How to Set Up a Points Loyalty Program

A points loyalty program credits a customer with points proportional to what they spend, and lets them redeem a reward once they've banked enough. It's one of four mechanics available on a Pikarta loyalty card — see stamps, points, cashback or discount for how the four compare — and it's the one that fits best when order size varies enough that treating every visit the same, the way a stamp card does, would under-reward your best customers. Setting it up takes two decisions: an earn rate and a reward threshold. Get those two numbers right and the rest of the program runs itself.

How a points card actually works

The customer scans a QR code once, the card saves into Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, and from then on every purchase adds points at whatever rate you've set. Unlike a stamp card, which unlocks a reward automatically at a fixed count, points are usually redeemed manually — the customer decides when to spend a balance down rather than having it happen for them. That's not a limitation; it means the customer chooses the moment a reward matters most, whether that's a slow Tuesday or a birthday order.

Behind the scenes, every point added is logged as its own entry rather than a single number that gets overwritten. That matters more than it sounds — it's what lets you or a customer trace exactly when a balance changed, and it's the same ledger a stamp or cashback card uses.

Choosing your earn rate (worked example)

The earn rate is how many points a customer gets per unit spent. Say your average ticket is €18 and you want a reward worth about €10 off, roughly the value of one typical order. If you set the rate at 1 point per €1 spent, a customer needs 100 points, which arrives in a little under six average visits — fast enough to feel achievable, slow enough that it isn't given away on the second visit.

Compare that with setting the rate too low. At 1 point per €10 spent, the same customer would need 100 visits to hit the same threshold — nobody notices a balance that moves that slowly, and the card gets ignored. The math has to work backward from "how many visits feels fair," not forward from a round-looking rate.

Setting the reward threshold

Once the earn rate is fixed, the threshold is the other half of the same equation. A threshold that takes two visits to clear trains customers to expect a reward almost immediately, which erodes margin fast. A threshold that takes twenty visits to clear will lose most customers before they get there. Somewhere between five and ten visits at a typical ticket size is the range that holds up across most small businesses — close enough to the six-to-ten-visit range that works for stamp cards, for the same underlying reason: it's long enough to matter and short enough to finish.

Round numbers help. A threshold of 100 points is easier for a customer to hold in their head than 137, even if 137 is the mathematically "correct" output of your margin calculation. Round the threshold, then adjust the earn rate to make the visit count come out right — not the other way around.

When points beat stamps

Points earn their complexity when ticket size genuinely varies. A restaurant where a table of two and a table of six pay wildly different bills is a clear case — a flat stamp per visit would reward both parties identically, which doesn't reflect what either one actually spent. The same logic applies to retail, where one customer buys a single item and another fills a basket. If your business doesn't have that variance — a barbershop charging the same price for every cut, for instance — stamps do the same job with less setup. The fuller comparison of when each mechanic wins is in how loyalty models work.

Setting it up on the card

In the app, the points model asks for exactly the two numbers above plus the reward itself:

1. Pick the points model

   From your loyalty card's rules screen, switch the mechanic to points.

2. Set the earn rate

   Points earned per unit of spend — start with 1 point per €1 unless your ticket sizes suggest otherwise.

3. Set the reward threshold and reward

   A round number of points and what it unlocks — a discount, a free item, or a fixed amount off.

4. Publish the card

   The change reaches every customer who already saved the card automatically — no reprint, no re-scan.

5. Add points at the register

   Scan the customer's Wallet card and enter the sale amount; the balance updates on their phone right away.

Four mistakes that kill a points program

• An earn rate so low the balance never moves. If a customer can't tell the card is working after a few visits, they stop checking it.
• A threshold that takes too long to clear. Beyond roughly ten typical visits, most customers lose interest before they get there.
• A reward too small to justify the effort. If the payoff isn't worth roughly one average purchase, it doesn't register as a reason to come back.
• Changing the rate too often. Adjust it if the math is clearly off, but frequent changes make the program feel unpredictable to regulars tracking their progress.

If you're comparing a points-capable Wallet card against dedicated loyalty apps or a points punch-card system, the comparison page covers the setup cost and update-speed differences in more detail.