Short answer. Every salon loyalty scheme in the UK is one of three things. Digital stamp cards (Magic Stamp, Loopy Loyalty) digitise the paper card: cheap and simple, but a weaker fit for salons than for coffee shops, because your clients visit monthly, not daily. Points schemes (Square Loyalty, and the loyalty built into Phorest and Fresha) reward spend automatically and suit salons that want a light-touch thank-you with zero front-desk friction. Paid memberships (PerkClub) flip the model: the client pays a monthly fee for a recurring service, say a monthly blow-dry plus discounts, so revenue is booked before the appointment. It is the only mechanic of the three that changes your cashflow rather than decorating it.
This guide compares all of them with pricing verified in August 2026. It is the loyalty-schemes companion to two other guides: if you are specifically shopping for membership software, the salon membership platform roundup compares that field in depth, and if you want the mechanics of designing a membership (what to include, what to cap, how to price it), the salon memberships and subscriptions guide is the owner's manual. This post answers the broader question: which loyalty mechanic should a salon run at all?
Why salon loyalty is not coffee loyalty
Most loyalty advice was written for coffee shops, where the customer visits daily and the ticket is £4. We wrote the coffee shop version of this guide, and the striking thing is how little of it transfers.
A salon client visits every four to six weeks and spends £30 to £90 a time. Run the maths on a buy-nine-get-one-free card at that rhythm and the free blow-dry arrives sometime next summer. The reward is too far away to change behaviour, which is the entire job of a loyalty scheme. Salon schemes that actually work do one of two things instead: reward every visit (points that accrue meaningfully per pound, or a "treat" the client would not have bought), or restructure the relationship so the client commits to a rhythm and gets a better deal for it. That second option is a membership, and it is why treatments beat stamps: a monthly blow-dry membership at around £49 does more for both sides than a tenth-visit-free card ever will.
The other salon-specific reality is that your business is booking-led. Clients book through Fresha, Treatwell, Booksy, Phorest or Square Appointments, and any loyalty scheme has to live alongside that flow, not fight it. Every option below leaves your booking system untouched except where noted.
The three ways to run a salon loyalty scheme
Digital stamp cards are the paper card without the paper. Nine paid visits, tenth free, tracked on a pass in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet. Cheapest category, simplest launch, weakest fit for monthly visit rhythms.
Points schemes attach rewards to spend. Points accrue per pound, automatically where the scheme is wired into your till or salon software, and pay out as money off or a free treat at a threshold you set. This category includes both standalone tools (Square Loyalty) and the loyalty modules inside salon software (Phorest's TreatCard, Fresha's Client Loyalty).
Paid memberships invert the whole idea. Instead of rewarding past visits, the client pays a fixed monthly fee for a recurring entitlement: one blow-dry a month plus 10 to 15% off colour, treatments and retail is the classic UK design. Revenue arrives on the first of the month, before a single appointment. The full argument between the two models is in why memberships beat loyalty schemes.
Most salons need exactly one of these as their main scheme, chosen by problem: a light thank-you points to points, unpredictable revenue and quiet weekdays point to a membership.
At a glance: schemes and costs compared
| Approach | Example providers | Typical UK cost (Aug 2026) | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Digital stamp card | Magic Stamp, Loopy Loyalty | Magic Stamp from £39/month per site; Loopy Loyalty from $25/month | Digitising a per-visit reward on a tight budget |
| Points on the till | Square Loyalty | £25 to £65 per location/month by loyalty visits | Square-based salons wanting rewards with zero extra steps |
| Salon software loyalty | Phorest (TreatCard) | Quote-led, bundled into Phorest software pricing | Teams of 3+ already on (or moving to) Phorest |
| Salon software loyalty | Fresha (Client Loyalty) | Around £49.95 per location/month, on top of the Fresha subscription | Fresha salons wanting loyalty inside their booking flow |
| All-in-one loyalty + CRM | Embargo | Quote-based monthly subscription | Hospitality-style venues; positioning is not salon-focused |
| Paid membership | PerkClub | Flat monthly platform fee plus Stripe processing | Salons wanting recurring revenue rather than discounts |
Prices move; every figure here was checked against the provider's published pricing in August 2026, with sources listed at the end.
Digital stamp cards
Magic Stamp
What it is. A digital stamp card built around a physical stamper that clients tap their phone against. The card lives in a wallet pass, so there is no consumer app to install, and the stamper is genuinely satisfying to use at a reception desk.
Pricing. From £39 a month per site in the UK, per Magic Stamp's published pricing.
