Free resource · use it on this page
Free Loyalty Software Kit
A seven-part toolkit for choosing, launching, and measuring a loyalty program on free software, with every worksheet usable right on the page.
How this kit works
This is the index for the PushNotice free-loyalty resource library: seven working resources that take a small business from shortlisting free loyalty software to proving, with numbers, that the program earns its keep. Two of them, the nine-step launch checklist and the customer retention dashboard, are reproduced in full further down this page. The others are linked by name and live as their own pages in the library. Everything is usable directly on the page and prints cleanly; nothing is gated behind a form.
The kit is deliberately tool-agnostic. Every worksheet works whether you end up on a punch-card app, the loyalty module built into your POS, or a wallet-pass platform like PushNotice. The goal is that you choose well, whatever you choose, because a loyalty program fails far more often on reward math and staff execution than on software.
The order matters more than the tools. Do the program math before you sit through a demo, record your baseline before launch day, and book the thirty-day review before you promote anything. The recommended path below walks that sequence.
What is in the kit
Seven resources, each with one job. Use the third column to decide which one you need today.
| Resource | What it is | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| Free Loyalty Software Comparison Matrix | Feature-by-feature grid of free-tier limits: member caps, locations, staff seats, branding, data export | You are building a shortlist and need to rule out tools whose free tier breaks at your volume |
| Loyalty Program Planner | One-page worksheet for the reward rule, earn rate, and giveaway math; a short form appears at the bottom of this page | Before any demo, because no tool can fix reward math that loses money per redemption |
| Loyalty Vendor Scorecard | Blank scoring grid with neutral criteria you weight yourself: setup effort, identity method, exports, upgrade pricing | You have two or three finalists and want to compare them on equal terms instead of by demo polish |
| Loyalty ROI and Cost Calculators | Reward-cost, breakage, and upgrade-price calculators | Estimating what the program costs at your real volume, on the free tier and on the paid tier you would hit if it works |
| Loyalty Launch Checklist | The nine-step launch sequence from the guide, reproduced in full below | Launch week and the two weeks on either side of it |
| Customer Retention Dashboard | Repeat-visit and redemption KPI template, reproduced in full below | From the day you record your baseline onward, at the cadence marked on each metric |
| Free-to-Paid Switching Checklist | Migration steps for changing tiers or tools without losing members, unredeemed rewards, or history | Only when you hit a cap or a wall, not before; premature switching is its own cost |
The recommended path
Five stages, in order. Each stage names the resource that does the work.
- 1
Shortlist with the Comparison Matrix
Use the Free Loyalty Software Comparison Matrix to eliminate tools whose free-tier caps on members, locations, staff seats, or branding break at your volume. Aim to leave this stage with two or three candidates, not one favorite.
- 2
Do the math in the Program Planner
Design the program before choosing the tool: reward rule, earn rate, giveaway rate, identity method. The short-form planner at the bottom of this page covers the essentials; the full Loyalty Program Planner adds tiers, exclusions, and expiry rules.
- 3
Score finalists and price the upgrade
Run each candidate through the Loyalty Vendor Scorecard against the same neutral criteria, then use the ROI and Cost Calculators to price the paid tier you would land on if the program succeeds. The exit cost of a free tool is part of its price.
- 4
Launch with the nine-step checklist
The full Loyalty Launch Checklist from the guide is reproduced below. Do not skip the baseline step; a baseline recorded after launch is not a baseline.
- 5
Measure with the Retention Dashboard
Track the KPI template below at the stated cadence and hold the thirty-day review you booked before launch. If you later outgrow the tool, the Free-to-Paid Switching Checklist covers moving members, unredeemed rewards, and history without starting from zero.
The nine-step launch checklist
The checklist promised in the guide, in full. Work top to bottom; the order is the point.
Write the reward rule in one sentence
Buy nine, get the tenth free. If staff cannot say it from memory at the till, customers will not carry it in their heads either.
Do the giveaway math
Your cost of one reward divided by the revenue of the visits needed to earn it. Know this number before you promise anything.
Size the earn rate to real visit frequency
A typical regular should earn a reward in roughly four to eight weeks. Faster is expensive to fund; slower feels impossible to reach and kills enrollment.
Choose the identity method and the forgot-it rule
Phone number, printed card, app, or wallet pass. Decide now whether a forgotten identifier still earns a stamp, because the till will face that question on day one.
Write the fine print before launch
Expiry, one stamp per visit, exclusions. Rules added after launch read as a broken promise.
Train every till, not just the opening shift
Anyone on shift can enroll, stamp, and redeem without calling a manager, and has a ten-second answer to what is this.
Record your baseline before day one
Two to four weeks of repeat-visit rate and average visits per customer from your POS. A baseline reconstructed later is a guess.
Soft-launch for one week
Enroll walk-ins only, watch where the till slows down, fix the friction, and only then promote.
Book the thirty-day review before launch day
Enrollment, stamp velocity, and first redemptions, read off the dashboard below. Decide to continue, adjust, or stop; a program nobody reviews only drifts.
Customer retention dashboard: the KPI template
The repeat-visit and redemption template promised in the guide. Copy these eight rows into any spreadsheet, fill in your baseline column first, and review at the cadence shown.
| Metric | How to calculate it | Cadence | How to read it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enrollment rate | New members divided by total transactions in the period | Weekly | Measures whether the till pitch is landing; it falls when staff stop asking |
| Active member rate | Members with at least one visit in the last 90 days divided by all members | Monthly | Total signups flatter you; this is the real size of the program |
| Repeat-visit rate | Customers with two or more visits in the period divided by all customers seen | Monthly | The headline number; always read it against your pre-launch baseline, never in isolation |
| Time to second visit | Median days between a customer's first and second visit | Monthly | A working program shortens this; if it does not move, the first reward is too far away |
| Stamp or point velocity | Stamps or points issued per active member per month | Weekly | Tests whether the earn rule matches real visit frequency at your counter |
| Redemption rate | Rewards redeemed divided by rewards earned | Monthly | Very low suggests the reward does not motivate or expiry is too tight; near total redemption with flat visits means you are discounting regulars who would have come anyway |
| Incremental visits vs baseline | Average visits per customer now minus the same figure from your baseline window | Quarterly | The only line that proves the program pays for itself |
| Cost per incremental visit | Total reward cost in the period divided by incremental visits | Quarterly | Compare it to the margin on an average visit; if it is higher, adjust the earn rule before blaming the software |
One-page program planner, short form
The essentials from the full Loyalty Program Planner. Fill these in before you compare tools; print the page and write directly on it if that is easier.
Program goal
One sentence. Example: raise the share of first-time customers who return within 30 days.
Reward rule, in customer words
Buy X, get Y. If it needs more than one sentence, simplify it before you shop for software.
Your cost of one reward
Cost of goods, not the retail price. A free coffee rarely costs you what the menu says.
Visits or spend required to earn it
Size it so a typical regular earns a reward in roughly four to eight weeks.
Giveaway rate
Reward cost divided by average spend times visits required. As a rule of thumb, keep it in the single digits as a percentage.
How customers are identified
Phone number, printed card, app, or wallet pass, plus your rule for when they forget it.
Pre-launch baseline
Current repeat-visit rate and average visits per customer, measured over two to four weeks before launch.
First review date
Thirty days after launch. Book it now; programs drift when nobody owns the review.
From the guide: Free Loyalty Software: The 2026 Guide
This resource accompanies the full article — worth reading before you commit to a tool.