The stamp card is one of the oldest ways to bring customers back, and it still works, because it needs no explaining. Come enough times, get a reward.
But the gap between a card that works and one that rots at the bottom of a bag is in the details: the number of boxes, the reward, the rules and a size that fits in a wallet.
This post walks you through designing a stamp card step by step, with four free templates to download and print. At the end there’s another route: a stamp card in LINE that customers can’t lose.
What makes a good stamp card
Before you open Canva, answer five questions:
- 1What earns a stamp?One visit, or every set amount spent?
- 2How many boxes?How many visits until the reward?
- 3What's the reward?And what does it really cost you?
- 4Does it expire?How long is a card good for?
- 5How do you stop cheating?Who stamps, and with what?
The answers matter more than colours and fonts.
Number of boxes: why “buy 10, get 1 free” is so popular
Ten-and-one-free is the most common formula because it’s easy to remember and easy to work out. The customer pays for 10 visits and the 11th is free: a discount of about 9% across those 11 visits (1 in 11).
But 10 isn’t right for everyone. The rule of thumb: a regular should be able to fill a card within a few months. Any longer and the card gets lost before it’s full.
| Business | How often regulars come (roughly) | Boxes that fit |
|---|---|---|
| Nail salon | Every 3–4 weeks | 6–8 |
| Hair salon, barber | Every 3–6 weeks | 6–8 |
| Spa and massage | Every 1–4 weeks | 6–10 |
| Yoga studio, gym | Several times a week | 10–12 |
| Car care, laundry | Every 1–2 weeks | 8–10 |
The visit rhythms above are rough guesses to help you think. Your own regulars are the best guide.
Two more tips:
- Stamp the first box when you hand the card over. A card at zero feels far away; a card with one stamp already feels started.
- Add a halfway gift. On an 8-box card, box 4 could be a free hand treatment. It gives customers a reason to come back sooner.
Which reward?
A good reward is one customers want and you can afford. Options that suit service businesses:
- A free session of the usual service, like a gel manicure or a 60-minute Thai massage. The clearest choice.
- A free extra: nail art, a hair treatment, a foot scrub, 15 more minutes of massage. Low cost, feels generous.
- An amount off, like 200 baht. You know exactly what it costs.
- A gift: a small bottle of massage oil, a nail polish.
Remember that the real cost of a free service isn’t its price. It’s the materials, the staff’s pay for that time and the slot it takes. See a worked example with numbers in Loyalty and membership systems for small shops.
Stamp card sizes
Three sizes work in practice:
| Type | Size | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Business card | 9 × 5.5 cm (or 85 × 55 mm) | Fits a wallet; any business card printer can do it; 6–10 boxes |
| Folded business card | 9 × 11 cm open, 9 × 5.5 cm folded | Room for 10–12 boxes plus the rules inside |
| Sheet the shop keeps | About A6 (10.5 × 14.8 cm) | Shops where customers don’t carry a card; you file it for them |
Paper and printing:
- Use matte art card, thick enough not to crease. Stamp ink dries faster on matte; glossy card tends to smudge.
- Make each box about 1.2–1.5 cm wide to fit a small self-inking stamp.
- Leave at least 3 mm of margin on every side so the printer’s cut doesn’t clip your text.
Rules against cheating
Paper cards have one real weakness: they can be faked. These rules cut the risk:
- Use a stamp made for your shop, with your logo or pattern, not a star stamp anyone can buy.
- Write the date or initials next to each stamp. The easier it is to check, the harder it is to cheat.
- Keep the stamp behind the counter, out of reach.
- Number the cards and note who got which.
- One stamp per visit, or per minimum spend, printed clearly on the card.
- Set an expiry, such as 6 months from the first stamp.
- Punch or mark “used” on redeemed cards.
- Print the rules on the back: not combined with other offers, lost cards not replaced.
Four free stamp card templates
Every template comes as a print-ready PDF and an editable Canva file. Add your shop name, logo and reward.
1. Nail salon: 8 boxes with a halfway gift
Business card size, 9 × 5.5 cm. The front has the shop name and a line for the customer’s name. The back has 8 circles in two rows; box 4 shows a small gift (say, free nail art on 2 nails) and box 8 the big reward (a free gel manicure). One line of rules below.
2. Hair salon and barber: classic buy 10, get 1 free
Business card size with 10 rounded squares in two rows of five. Box 10 says “FREE” and is bigger than the rest. A small line under each box lets the stylist write the date. For shops that want a card anyone understands at a glance.
3. Spa and massage: folded card, 6 boxes with date and signature
A folded business card. Outside: logo and the customer’s name. Inside left: a table of 6 rows, each with date · service · stamp · therapist’s initials. Inside right: the rules and the reward (for example, a free 60-minute Thai massage). Good for higher-priced services where you want every stamp traceable.
4. Yoga, Pilates and fitness studios: 12-box sheet
A6, with a 3 × 4 grid. The studio keeps the sheets in a box at the desk, filed by name, so members carry nothing. Box 6 earns a free special class; box 12 money off the next package.
Where paper cards fall short
Paper cards work, but there’s a catch or two:
- Customers forget or lose them, and their stamps go with them. Many stop collecting right there.
- You don’t know who holds a card, who’s nearly full or who has gone quiet, so you can’t reach anyone.
- They can be faked, however good your rules.
- You reprint every time the reward changes or the stack runs out.
If you want what’s good about paper (simple, you can see the progress) without those problems, a stamp card in LINE is the answer. The bigger picture is in CRM in LINE.
A digital stamp card in LINE with Tellfox
Tellfox is a booking system in LINE with a stamp card built in. Customers open their card in LINE under My cards: no app, nothing to carry.
- Set it up your way: 2 to 50 stamps per card, which services, classes or packages earn a stamp, the reward, and how long a card lasts, with a preview of the card before you switch it on.
- Stamps arrive by themselves when a booking is completed. Nobody has to remember.
- For walk-ins, staff scan the member QR on the card with their phone camera and tap Add stamp, or tell the AI assistant in LINE, “Khun Som just came in, give her a stamp”, and tap Confirm.
- A full card pays out by itself: the reward goes into the customer’s wallet as a coupon and the next card starts straight away. Staff tap Use when the customer redeems it.
- Cheating is hard: every stamp records who gave it and why, and the member QR only says who the customer is. It never adds a stamp by itself.
- Move over from paper: for customers with stamps on an old card, staff add them in Tellfox with a typed reason such as “from paper card”.
More on the Tellfox stamp cards and coupons page.
Try it
Send a photo of your price list to Tellfox in LINE and see your booking page in seconds. Try it now