Who it suits. A salon that runs a high-frequency, lower-ticket service where stamps still make sense: express blow-dries, brows, lashes or nails on a two-to-three-week rhythm. For those businesses a stamp card can pay out fast enough to keep its pull.
Honest watch-outs. For a standard cut-and-colour salon the stamp maths is against you: at six-week intervals a ten-stamp card takes over a year to complete. It also rewards visits that already happened and books nothing in advance. The full trade-off is in PerkClub vs Magic Stamp.
Loopy Loyalty
What it is. One of the best-known wallet-pass stamp card platforms globally, and one that explicitly targets hair and beauty salons among its industries. Clients get a branded pass in Apple or Google Wallet; staff stamp it by scanning a QR code, and the reward unlocks at the threshold you set.
Pricing. In US dollars: Starter at $25 a month for one location, Growth at $69 for up to three, Ultimate at $95 for up to ten, each with roughly 20% off billed annually.
Who it suits. The cheapest route into digital stamps with no hardware at all. Same caveat as Magic Stamp: strongest for high-frequency treatments, weakest for six-weekly appointments.
Honest watch-outs. Pricing is in dollars and support is not UK-specific. Like every stamp card it is a promise of a future discount, not committed revenue. See PerkClub vs Loopy Loyalty.
Points on the till
Square Loyalty
What it is. Square's points add-on for businesses already on Square POS, and its own marketing lists beauty salons, hair salons, nail salons and day spas among target businesses. Clients identify themselves at checkout, usually by phone number, and points accrue automatically on every sale. Rewards can be tied to visits, spend or specific services.
Pricing. UK pricing is per location per month, banded by activity: £25 for up to 500 loyalty visits, £45 for 501 to 1,500, £65 above that, with a 30-day free trial.
Who it suits. Salons already running Square, including the many using Square Appointments for booking, that want a competent thank-you mechanic with zero extra steps at checkout. Because points accrue per pound rather than per visit, it handles salon ticket sizes better than a stamp card does.
Honest watch-outs. It only exists inside Square: change POS and the scheme and its history go with it. It is a retroactive discount mechanic, not a revenue tool. See PerkClub vs Square Loyalty.
Loyalty built into salon software
If you already run salon management software, the loyalty question changes: the built-in option gets the benefit of living inside the booking flow your clients already use.
Phorest TreatCard
What it is. Phorest is all-in-one salon software (booking, POS, marketing, staff management) with a genuinely well-designed loyalty programme called TreatCard built in. Clients earn points on completed, paid appointments and redeem them not as money off, but as "treats": services or products they have never tried before. Phorest recommends setting rewards so a client generates roughly 14 times the value of a treat before redeeming, and reports that around 20% of clients go on to rebook at full price the service they first tried as a treat, with salons on the programme seeing revenue increases of around 21%.
Pricing. Not published. Phorest is quote-led, positions itself for teams of 3+ staff, and TreatCard comes as part of the software rather than as a standalone purchase.
Who it suits. A salon of three or more staff that wants (or already has) all-in-one software and would like loyalty handled inside it. The treats-not-discounts mechanic is honestly clever: it protects your price list while still feeling generous, and it is built by people who understand salon economics specifically. If you are already a Phorest salon, turn TreatCard on before buying anything else on this page.
Honest watch-outs. You cannot buy the loyalty scheme without the software. If you are happy on Fresha, Treatwell or Booksy, adopting TreatCard means migrating your entire salon system, which is a far bigger decision than a loyalty scheme. TreatCard is also still a retroactive mechanic: it rewards spend after it happens and books no revenue in advance. Solo stylists and two-chair salons are outside Phorest's stated target market.
Fresha Client Loyalty
What it is. Fresha is the biggest booking marketplace in beauty and wellness, and it has moved from its old free model to paid subscriptions. Loyalty is an optional add-on called Client Loyalty that rewards repeat visits and larger purchases with offers, alongside built-in deals and promotions, gift cards, packages and memberships on its standard plans. New clients who find you through the Fresha marketplace carry a one-time fee; returning clients are free.
Pricing. Fresha's subscription is priced per team member, with UK figures reported in 2026 fee guides at £14.95 a month for a solo professional and £9.95 per team member for teams, and the Client Loyalty add-on at around £49.95 per location per month. Fresha's own pricing page localises by country, so check the UK figures shown to you before committing.
Who it suits. Salons already on Fresha that want promotions, gift cards and a loyalty mechanic inside the booking system clients already use. The gift card and packages features are included on standard plans, which is genuinely useful around gifting season.
