Loyalty card systems are a perfect way to retain customers and reward them for being a repeat customer. They’re also great to assist with marketing, and one aspect of that is having custom printed plastic loyalty cards, designed with your logo.
Standard plastic loyalty cards are in a CR80 format (credit card sized), but you can also choose keyring fobs for something a little different. 3up tags are 28x54mm and are a great cost-effective way of providing your customers with personalised loyalty cards. They’re ideal for attaching to a set of keys, so the members of your loyalty schemes are less likely to forget their cards!
If you’d prefer, you can keep the CR80 card for customers to keep in their purse or wallets and have a tag for their keys too. The tag is the same size as a 3up tag and simply snaps off the standard card.
Once you’ve decided what cards to go with your loyalty scheme, you need to design a loyalty card template that suits your business. We’ve listed our top 5 tips to help you get started.
Match Your Brand
It’s likely that your business already has a strong, clear brand identity. This should transfer over to your loyalty cards too, so they’re easily recognised.
The most important aspect is your logo. Adding your business’s logo onto your loyalty cards mean it’s definitively yours, and anyone who sees it – whether it’s the member of your loyalty scheme or someone else – will instantly recognise it. This is a way of marketing your business with little effort.
You can also make sure your cards are recognisable by using the same fonts and colour scheme that you use elsewhere in your brand identity. Using colours that customers associate specifically with your shop helps them to find their cards within their purses or wallets.
Less Is More
When it comes to designing loyalty cards, less is more. As you can use the design to market both your shop and customer rewards scheme to potential customers, it has to be recognisable with logos, fonts and colours, but it also must be readable.
If you include too many design elements on your card, the important things won’t stand out. A pattern or an icon is okay, but make sure you’re placing the focus on your logo and your shop’s name. Visibility is key.
Make Codes Readable
Your loyalty card is likely going to feature a QR code or a barcode, and that means that it needs to be scannable. No matter where on your loyalty card the code is located, make sure that it isn’t impacted by anything else.
Place any design elements away from the code to reduce the risk of it being covered, and make sure there’s a strong contrast between any background patterns and the code itself. If your customers cards don’t scan, inputting their numbers into the system will end up being time consuming and costly.
Get Your Finish Right
Once the design of your cards is finalised, you need to consider any print elements you’d like to have.
There are number of things you can include, such as:
Hot foil stamping – this will give a metallic finish to any areas of your card that you choose.
Spot UV gloss – you can add a high gloss finish to certain areas on matte cards
Magstripes – add magstripes to your card if your shop uses a swipe system
And once you’ve finalised this, it’s time to decide on finish of your card. You can choose from either high gloss or matte laminate, depending on what you like the look of.
Make It Stand Out
If you’ve ever owned a loyalty card, you’ll know how much of a struggle a simple task like finding a loyalty card can be. As a retailer, you’ll know how awkward it can be waiting for your customer to find the right card. The interiors of most purses and wallets tend to be dark colours, so design your card to stand out from the rest.
Use bright, bold colours to contrast against purses and wallets, and you can even put a design element or two near the top and bottom edges of your cards. It’s the things like this that will help your customers easily find their cards at the point of transaction.
To find out more about designing the perfect cards for your customer loyalty rewards system, visit our Loyalty Card Printing page or get in touch with our experts by calling 020 8266 1600.
