Loyalty Club and Scan Cards

[TASBP]

Hello everyone

I have been using Shopify for years, and have a number of apps in place for various things, however i have never come across a good Loyalty Club App that is not super expensive.  Our business runs on low margins so loyalty clubs that cost big $$$ would most likely not work for us financially. 

We curently offer a Loyalty Club but give our customers a physical card that we stamp with a stamp for points.  We want to superceed this (its getting too hard with the amount of customers we now have in our Loyalty Club) and want a points tally that is available through our shopify POS system on screen, perhaps even a portal where customers can log into to see their points tally too.  We offer shipping as well, so incoroporating our online customers as well as our retail customers would be great.

The other side of changing to a new app for this is how easy is it to transfer current points onto a shopify based app? (rather than the customer starting on 0 for a new scheme...  im sure we would have some angry custoemrs if they lost all their current points) 

Currently our system is very simple.  Spend $25 instore and get one stamp.  Accumulate 20 stamps and get $10 voucher to spend on next purchase.  It would be also good to add extra things for our online customers such as free shipping after a certain amount of orders etc

*Please note: Im not interested in just updating our Loyalty Club to a Shopify App thats connected to our Shopify store, if im going to update what we currently have Im looking at needing a App that can work with a physical card that we can produce for the custoemr that is scannable with a barcode that brings up the customers details with points tally, and a app that then shows the points tally and can be redeemed upon both instore purchasing or online purchasing 

I have been looking at a card maker like the Badgy Card Printer to replace our paper cards (https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/badgy-100-plastic-card-printer-badgy100p).  Has anyone used one of these and is there a better alternative on the market that is Shopify recommended that can link to a Loyalty App?  Can these easily be set up to be scanned in shopify POS and the customer loyalty club informatoin be present on the screen? which app would run this type of system?

Any help would be much appreciated 

Susan 

[TASBP]

Hi Enzio - thanks for your reply.  please re read my post as all the information is contained in my dicussion on what we are looking for 

[heddykhalifa]

Hey Susan,

Heddy from Gameball: Loyalty Program & VIP here!

It sounds like you need a flexible loyalty solution for both in-store and online customers. Gameball is a good fit for your needs, as it integrates smoothly with Shopify POS and allows customers to track their points online. Plus, it supports importing existing points, so you can transition without losing customer data. You can also offer perks like free shipping or vouchers, both online and in-store.

As for the physical card, Gameball supports scannable barcodes, so you can link customer data to their loyalty account. You could pair this with a card printer like the Badgy 100. When scanned, it would display customer points in your Shopify POS, making redemptions seamless.

If you’re looking for a more comprehensive system, Gameball could be a great all-in-one solution to supercharge your loyalty club and streamline it for both physical and digital customers.

Let me know if you want more details on setup or integrations!

[TASBP]

Thank you for your reply. Gameball sounds ideal for what we are looking for. I popped to the app link to look into this app further, and although you mention in your response that it can use the badgy card printer cards with barcode I notice on the app information there is a reply (only days ago) that says this is not currently available so I’m a little confused - can you please advise how this can work and how we produce a unique barcode for each customer  on the cards that connect to the app? 

[TASBP]

Hello Heddy

yes, I would love some more detailed information please. 

I’m looking for a number of things and need to be sure what I go with covers all of this:

• We curently offer a Loyalty Club but give our customers a physical card that we stamp with a stamp for points.  We want to superceed this (its getting too hard with the amount of customers we now have in our Loyalty Club) and want a points tally that is available through our shopify POS system on screen, including a portal where customers can log into to see their points tally too.  We offer shipping as well, so incoroporating our online customers as well as our retail customers would be necessary.

• The other side of changing to a new app for this is how easy is it to transfer current points onto a shopify based app? (rather than the customer starting on 0 for a new scheme...  im sure we would have some angry customers if they lost all their current points) 

Currently our system is very simple.  Spend $25 instore and get one stamp.  Accumulate 20 stamps and get $10 voucher to spend on next purchase.  It would be also good to add extra things for our online customers such as free shipping after a certain amount of orders etc

*Please note: Im not interested in just updating our Loyalty Club to a Shopify App thats connected to our Shopify store, if im going to update what we currently have Im looking at needing a App that can work with a physical card that we can produce for the customer that is scannable with a barcode that brings up the customers details with points tally, and a app that then shows the points tally and can be redeemed upon both instore purchasing or online purchasing 

• I have been looking at a card maker like the Badgy Card Printer to replace our paper cards (https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/badgy-100-plastic-card-printer-badgy100p). Can these easily be set up to be scanned in shopify POS and the customer loyalty club information be present on the screen? which app version would integrate barcode scanning and run this type of system?
• We currently use mailchimp to create emails for our loyalty club members. Does your app offer email integration or how do I link mailchimp to our loyalty club database if going with your app

Any help would be much appreciated 

Susan 

[heddykhalifa]

Hey Susan,

Everything you're looking for can be done with Gameball! If you have your current points saved in a CSV file, we can easily import that so your customers won’t lose any progress. You can also offer rewards like free shipping or products based on points, and Gameball integrates with both Shopify POS and online stores seamlessly.

We could technically make it work with scannable cards, but why stick with that? It may be costly and complicated. With Gameball, you can fully digitize your loyalty program, making it easier for both you and your customers. You can even set up a points system like your current stamp model (e.g., $25 = 1 point, 20 points = $10 off), simplifying the process.

