A car wash customer washes wherever the road takes them that day. If they pass you, they stop. If the wash next to the supermarket is closer, they go there without a second thought. A stamp card gives them a reason to take the detour: they have four stamps with you and don’t want to start from zero somewhere else.
The study that ran at a car wash
One of the best-known studies on stamp cards took place at a car wash. Joseph Nunes and Xavier Drèze handed customers two cards for the same free wash (Journal of Consumer Research, 2006). The first needed 8 stamps. The second had 10 spaces with 2 already stamped, so it also needed 8 washes. 34% of customers filled the card with the head start, against 19% for the other one.
In Rubik you set the same head start in the settings, as the sign-up gift for stamps («Δώρο εγγραφής (σφραγίδες)»). New customers start the card with one or two stamps and leave closer to the reward than they expect.
How many washes for a free one
Start from how often a regular comes in. Someone who washes every two weeks fills a 6-stamp card in three months. Someone who comes once a month needs half a year for the same card, and forgets about it in the meantime. Ran Kivetz, Oleg Urminsky and Yuhuang Zheng measured that a café’s customers bought more often the closer they got to the reward (Journal of Marketing Research, 2006). For customers who wash every two or three weeks, 5 or 6 stamps for an exterior wash keep the reward close.
An example with made-up numbers: an exterior wash sells for €10 and costs you €2 in water, chemicals and electricity. With a “6 washes, the 7th free” card, the customer pays €60 for seven washes. If they would have come anyway, you give away €10 out of €70, about 14% of the price. Out of your pocket go €2 of materials and your employee’s time. The card pays when the washes it brings in, from customers who would otherwise go elsewhere, leave more profit than that 14%. To run the sums with your own numbers, see the guide on loyalty program ROI.
Two cards: wash and interior
An exterior wash and interior cleaning have different prices and different rhythms. On a single card you’d pick one reward for everyone, and the customer who only gets the outside done would collect stamps as fast as the one who also pays for the interior. In Rubik you create a second stamp card with its own name, reward and number of stamps. For example, the “Wash” card gives a free wash at 6 stamps and the “Interior” card a free interior vacuum at 4.
For waxing, polishing or detailing, where the bill varies a lot from one customer to the next, points per euro fit better. The Premium plan runs stamps and points together. If you can’t decide between the two, read the points vs stamps comparison.
Stamping with wet hands
Your employee types the customer’s mobile number in the admin, from the till tablet or a phone, and the stamp goes on the card. If it’s the customer’s first visit, Rubik opens a card under that number. When they download the Rubik app with the same number, their stamps are waiting.
The other option is the magic stamp: you hold it against the customer’s phone screen for a moment and the stamp goes through. It has no battery and no NFC, costs €25 + VAT once and is optional. More in the article on stamps without NFC.
Someone has to give the stamp. At an unattended self-service wash the customer drops tokens in the machine and drives off, and there’s nobody around to stamp. If the wash belongs to a petrol station and the customer pays for it at the till, the cashier types their number there and then.
A message when a regular is late
A regular who leaves doesn’t tell you. They stop coming, and you notice months later. Rubik’s automatic win-back («Αυτόματη επαναφορά» in the admin) checks every morning which customers are late and sends them a message.
For anyone who has visited on at least three days in the past year, Rubik works out how often they come. It writes to them when they miss one, two or three visits (you choose), and not sooner than 14 days. For everyone else you set a fixed gap: 21, 30, 45 or 60 days without a visit.
Example: a customer washes every 14 days and you’ve set two missed visits. If they don’t come back, the message goes out 42 days after their last wash. On the Starter plan that’s one message by push and email. Premium adds a second message later, SMS and a gift inside the message, such as a stamp. For the wording, see what to send customers who stopped coming.
Messages that suit a car wash
A muddy rain or a day of Saharan dust dirties every car in town at once. The next morning gives you the best reason of the month to send a push. You write it in the admin and pick the time:
“The dust settled on everything. We’re open until 8 and your stamp counts as usual.”
Other good days are the Friday before a long weekend and the week before the August holidays. For birthdays you set gift stamps or points, and Rubik adds them to the customer’s card on their birthday.
Every message is billed per recipient, and SMS costs more than push and email. For promotional email and SMS you need the customer’s prior consent (Greek Law 3471/2006, article 11, and the GDPR).
Google reviews
Search for a car wash near you and Google shows a map with a star rating next to each one. On the Premium plan, Rubik asks your customers for a Google review by message, so nobody at the till has to remember. Keep stamps and discounts out of it: Google’s rules ban offering anything in exchange for a review.
To get started
- Measure how many days pass between two washes for one of your regulars.
- Pick 5 or 6 stamps for the wash and one gift stamp at sign-up.
- Put the Rubik QR poster up next to the till.
- Ask your staff to say “Do you have a card?” before they print the receipt.
Rubik’s stamp plan is free for the first month, enough to see whether drivers ask for the card. After that, plans with unlimited members, messages and automatic win-back start at €23/month billed annually, before VAT (see the pricing page).