Choose a loyalty rule the cashier can explain

Choose the behaviour you want to recognise

Square Loyalty supports point rules based on spending, selected purchases or visits, with discount rewards. For a hypothetical neighbourhood café, those choices encourage different behaviour. A visit-based rule recognises frequency; a spending rule reflects basket value; an item-based rule can focus on a particular offer. Decide what fits the business before selecting a label such as stars or stamps. Check current eligibility for your location and subscription. The existence of a loyalty feature does not establish that the chosen reward will improve retention or profit.

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Use ordinary purchases to test fairness

Compare a customer buying one drink each morning with a customer buying several drinks for colleagues once a week. Under the proposed rule, calculate what each earns using hypothetical purchases clearly marked as examples. Decide whether the result matches the intention. Include discounts, refunds and excluded products in the discussion. A rule can be mathematically consistent while feeling surprising to customers. Have the cashier explain it in one sentence, then ask a colleague to predict the reward from a sample receipt without reading internal setup notes. Write one example of earning and one example of redeeming points for staff training, using the exact rule the programme currently applies.

Make redemption operationally simple

Define when a reward becomes available, what it can be used on and how staff confirm it has been applied. Check the actual checkout experience rather than assuming every channel behaves identically. Decide how to resolve a customer using a different identifier or asking about a missing point. Avoid creating an informal second ledger in personal messages. The café needs a clear correction process and appropriate access controls. Customers should understand how to obtain help without having to share sensitive account details at a crowded counter.

Review results using your own evidence

Start with a clearly documented rule and observe actual enrolment, redemption and support questions. Compare reward costs with the business's own records and consider whether the programme changes behaviour in the way intended. Do not claim success from sign-ups alone. If the rule changes, explain the treatment of existing points and rewards before applying the change. Choose a programme the team can maintain consistently. The strongest first version may be modest: one understandable reward, a reliable redemption process and a review date for deciding whether it is worth continuing.