Also, Gameball integrates with Mailchimp, so you can keep all your email marketing connected. 

[TASBP]

Thanks for your reply 

I had installed your app and started playing with it, but after not getting any response to both the questioned raised on the discussion site and emails sent (to your reply and a support ticket through the app)  I uninstalled it. Three days had passed with no response, so didn’t think support was very good and if support is not good it makes it hard to work together moving forward if I have issues. 

Our customers like physical cards. Many of my customers are elderly people that don’t want everything digitilised. Our staff also like the idea of being able to scan a card rather than typing details. 

I would like to know how to implement the barcode card scanning if I was to reinstall the app please and go ahead. 

Can you assist with providing this information please 

[heddykhalifa]

Hi Susan, 

I'm so sorry about this, we're off Fridays and Saturdays this is why we didn't get back to you sooner! 
Okay now I understand. Let me ask and get back to you about how this can be done. 

[TASBP]

Ok thank you. 
After installing the app I could not work out how staff can actually even bring up the customer details through Shopify POS to add points in the retail store. It seemed the app could only work if customers were logging in through our online store? Therefore I could not work out how to even access it through our POS in our retail store let alone add a barcode to a customer profile 

[TASBP]

Thanks for your reply
I had installed your app and started playing with it, but after not getting any response to both the questioned raised on the discussion site and emails sent (to your reply and a support ticket through the app) I uninstalled it. Three days had passed with no response, so didn’t think support was very good and if support is not good it makes it hard to work together moving forward if I have issues.

Our customers like physical cards. Many of my customers are elderly people that don’t want everything digitilised. Our staff also like the idea of being able to scan a card rather than typing details.

I would like to know how to implement the barcode card scanning if I was to reinstall the app please and go ahead.

Can you assist with providing this information please

[heddykhalifa]

Hello Susan! 

So to answer your question, Gameball works on and offline. What you want to do is technically possible, as Shopify POS works with barcode scanners. So what you want to do here is scan a barcode to bring up the customer data on screen, correct? Instead of having to type out an email or a phone number. 
We've looked into it, and there are a few apps that do this. We haven't tried them out ourselves so we can't vouch for them but we'll drop the links and you can check them out. 
But once this specific step is set up, you're good to go. Since Gameball integrates with Shopify POS, it already shows the customers points tally on the customer info screen - so nothing new is required from us here. The thing you want to implement is the step preceding this (to make a scannable barcode the customer data input) 

Here are the apps we found: 
https://apps.shopify.com/select-customer-with-barcode-1
https://apps.shopify.com/qr4pos?show_store_picker 

Please let me know if I've misunderstood your case or if you have any further questions! 

[TASBP]

Thanks for the reply Heddy.  The tricky part of using TWO Apps to create what im trying to achieve, is how do the 2 apps talk to each other? ie.... if the barcode scanner app is added, how is it then linked to your loyalty club app at the POS? ie if i scan a loyalty club card and the barcode app is used to bring up the customers details, how then is it connected to the loyalty club points accumulation and how does the customer then use the points on a purchase at the checkout?  im not sure how the two can be linked 

[heddykhalifa]

So the two apps don't need to actually be linked. All you need is the customer data page, and Gameball is automatically connected to that. So once the barcode is scanned and it brings up the customer data, it will show you the customers points tally and they can then redeem them however they want. 
So if these cards will only be scanned at the cashier (meaning with Shopify POS) then you only need the barcode to connect with the Shopify POS customer data, because Gameball integrates with Shopify POS. 

You can learn more about how Shopify POS and Gameball work together here

[TASBP]

I am unsure why you say that the two don’t have to be linked. The barcode scan needs to be linked to the loyalty app otherwise if you scan the barcode it does not have a direction to go to if it’s not linked. A customer profile is very different to a loyalty club membership database. A barcode can scanned as a product in shopify pos but is not linked to a customer - they are two VERY different things.  For a barcode to be linked to a customer profile I understand the apps you have suggested can do this, however that is very different to a loyalty club database that accumulates points with purchasing and combining your app with theirs. There has to be a link between the two for them to work together. 

I am unsure how the scanning of a barcode will connect to your loyalty membership, as this still has not been explained to me. 

To implement this project it will cost a few thousand dollars outlay for my business so it is imperative that it is workable and easy to implement PRIOR to outlaying the $$$ for the hardware required. 

Upon installing your app I discovered there is no way to put a barcode on a profile in order to make this connection upon scanning. 

you then suggested a couple of apps that could do this barcode side of things, however what is unclear is how the connection of the barcode app then activates your app. From my understanding the barcode app will only link to a customer profile, not a membership on a loyalty app. 

So how does the barcode app know that it has to connect to your app if there’s no link? 

customers need to sign up to our loyalty club, not create a customer profile. They are two very different things 

[heddykhalifa]

Let me check if I understand everything correctly: 
You want your clients to have scannable card which they can scan at the cashier and view their points tally, correct? 

If that is the case, then the 'customer profile' acts as the middleman between the barcode scanning system and Gameball. 
Gameball is linked to the customer profile, so once that page shows up on the screen it will display how many points the customer has and all the ways they can redeem them and can do so on the spot. If they want to see their points tally online, they only need to log into their account and will have a full overview of their score. 

So the barcode won't be connected to Gameball directly, we only need it to connect to the customer profile to achieve the same result. 

Customers will sign up to the loyalty club, and they can do that online or in-store and this will then integrate with their customer profile on Shopify POS. 

Please let me know if there's something I've missed!