet is already there, so there is nothing to install, no password to invent and no account to log in to. The card then sits next to boarding passes and cinema tickets, exactly where people already look when they need to show something at a counter.
What are the options without an app?
There are four common ways to run a loyalty club without your own app. They differ in what the customer has to do, how you can reach them and how easy it is to cheat.
| Option | What the customer does | What you can send | Fraud risk | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper card | Takes a card, gets a stamp per purchase | Nothing, you don’t know who they are | High: stamps can be copied, cards get lost | Printing and a stamp |
| SMS or e-mail club | Leaves a number or e-mail at the till | SMS or e-mail to those who agreed | Low, but no card to show | Per message or a subscription |
| Web card | Opens a link and saves it | E-mail, if you collected the address | Medium: depends on how it is checked | Usually a subscription |
| Wallet card | Scans a QR code, fills in a form, saves the card | Lock-screen messages and e-mails | Low: staff scan it, every stamp is logged | Monthly subscription |
The paper card is the cheapest to start but gives you no contact with the customer and no figures. An SMS or e-mail club gives you contact but no card that reminds people in everyday life. A web card is a good fallback but easily gets lost among browser tabs. A Wallet card combines a visible card with a channel for messages. For a broader overview, see our complete guide to digital loyalty cards.
How does a Wallet loyalty club work, step by step?
Here is how it works with Fidelia. Other Wallet services follow a similar pattern, though the details differ.
1. The customer joins
A stand with your shop’s QR code sits on the counter. The customer points the camera at it and a simple page opens with a form: first name and e-mail. There is one optional tick box for anyone who wants news from the shop. Then the right button for their phone appears, “Add to Apple Wallet” or “Add to Google Wallet”. The whole thing takes about as long as paying with Swish.
2. Staff add stamps
The customer shows the card and staff scan it with a web app on any phone. No special hardware, no connection to the till. The screen shows the customer’s first name and progress, and the card on the customer’s phone updates within seconds. A cooldown between stamps on the same card prevents double-stamping, and an owner or manager corrects any mistake with Adjust stamps. Every action is logged with the name of the person who did it.
3. The reward
A card has between 3 and 30 stamps. When it is full, the card shows the reward and the customer gets a lock-screen notification. Staff mark the reward as claimed and a new card begins.
4. Messages
With Pro you can send a message that appears on the lock screen and then stays on the back of the card, for example about a new menu or changed opening hours. You can also send e-mails from the shop’s own sender address. Messages and e-mails only reach customers who ticked the news box, while the notification that a reward is waiting goes to everyone.
5. Reminders near the shop
An Apple Wallet card can carry up to ten shop addresses. When the customer is nearby, about 100 m, the iPhone can show the card on the lock screen. iOS decides when that happens, so treat it as a bonus rather than a guarantee. In Google Wallet, Google sets the distance and you cannot write your own text.
6. Swedish and English
The card comes in Swedish and English, and the phone’s language setting decides which one the customer sees. That matters in Swedish cities where many customers are more comfortable in English, and in tourist season.
What do you lose compared with your own app?
A fair comparison needs both sides. An app of your own can do things a Wallet card cannot:
- Ordering and payment in the app. If you want customers to pre-order and collect, you need an app or an ordering service. A Wallet card is a card, not a shop.
- Less room for your brand. A Wallet card has a fixed layout with logo, colours, an image and a few fields. In an app you decide everything.
- Apple and Google set the rules. The wallet apps control how and when the phone shows things. Google Wallet notifies a card at most three times in 24 hours, and the reward-ready notification counts towards that. Send more and the message is added to the card silently, without a sound or alert. Fidelia warns you before sending when you are close to the limit.
On the other hand, you avoid what makes an own app expensive: development, updates for every new iOS and Android version, App Store and Google Play review, and the ongoing effort of getting customers to download it in the first place.
When does your own app make sense?
An own app is reasonable when it does more than hold a stamp card. Think of chains with many locations where customers order ahead, pay in the app and use it every week. Then there is a reason to open the app that has nothing to do with loyalty, and the loyalty club comes along for the ride.
For a single shop, a street-food counter, a hairdresser or a café, that is rarely the case. The customer wants the stamp and wants to get going. A card in the wallet is enough.
What about members who don’t use a wallet?
Not everyone has the wallet app set up, and some people prefer not to use it. That is why there is a web card: after the form, the customer can open the card in the browser, where it shows a QR code that staff scan in exactly the same way. Stamps count the same. The only things the customer misses are the lock-screen notifications and the reminders near the shop.
Say it plainly at the till: “No Wallet? The link works just as well.” That way nobody feels left out.
What does GDPR say about a loyalty club without an app?
GDPR applies whether the card lives in an app or in a wallet. In short: a name and an e-mail address are needed for the card to work, which covers running the loyalty club. For marketing by e-mail, the Swedish Marketing Act generally requires consent, and every marketing e-mail must include a way to opt out. That is why the news box on the form is optional and not pre-ticked. Read more in our article on GDPR for loyalty clubs in Sweden, and see our data processing agreement.
Launch checklist
- Choose the reward and how many stamps it takes
- Work out what the reward costs you in ingredients, not at menu price
- Upload your logo and pick colours that read well on the card
- Put the QR stand where customers wait, not behind the till
- Test the whole journey yourself: scan, save, stamp, claim the reward
- Show staff the scanner and agree when to stamp, for example one per purchase
- Agree on one sentence everyone says at the till
- Have an answer ready for people without a wallet: the web card
- On Pro: write a welcome message and plan a first send
Run the same sum with your own menu before you settle on the number of stamps. If margins are thin, pick more stamps or a smaller reward, such as fries or a drink, rather than a whole meal.
How do you get started?
Keep it simple. One stamp card, a reward that is easy to explain and a QR stand by the till are enough to find out whether customers join. With Fidelia, Essential costs 299 kr a month excl. moms and includes one stamp card, unlimited customers and stamps, Apple and Google Wallet and your first QR stand. For lock-screen messages, e-mails and reminders near the shop you need Pro, which costs 599 kr a month and is free for 14 days before the first invoice. All prices are on the pricing page.
Whichever service you choose, the key is a short way in. The fewer steps between “would you like a loyalty card?” and a saved card, the more people say yes.