Loyalty card: what does it really cost?

The paper card seems unbeatable: a few dozen euros at the printer's for a pack of cards, an ink stamp, and off you go. But that headline price hides recurring costs:

• permanent reprinting: cards get lost, worn and handed out freely, so you reorder regularly;
• the loss of advanced customers: the card mislaid at 8 stamps discourages precisely your best customers;
• stamp fraud: hard to quantify, but real as soon as a stamp gets copied or lent;
• the total absence of measurement: no way to know whether the programme pays, so no way to improve it.

All told, paper costs little in euros and a lot in effectiveness: it is a programme that can run empty for years without anyone noticing. A digital loyalty card removes all four of these at once.

The market has many digital solutions for merchants, with widely varying models. The watch-points that push the bill up:

• the base subscription, which runs from a few dozen euros to over a hundred euros a month depending on the vendor and the plan;
• options billed on top: campaigns, statistics, customisation, extra accounts, each brick can add to the bill;
• minimum terms: some contracts run for twelve months, which rules out testing and then leaving;
• customer caps: an attractive price limited to a few hundred customers changes its face the day your programme takes off;
• the app imposed on your customers, which costs not in euros but in lost sign-ups.

None of these points is scandalous in itself, but they make comparisons difficult. The only question worth asking: how much per month, all inclusive, for an unlimited number of customers?

Many solutions rely on SMS for win-backs and promotions, billed per unit, often a few cents per message. It seems harmless, until you do the sum: a few hundred customers, a few messages a month each, and the SMS line becomes a real expense, which grows exactly when your programme succeeds.

The consequence is perverse: the bigger your customer list, the more communicating costs, so you communicate less. Notifications tied to the Wallet card reverse that logic: they cost nothing to send, whatever the number of customers, and you communicate when it is useful.

Good news: launching a serious digital loyalty programme no longer costs anything. Digikart's free plan includes, with no bank card and no time limit:

• the card in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet (stamps or points), with a web card fallback;
• an unlimited number of customers, which is unique in France for a free Wallet card;
• one reward, the counter poster and QR, visit scanning and the dashboard.

This is not a demo version: it is a complete programme, usable for the long term. The advanced features (notifications, automations, detailed statistics) belong to the paid plan, and nothing else does.

It is worth writing in black and white:

• Free plan: €0, no bank card, no time limit, unlimited customers.
• Plus plan: €17 per month incl. VAT, no commitment, with 3 days free. It adds full customisation of the card (logo, free-form banner, text colour, unit names), up to 3 reward tiers and the welcome bonus.
• Pro plan: €49 per month incl. VAT, all inclusive, no commitment, with 14 days free. It includes everything in the Plus plan and adds unlimited notifications (with no billed SMS at all), flash deals, automations (birthday, win-back of inactive customers, Google review collection), detailed statistics with CSV export and employee accounts.
• POS connection: included in the Pro plan; only the setup is billed, €149 incl. VAT, once (details on the POS connection page).

There is no paid option beyond that: no cost per customer, per card, per notification or per campaign. A business therefore knows exactly what it will pay in a year: €0, €17 or €49 per month incl. VAT.

Whatever your final choice, ask these questions of any solution you consider:

• Is the displayed price all inclusive, or do options get added?
• Is the number of customers really unlimited?
• Do win-backs go through billed SMS?
• Do my customers have to install an app?
• Can I leave whenever I want, and test for free first?

Five clear answers are worth more than a sales brochure. And if you want to check our own answers, they are public: the FAQ details every point, prices included, and the about page tells who builds Digikart and why.