Understanding Programmes, Cards, Stamps, Milestones and Rewards
Understand how Loytu programmes, customer cards, stamps, milestones, final rewards and redemptions work together.
Loytu uses a few key terms to describe how a digital loyalty programme works.
Understanding the difference between a programme, customer card, stamp, milestone and reward will make it easier to set up your loyalty offer and explain it to your clients.
The basic relationship is:
Your business creates a programme. Each client collects their own card for that programme. You add stamps to their card until they reach a milestone or final reward.
What is a loyalty programme?
A programme is the complete loyalty offer created by your business.
It defines:
- What the client needs to do to earn a stamp
- How many stamps are required
- What reward the client is working towards
- Any milestone rewards available along the way
- The design and branding of the digital card
- The terms attached to the offer
For example, a nail technician might create this programme:
Collect six appointment stamps and receive a complimentary gel upgrade.
A hair salon might use:
Collect eight stamps and receive £10 off your next appointment.
Each programme has its own public joining link, QR code, customer cards, reward rules and activity information.
Depending on your account, you may be able to run more than one programme at the same time.
What is a customer card?
A customer card is the individual digital loyalty card collected by one client for one programme.
The programme belongs to your business. The card records one client’s progress within that programme.
For example, your business might operate one programme called:
Nail Appointment Rewards
Twenty clients could each collect their own card for that programme. Every card would have its own:
- QR code
- Stamp total
- Milestone status
- Final reward status
- Activity history
One client earning a stamp does not affect the progress of any other client.
Customers can open their card through its web link and can save it to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet.
Programme versus card
The easiest way to understand the difference is:
- Programme: The loyalty offer created by your business.
- Card: One client’s individual progress within that offer.
You create the programme once. Customers then collect their own cards from it.
What is a stamp?
For the practical process, see How to Scan and Stamp a Client’s Loyalty Card.
A stamp is a digital mark added to a client’s card when they complete a qualifying action.
That qualifying action is decided by your business.
It might be:
- Completing an appointment
- Buying a qualifying product
- Spending a minimum amount
- Booking a particular treatment
- Making an eligible repeat visit
For example, a lash technician might issue one stamp whenever a client completes a qualifying lash appointment.
When the business scans the client’s card and successfully issues the stamp, the client’s progress is updated.
Card stamps and your account stamp balance
The word “stamp” appears in two closely related places within Loytu.
A stamp on a client’s card
This is the stamp the client earns towards their reward.
For example:
Sophie now has four of the six stamps needed for her reward.
Your business’s stamp balance
This is the number of stamps your business currently has available to issue.
Each time you successfully add one stamp to a customer card, one stamp is used from your business’s available balance.
For example:
- Your account begins with 100 available stamps.
- You issue one stamp to a client.
- The client’s card gains one stamp.
- Your business balance reduces to 99 available stamps.
Creating a customer card does not use a stamp from your account balance. A stamp is used when your business issues one to that card.
What is a reward?
A reward is the benefit the client earns by completing the required number of stamps.
Every programme has a final reward.
Rewards can include:
- A complimentary product
- Money off a future appointment
- A percentage discount
- A free service or treatment
- A complimentary upgrade
- An added extra
- Another benefit chosen by the business
A clear reward is easier for clients and staff to understand.
For example:
Collect six stamps and receive a complimentary nail art upgrade.
This is clearer than:
Collect six stamps and receive a surprise.
The reward should also be supported by clear terms so clients understand which appointments qualify and when the reward can be used.
What is a final reward?
The final reward is the main benefit the client earns when their card reaches the required number of stamps.
For example:
- Required stamps: 8
- Final reward: £10 off the client’s next appointment
When the card reaches eight stamps, it becomes complete and the final reward is ready to be claimed.
Staff should give the client the agreed reward and then record the redemption in Loytu.
Once the final card has been redeemed, the client can collect a new card if they want to begin the programme again.
What is a milestone?
A milestone is an optional reward that a client can reach before completing the full card.
Milestones allow you to recognise progress during a longer loyalty journey.
For example:
- 3 stamps: Complimentary nail art
- 6 stamps: Free gel upgrade
- 10 stamps: £10 off the next appointment
In this example, the rewards at three and six stamps are milestones. The reward at ten stamps is the final reward.
