Plenty of loyalty services put your shop’s card in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, next to the customer’s bank cards. The customer taps a link, the card lands on their phone and they download nothing. On the first visit that saves time. The trouble starts later, when you want to stamp without a queue and win back the customer who drifted away. At that point Apple and Google write the rules, and the card provider works inside them.
How a Wallet card works
A Wallet card is a pass with a few fields: shop name, stamps, a QR code or barcode. The provider changes the fields from its server and the phone updates the card. To add a stamp, your employee scans the code with a camera or scanner, or the customer scans a QR code on the counter themselves.
Wallet has one clear advantage. The customer installs no app and finds the card where they open their phone to pay. If your customers refuse every new app, that counts.
Messages through the card
On an iPhone, the card shows a notification when one of its fields changes and the provider has set alert text for that field (Apple Developer, Wallet Passes documentation, the changeMessage key). To send a “message”, the provider changes a piece of text on the card. On Google Wallet the provider can send up to 3 messages with a notification per card within 24 hours, and only people with Google Wallet notifications turned on see them (Google for Developers, Google Wallet API for loyalty cards).
With the Rubik app you write the push the way you want, schedule it for the time that suits you and choose who gets it: everyone, the customers who stopped coming, or the ones whose points expire soon. From the same admin you send email, SMS and Viber to customers who gave consent, so you also reach the customer who turned notifications off. Every message is billed per recipient.
Stamping without a scanner
When a stamp needs a scan, you need a camera or scanner at the till and a customer who opens the card in Wallet while paying. If customers scan a QR code on the counter themselves, ask the provider what stops someone from photographing it and stamping from home.
In Rubik your employee types the customer’s mobile number in the admin and the stamp goes on, without the customer touching their phone. You can also hold the magic stamp against their screen (€25 + VAT, once, optional). The shop’s QR code is only for signing up, so customers can’t stamp their own cards.
What Rubik does without you having to remember
- Birthday gift: stamps or points added to the card on the customer’s birthday.
- Automatic win-back: a message to the customer who is late compared with their own visiting rhythm.
- A reminder to customers whose points are about to expire.
- Messages asking for a Google review (Premium plan).
A Wallet card may do some of these, depending on the provider. Ask which ones, and through which channel the message reaches the customer.
One app for every shop
The Rubik app needs one install, on iPhone or Android, and holds the cards of every Rubik shop the customer visits. There they see their stamps, points and coupons, and when a card is full they tap «Εξαργύρωση τώρα» (Redeem now).
A shop can run more than one stamp card, for example one for coffee and one for wine. On the Premium plan, purchases from your e-shop count towards points too, through the plugins for WooCommerce and PrestaShop.
The usual objection to any app is that the customer is in a hurry. In Rubik your employee stamps with the customer’s mobile number from day one, before they download anything. When they install the app with the same number, their stamps are already there. For everything else to check in an app, see how to choose a loyalty app.
Questions for a Wallet card provider
- How does a stamp go on, and what do I need at the till?
- How many messages can I send, and how does the customer see them on iPhone and on Android?
- Can I reach the customer by email or SMS when they’ve turned notifications off?
- What happens to the stamps if the customer deletes the card from Wallet?
- Which messages go out on their own, without me sending them?
Rubik’s stamp plan is free for the first month. After that, plans with unlimited members and messages start at €23/month billed annually, before VAT (see the pricing page).