La digital loyalty card replaces the paper stamp card with a card that lives in your customers' phones, in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet, with no app at all to install. This guide explains what it is, how it works on both sides of the counter, what it costs and how to set yours up in about fifteen minutes.
A digital loyalty card, also called a paperless loyalty card, digital or virtual, is a loyalty card that no longer exists on paper: it is saved in the digital wallet already present on the customer's phone, Apple Wallet on iPhone and Google Wallet on Android. There it sits alongside their bank card, their train ticket and their boarding pass.
The loyalty principle does not change: the customer collects stamps on every visit, or points based on the amount spent, and unlocks a reward when reaching the threshold you set. What changes is the medium. The card can no longer be left at home or go through the washing machine, its balance updates in real time, and the merchant finally knows how many cards are in circulation and who comes back.
Beware of a common confusion: a digital loyalty card is not a loyalty app. Some solutions ask the customer to install their own app to reach their card, which means a download, often an account, sometimes a password. The Wallet card requires none of that.
The journey takes three steps.
Nobody can cheat: you, or your till, confirm every visit. The QR on the counter is public and only serves to sign people up. Scanning it never credits anything, which means you can display it in the window, on your tables or on your bags without the slightest risk.
One thing any serious solution must cover: not all your customers are on iPhone. Apple Wallet is on iPhones, Google Wallet on most Androids, and a minority of phones have neither. A solution that only handles Apple Wallet leaves out a good half of your customers.
At Digikart, the same QR code covers all three cases: Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, and a web version of the card reachable from the browser for phones without a wallet. The balance and the reward are identical in all three. The card also shows on Apple Watch, with no extra setting, since that is standard Wallet behaviour.
This is what decides whether a digital loyalty programme succeeds or fails, and it is simple to grasp: every installation step melts sign-ups away. Downloading an app, creating an account, confirming an email, remembering a password: at each step, some customers give up. The customer at the counter has neither the time nor the inclination, and their phone is already full of apps.
By going through the wallet already installed, only one gesture is left: scanning. That is the difference between a programme your customers genuinely adopt and an app nobody installs. It is also what lets you offer the card at the best moment, while the customer waits for their change, without lengthening the queue.
| Criterion | Paper stamp card | Digital loyalty card |
|---|---|---|
| Loss and forgetting | Frequent, the customer leaves without a stamp | The card is in the phone, always there |
| Recurring cost | Reprinting the cards for every batch | No consumables, one poster to print once |
| Fraude | Favours with the stamp, photocopied cards | Only the merchant confirms a visit |
| Customer knowledge | None, you steer blind | Number of customers, frequency, rewards given |
| Winning a customer back | Impossible | Notification on the card, with no SMS charges |
| Changing the reward | You have to reprint and explain again | Changed live on every card in circulation |
| Getting started | Order from the printer, lead time | About 15 minutes |
The paper card keeps one merit: it exists, it is immediate and it never breaks down. If very few of your customers have a smartphone, it remains defensible. For every other business, paper costs more than it looks, above all because it teaches you nothing.
With paper cards, you will never know how many cards are really in circulation, how many customers are one stamp from their reward, or who has not been back for two months. You steer blind something that is nonetheless a commercial tool.
A digital card counts every confirmed visit. Your dashboard tells you how many customers are active, how often they come back and how many rewards have been given. These are not figures for their own sake: they are what let you lower a threshold that is too high, change a reward nobody wants, or notice that one slot in the week deserves particular attention.
A digital loyalty card can work while your shop is closed. The Pro plan automations cover the moments when a merchant never has time to act by hand:
All these notifications go through the Wallet card, so they cost nothing to send and are not counted one by one, unlike SMS.
The market generally charges a subscription, often with a customer or SMS counter that pushes the bill up. At Digikart, there are two plans and no paid options.
Only one service is billed separately, and only if you ask for it: setting up the connection to your till, €149 incl. VAT once. There is no hardware to buy, no scanner and no terminal: your phone is enough.
If you run several addresses, the question comes up quickly: do you need one card per shop? No. The Pro plan handles all your locations under a single account, with no limit on their number and no extra charge per shop. Your customers have only one card, valid everywhere, and their stamps add up from one shop to the next.
Each venue keeps what is its own: its sign-up QR, its poster, its employee accounts and its own visit count, which shows you which address recruits the most. And if one of your venues is in a different trade, it can have its own separate programme.
The digital loyalty card suits any business whose customers come back regularly. Stamps mode fits frequent visits and a steady basket, points mode fits variable baskets:
We detail the recommended programme trade by trade on the trades page, with the threshold and reward that work best in each activity.
There is no technical installation, no certificate to obtain and no development to plan. The step-by-step guides are in the help section.
No detail is required for a customer to get their card: first name, birthday and phone number stay optional, and the card works even completely anonymously. Data is hosted in France, never sold on, and used only to run your programme.
Your customers and your statistics belong to you: CSV export is included in the Pro plan, so you leave with your data whenever you wish. The site works with no advertising cookie and no consent banner.
Yes, with the same QR code: Apple Wallet on iPhone, Google Wallet on Android, and a fallback web card for phones with neither. Same card, same balance, same rewards.
No, never. The card is added to the wallet already on their phone. They scan your QR once and the card installs in a few seconds, with no account and no password.
No. A smartphone or a computer is enough to scan cards at the counter, and the poster prints on an ordinary printer. No scanner or terminal needed.
No. You, or your connected till, confirm every visit. The counter QR only serves to sign people up: scanning it credits nothing.
The balance is not stored in the card itself. On a new iPhone, Wallet cards follow the transfer; on Android, they follow the Google account. And in every case, scanning the counter QR again restores the card with all its stamps.
Yes, gently: offer the digital card to every customer who shows their paper one, and credit the stamps already earned by hand. The customer loses nothing and your paper cards disappear visit by visit.
The Free plan is free, with no card details, no end date and no cap on customers. The Pro plan is €49 per month incl. VAT, all inclusive, with 14 days free and no commitment.
Yes, the POS connection credits points automatically at checkout, amount included. It is included in the Pro plan; only the setup is billed once.
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