Loyalty Program Setup Checklist: What You Need Before You Launch

You can launch a working program in under 60 seconds. You should still spend 10-15 minutes making sure you have the right foundation.

Pre-launch checklist (5 minutes)

eal time, customers actually use it.

• [ ] Reward chosen and written in plain English ("Buy 9 coffees, get the 10th free")
• [ ] Program name decided (something friendly that matches your voice)
• [ ] 50-100 stickers or receipt inserts printed and ready
• [ ] One-sentence script written for the team
• [ ] Someone responsible for checking the dashboard at least twice a week for the first month

Design decisions to make once

Earning mechanic Visit-based (stamp) or spend-based (points)? See the stamp vs points article for guidance.

Reward value Make it feel generous. If you are nervous about giving away too much, you have set the reward too small.

Expiry Most small businesses should not set expiry on the first program. It adds complexity and rarely moves the numbers enough to justify the customer frustration.

Communications Decide now that you will only send lock-screen notifications for genuinely useful reasons (earned reward ready, birthday, rare seasonal bonus). This protects the channel.

Staff prep (the part most people skip)

Print the one-sentence script and tape it to the register or iPad for the first two weeks.

Walk every single person through it once. Then have them say it back to you.

The program lives or dies in those first 10 seconds of the transaction. Everything else is secondary.