The right loyalty program for a salon or spa

Researchers followed 5,544 clients of a chain of men's hair salons for 30 months. In the tenth month the chain started a free program. A client gave an email address, and was sent a $5 coupon for every $100 spent. The average bill was about $21, so in the authors' words "customers typically visit five times to earn a coupon". Visits were about seven weeks apart on average, and a return was most likely "between 3 and 10 weeks after a previous visit".

Some clients had given the chain their email before the program existed, and were enrolled automatically. The authors compared how those members changed with how non-members changed over the same months.

The two parts come to less than the whole. The authors' reason is that each helps the other: more frequent visits are worth more from a client who stays. They put fewer clients leaving at "about 80%" of the gain, and say the 4.1% is too uncertain to tell from no change.

On spend, the authors point to the trade. In men's haircuts the chances "to increase the dollar value of a transaction are fairly limited", and demand "is tied to natural cycles of hair growth".

This is one chain, selling one cheap service, priced in dollars. A colour salon or a spa has more to sell at each visit. It was not a randomised test: the automatic members had agreed to receive marketing messages, which other clients had not. The five-year figure is a projection from a model fitted to 30 months.

Five dollars on a hundred is 5%. In the period studied, "About 2% of customers (or 5% of members) redeemed a reward coupon". Yet members left less often, including clients who came so rarely that a coupon was a long way off. The gain was largest among the most frequent clients and the least frequent.

The authors do not claim to know why. They write that "the benefit of the program can extend beyond economic factors", and add: "We leave it to future research".

This does not show that the reward is unimportant. The chain offered one reward, so the study cannot compare it with a nearer one, and its coupons lapsed after 90 days, less than two average gaps. It shows that a salon program can pay without bigger bills and without many rewards handed out. Judge yours by who is still coming.

For a Malaysian example we read one massage chain's published terms. Thai Odyssey's Loyalty page, read on 10 October 2026, says "Every RM 1 you spend = 1 Loyalty Points". Its Rewards page lists a 60-minute Thai Traditional Massage at a usual price of RM146.30, or 3,700 points (its Loyalty page says 3,800, or 4,300 at five outlets it calls Signature). By our arithmetic that gives back about 4%, and a client who buys that massage each time earns it free after about 25 visits. Points are valid for 12 months, and "the new validity date will be updated based on your last purchase". Its Packages page was offering "BUY 5 FREE 2 Full Body Services", to be used within six months.

Four per cent is close to the salon chain's five. The distance is what differs: for a client who comes every seven weeks, 25 visits is more than three years. The chart does start lower, with a hand soap at 500 points and a 30-minute massage at 1,800. A salon with one or two outlets should put its first reward where a regular reaches it this year.

When you create the card program, choose Loyalty and rewards and count Stamp. Set Stamps to fill a card to 4 or 5, and leave Stamps for one purchase at 1. A stamp is given for each purchase staff record, whatever the bill, so a cut and a colour paid together earn one. Under Rewards And Benefits, Use stamp reward setup fills in the rule, and you only name the reward. Leave Claim and use by at No deadline: in a trade this slow, a deadline catches clients who did nothing wrong.

An example with made-up numbers. A regular comes every seven weeks and spends RM80. A card of five is full at the fifth visit, 28 weeks after the first. The reward is a scalp treatment listed at RM30. Against RM400 of spending that is 7.5% at your list price. What it costs you is RM5 of product and fifteen minutes of a stylist's time.

A treatment added to a visit the client is already paying for takes minutes. A free cut would take an appointment slot.

Bills in a salon run from a fringe trim to a full head of colour, and Points would be fairer to the colour client. They would also have staff type the bill at every visit, and the study found nothing to gain in the bill. If most of your takings come from a few large services, weigh Points: see Points, stamps or visits: which should you use?. Visits only counts. No reward can cost Visits. native.cards has no tiers or VIP levels.

Choose the size before you submit. Once a program is live its Rules view says: "Earning rules on a live program can't be changed here." Expect the program's Overview to call your card slow once it has enough members' visits to go by: "Rewards that take longer than 8 weeks mostly go unfinished." At seven weeks a visit, a card of four or five takes far longer than that. In this trade, judge the distance in visits, not weeks, as How soon should customers earn their first reward? explains.

native.cards takes no bookings. The next appointment goes in your own book. What the card gives you is the moment to ask for it: the client is at the desk, paying, and has just heard how many visits are left.

At that moment the client's phone may be in a bag or a locker. On the Scanner, choose ID or phone, type the member ID or phone number, press Find customer, read the name back and press Yes, continue. A phone number works only if it is on the member's record, so tick Phone among the joining questions, or add the number at the counter.

A Stamp program then shows This visit and asks for no amount. Enter your Staff PIN and press Record purchase. Each person has their own PIN, so every visit is recorded under whoever entered it. The Counter does not work offline.

When the last stamp goes on, the card reads "Card complete. Claim your reward at the counter", and the screen shows a button, Enough for and the reward's name. Press it, enter the PIN and press Claim for later. The treatment now waits on the card, which is a reason to book the next visit before the client leaves.

A client who wants to book later can reach you through the Business page's Help link: "An optional link at the end of your page, such as your WhatsApp chat or contact page." A notification cannot carry a link, but it can open Your business page.

The study did not record who cut whose hair, so it says nothing about a stylist leaving. The list stays with you: each member's visits and stamps are in Customers, whoever held the scissors.

A notification goes to Everyone, New members or Members with a reward waiting. None goes to one client because seven weeks have passed. The ready-made Reward reminder does reach members holding an unused treatment: see Five notifications worth sending to your members.

To see who is late, open Customers and choose Overdue: "Regulars away at least twice as long as they usually are, and back within the last 120 days." It needs three visits to read a client's rhythm. Do not go by the stages. At risk begins 31 days after a visit, and in this trade that is mostly clients between appointments: see How to win back customers who stopped coming. The chain in the study counted a client as gone after about three months.

The list tells you who to ring. Whether you may is a question of permission. Each customer's page in the dashboard says: "Without a recorded permission, do not market to this customer." See Do you need permission before sending offers?.

A stamp is given. A package is paid for in advance, and that is where the law starts. This is general information, not legal advice.

Section 17 of the Consumer Protection Act 1999 covers a "future services contract": "a contract for consumer services that will be provided on a continuing basis and as prescribed by the Minister from time to time". A consumer who cancels one "may be charged by the supplier" these amounts: "five percent of the full contract price"; "the cost of any goods the consumer used or is keeping"; or "the portion of the full contract price representing services received by the consumer". Where more has been paid, the supplier "shall refund the extra payment or make a refund available, within fourteen days of cancellation". Section 6 says the Act applies "notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any agreement".

We read the Act in its official reprint as at 1 November 2021. We did not read the Minister's order. A 2015 note by the law firm Donovan & Ho says it lists "Hair and body hair treatment", "Facial beauty treatment and face shaping", "Manicure", "Pedicure", "Spa centre" and "Massage centre". Ask a lawyer how it applies to your packages, and read Prepaid packages, store credit and gift cards: the rules.

native.cards holds no prepaid value, sells no packages and does not count down a package's sessions. Stamps cannot be bought. A session taken from a package is still a visit, so decide before launch whether it earns a stamp, and say so in your program terms.