QR code or NFC for a loyalty card? What each one does at the counter
Tapping a phone feels like the future, and scanning a QR code feels like 2020. For a small business, the boring option usually wins. Here is why, and when it does not.
Two different moments
A loyalty card meets your counter twice. First when the customer joins: something has to take them from “interested” to “card saved in my phone”. Then on every visit: staff have to recognise the card and add the stamp. QR codes and NFC can do either job, but they are not equally good at both.
Joining: QR code on the counter, or an NFC tag
A printed QR code works on practically every smartphone: the customer opens the camera, points it at the code and a link appears. Nothing to switch on, nothing to explain. It costs the price of printing, and you can put it on a table card, a window sticker, a receipt and a menu at once.
An NFC tag (a small chip in a sticker or a disc) opens the same link when a phone touches it. Recent iPhones read tags without opening anything; on Android, NFC has to be switched on, which it is on many phones but not all. It feels slicker when it works, and confusing when it does not, because there is nothing visible telling the customer what to do. Tags also cost money per piece and need writing and protecting so nobody can change where they point.
For joining, a QR code is the safer default. If you love the tap, put a QR code next to the tag so every phone has a way in.
At the till: scanning the card, or tapping it
Once the card is in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, it carries a code. Staff scan it with the camera of a phone or tablet they already have, or with a cheap barcode scanner, and the stamp is added. It works with every phone, today, with hardware most counters already own.
Wallet cards can also be read by tapping the phone on an NFC reader, the way a contactless bank card is. That needs three things: a reader at the counter that supports it, permission from Apple (an NFC certificate, granted on application) and enrolment with Google (Smart Tap). It is how large chains do it. For a single venue it is a lot of setup to save a second per scan.
What we recommend
- Join with a QR code. It reaches every phone and costs a print run.
- Scan the card’s code at the till with a phone or tablet. It is fast enough, and nothing to buy.
- Consider NFC at the till only when queues are long enough that a second per customer matters, and you are ready for the reader and the approvals.
That is how TAPPI works today: every card is joined by QR code and scanned by QR code, so it runs on the phones and counters businesses already have.
A note on paper QR codes
Whatever you print, test it. Scan the printed code with an iPhone and an Android phone, in the light where customers will stand, before you print a hundred. Keep it large, keep a white margin around it, and do not put it behind glossy plastic that reflects the ceiling lights.