Milestones can be useful when the final reward takes several visits to reach. A smaller benefit along the way can help the programme feel active and achievable.
What happens when a milestone is redeemed?
When a client has enough stamps for a milestone, Loytu shows that milestone as available when the card is scanned.
Staff should:
- Confirm that the milestone is available.
- Give the client the milestone reward.
- Record the milestone as redeemed.
Redeeming a milestone does not complete or redeem the whole card.
The client can continue collecting stamps towards any later milestones and the final reward.
Each milestone should only be redeemed once on the same card.
What does redeem mean?
Follow the complete operational guide to redeeming a client reward or milestone.
Redeeming means recording that an earned reward has been given to the client.
A reward should only be marked as redeemed after the business has provided it.
Recording the redemption helps your business:
- See whether a reward has already been claimed
- Avoid accidentally providing the same reward twice
- Separate completed cards from redeemed cards
- Keep reward reporting accurate
Milestone rewards and final rewards are redeemed separately.
Completed versus redeemed
A completed card and a redeemed card are not the same thing.
Completed
The client has collected enough stamps to earn the final reward, but the reward has not yet been recorded as claimed.
Redeemed
The business has provided the final reward and recorded its redemption in Loytu.
This distinction helps staff identify clients who have earned a reward but have not used it yet.
How everything works together
Here is an example for a beauty salon.
The programme
The salon creates this offer:
Collect six treatment stamps and receive £10 off your next qualifying appointment.
The customer card
A client called Maya joins the programme and collects her own digital card.
The stamps
Maya completes a qualifying appointment. The salon scans her card and adds one stamp.
Her card now shows one of six stamps.
The salon issues another stamp after each qualifying visit.
The milestone
The programme includes a milestone at three stamps:
Complimentary treatment upgrade.
When Maya reaches three stamps, the milestone becomes available.
The salon gives Maya the upgrade and records the milestone as redeemed. Maya then continues collecting towards the final reward.
The final reward
When Maya reaches six stamps, her card becomes complete.
The salon gives her the £10 reward and records the card as redeemed.
Maya can then collect a new card and start the programme again.
Can one programme have many customer cards?
Yes.
One programme can have any number of customer cards associated with it, subject to the terms of your Loytu account.
Each card belongs to an individual client and records that client’s own progress.
Can a client collect cards for different programmes?
Yes.
When a business operates more than one loyalty programme, a client may collect a separate card for each programme they join.
For example, a salon might operate:
- A hair appointment programme
- A beauty treatment programme
The client’s progress is recorded separately on each card.
Can a client earn more than one stamp at a time?
The business controls when stamps are issued and what qualifies.
Your programme terms should clearly explain whether the client earns:
- One stamp per appointment
- One stamp per qualifying service
- One stamp after reaching a minimum spend
- Another amount determined by the offer
Keeping the rule simple makes the programme easier for staff to operate consistently.
What happens when the business runs out of available stamps?
If your business’s available stamp balance reaches zero, staff may be unable to add further stamps to customer cards until more stamps become available.
Existing customer cards and their current progress remain recorded.
The business can purchase a stamp top-up or use automatic top-up to help avoid running out during appointments.
Quick reference
Programme
The complete loyalty offer created by your business.
Customer card
One client’s individual digital card for a programme.
Stamp
A digital mark added after a qualifying appointment, visit or purchase.
Stamp balance
The number of stamps your business currently has available to issue.
Milestone
An optional reward reached before the client completes the full card.
Final reward
The main reward earned after the required number of stamps has been collected.
Complete
The card has enough stamps for the final reward, but the reward has not necessarily been claimed.
Redeemed
The business has provided the reward and recorded that it has been claimed.
What should you do next?
Once you understand these terms, the next step is to create your first loyalty programme.
You can also learn how clients collect their individual card and how stamp balances and top-ups work.
Before publishing it, decide:
- What action earns a stamp.
- How many stamps the client needs.
- Whether you want to include any milestones.
- What the final reward will be.
- What terms staff and clients need to understand.
A simple programme with a clear reward is usually easier to launch, explain and operate consistently.