Loyalty program examples for salons: seven reward ladders and what each reward costs

All prices in this article are fictional examples in euros for a business in the euro area. Replace them with your own price list; the percentages are what carries over to any currency. Effective discount always means the same thing here: the value of the reward at your own price, divided by what the client spent to collect the points, times 100. Material and working time are left out on purpose, and the last section explains why the real cost can be lower or higher.

If your prices are not settled yet, work them out first, for instance with the hair salon pricing guide. Whether the card itself runs on paper, in an app or inside your booking system is compared in the article on the digital stamp card for salons. What brings clients back beyond a card is the subject of the guide to salon client loyalty.

A reward ladder has two parts: a counting rule and up to three rewards, each with a points price. Take one point per euro spent and a deep-conditioning treatment priced at €18 for 300 points. To collect 300 points, a client spends €300. The reward is worth €18 of that, so the effective discount is 18 ÷ 300 = 6.0%.

Three rules make a ladder work:

• The first reward comes within reach around the fifth visit. In every ladder below, a client paying the average price reaches the first step on the fifth visit. Much later than that, and the card is forgotten in a drawer.
• Every higher step is worth at least as much per point as the one below. If 300 points buy an €18 treatment and 600 points buy €25 off, two treatments are worth €36 for the same 600 points, and nobody saves up for the second step.
• Three steps are enough. A small add-on, a noticeable amount off and one whole service. More steps make the card harder to explain at reception.

With your own prices, the free loyalty card cost calculator works out the effective discount of each reward and sets it against “every tenth visit free”.

The classic stamp card gives away one visit in ten. Measured against all the work you do for that client, that is 10%. Measured against what the client pays, it is more: nine paid visits buy one free one, so the effective discount is 1 ÷ 9 = 11.1%. With a fictional average visit of €70, the client pays 9 × €70 = €630 and receives a €70 visit for free, which is again 11.1%.

It gets more expensive if the free visit may be any service. If the client saves the reward for a €150 colour appointment, the same nine visits cost you 150 ÷ 630 = 23.8%. A cap such as “a free service up to €70” keeps the classic card at its 11.1%.

A ladder with points per euro usually comes out cheaper per reward, for three reasons:

• You set the price of each reward. The stamp card's reward is always a whole visit; a ladder can start with an €18 treatment at 6.0%.
• Points follow spending. A client who books quick fringe trims collects slowly, a colour client collects quickly. Nobody reaches a full-price reward on a small spend.
• Small rewards are redeemed early. The client gets something on the fifth visit instead of waiting for the tenth, and you hand back an add-on rather than a main service.

Points are not cheaper by themselves, though. A reward worth €100 for 1,000 points at one point per euro costs 100 ÷ 1,000 = 10.0%, the same as the classic card. The ladder only saves money because you choose its prices.

Hair salon

Counting rule: one point per euro. Fictional average visit: €70.

The top step costs 7.0%, well below the 11.1% of the classic card, although the client receives a whole cut and blow-dry. The amount off on the middle step works best on a colour appointment, where it is noticeable without giving a service away.

Barbershop

Counting rule: one stamp per visit, because almost every visit is the same haircut. Fictional price of a haircut: €28.

A shop with one main price is the one place where the stamp logic fits. Even here, the wording moves the cost: “ten stamps, then a free cut” costs 10.0%, “every 10th cut free” costs 11.1%. The beard trim on the fifth visit is the cheaper step, and it gives the card a goal that comes into view early.

Nail studio

Counting rule: one point per euro. Fictional average visit for an infill: €48.

Cap the top step at the price of an infill. Without the cap, the free service tends to be spent on a new full set, and the step costs more than the 6.0% shown.

Beauty studio

Counting rule: one point per euro. Fictional average visit: €80 for a facial.

A percentage looks generous and is the cheapest step here, because 10% of an average visit is only €8. Its value depends on the appointment it is used on: on a €150 treatment it is worth €15, which is 15 ÷ 400 = 3.8%. A named treatment is easier to picture than a percentage, which is why it takes the middle step.

Lash and brow studio

Counting rule: one point per euro. Fictional average infill: €60.

Lash clients come back every few weeks, so they move up the ladder quickly. That is why the first step is a small add-on that takes a few minutes rather than an infill.

Massage studio

Counting rule: one point per euro. Fictional price of a 60-minute massage: €70.

In a massage studio, time is the scarce resource. A free massage occupies a slot that could have been sold, so a reward that is booked at a quieter time costs you less in practice than its price suggests.

Dog grooming salon

Counting rule: one point per euro, because the price depends on the size and coat of the dog. Fictional average groom: €65.

Points per euro are fairer here than stamps. The owner of a large dog with a long coat pays more per visit and collects faster, while the owner of a small dog does not reach the same reward on a fraction of the spend.

• Price versus real cost. The tables value every reward at your price. What it really costs you is the material and the time slot. If the slot would otherwise stay empty, the real cost is lower; if the free service pushes out a paying client, it is the full price.
• What earns points. Decide whether retail products count and what happens with a service priced on request. Put the answer on the card or in the conditions.
• Expiry. Points that never expire stay on your books for years. If they do expire, say so before the client starts collecting, for instance “twelve months after your last visit”.
• The start. Starting at zero is simple. Crediting past visits gives regulars a reward straight away, and that first wave of redemptions belongs in your calculation.
• Conditions in writing. Counting rule, rewards, expiry and what happens if you change or end the programme. A client who knows the rules has nothing to argue about at checkout.

To try the ladder on paper first, print it with the free punch card template.

In Salon Wizard, the loyalty card is available from the Solo Plus plan. For hair salons, barbershops, nail, beauty, lash and brow, waxing and massage studios, it is in the menu from the start. It counts points per euro of the booked services or a fixed number per visit, takes up to three rewards and shows the effective discount of each one in the settings, with the same formula as this article. For a percentage reward and for points per visit, it uses your own average visit of the last twelve months, once there are enough visits to average. Only booked services count: a product sold at the counter earns nothing, because Salon Wizard has no till. The conditions your clients read are generated from these settings.