Honest watch-outs. The loyalty add-on alone costs more than Square Loyalty's entry tier or a Magic Stamp subscription, on top of the per-team-member subscription and marketplace fees, so cost the whole stack rather than the line item. And as with every option so far, it rewards visits after the fact rather than creating committed recurring revenue.
All-in-one loyalty platforms
Embargo
What it is. A mature UK platform combining digital loyalty, a CRM, email marketing and ordering tools, used by 3,500+ venues. Pricing is quote-based with no published rates.
Honest verdict for salons. Embargo's own positioning in 2026 is squarely hospitality: coffee shops, restaurants and bakeries. Some salons have used it, but you would be buying a product whose roadmap and features are built for a different industry. If vendor consolidation across loyalty, CRM and email is your goal, get the quote and compare honestly; otherwise the salon-specific options above are a better starting point. See PerkClub vs Embargo.
A note on RWRD. If you have read coffee-shop loyalty roundups you will have seen RWRD, the discovery-plus-stamps app. We have left it out here deliberately: RWRD describes itself as connecting the independent coffee community, and its consumer app is a map of coffee shops. It is a good product for its market, and its market is not salons.
Paid memberships
PerkClub
What it is. Our own platform, so read this section knowing that, but the category it represents is the one genuinely different mechanic on this list. PerkClub gives a salon a white-label paid membership: a monthly club under the salon's own name, billed through Stripe in pounds, redeemed via a wallet pass, with redemption caps and day restrictions built in. The classic salon design is one monthly blow-dry plus 10 to 15% off colour, treatments and retail at around £49 a month; the pricing guide has the worked numbers by service.
Pricing. A flat monthly platform fee plus standard Stripe processing on member billing; the fee does not scale with member count. Current figures are on the pricing page.
Who it suits. Salons whose real problem is cashflow and quiet weekdays rather than a missing thank-you mechanic. A points scheme gives back a percentage of revenue you already earned; a membership books, say, £49 per member on the first of the month before anyone sits in a chair, and day restrictions steer those visits into the slots that would otherwise sit empty. One hundred members at £49 is £4,900 of monthly recurring revenue.
The structural difference from Phorest is worth naming: Phorest's loyalty comes as part of replacing your whole salon system, and it is a strong choice if that is what you want. PerkClub sits alongside whatever you already run. Fresha, Treatwell, Booksy, Phorest or Square Appointments keep handling the diary exactly as before; the membership handles billing and the redemption check when the member arrives. No migration, no integration project.
Honest watch-outs. A membership asks for real commitment, so it converts fewer clients than a free points scheme, and it is not a discovery channel: it monetises the client base you already have. If all you want is a light thank-you, points are cheaper and easier, and plenty of salons run both. The full salon picture is on PerkClub for salons.
The gifting tie-in
One angle salons consistently underuse: the loyalty and gifting calendars are the same calendar. Mothering Sunday and Christmas are the two biggest gift-voucher weeks of the salon year, and a voucher buyer is a warm lead for whatever scheme you run. A £50 voucher redeemed in January is one visit; the same gift sold as a month or three of membership is a rhythm. If you sell vouchers today, gift memberships are the upgrade: the giver buys a fixed term, the recipient experiences the membership, and some meaningful share convert to paying members when the gift ends. Whichever scheme you choose from this guide, make sure it has an answer for the two weeks a year when people are actively trying to give your salon money.
How to choose
Name the problem first. "I want a loyalty scheme" is not a problem. No repeat visits, quiet Tuesdays, unpredictable revenue and clients drifting to the salon up the road are problems, and each maps to a different option above.
High-frequency treatments, tight budget: a stamp card. Brows, lashes, express services on a two-to-three-week rhythm can still make stamps pay. Magic Stamp at £39 a month or Loopy Loyalty at $25 does it cheaply.
Already on Square: Square Loyalty. £25 a month inside a till you already run, and points-per-pound suits salon ticket sizes better than stamps do.
Already on Phorest, or a 3+ chair salon planning to be: TreatCard. The treats mechanic is the best-designed retroactive scheme in the industry. Just be clear you are choosing a salon system, not merely a loyalty scheme.
Already on Fresha: try Client Loyalty, but cost the full stack. Subscription plus add-on plus marketplace fees is the real price.
Cashflow is the problem: a paid membership. No stamp card or points scheme books revenue in advance; that is not a criticism, it is just not their job. If predictable monthly income and fuller weekdays are the goal, a membership is the mechanic that delivers, and PerkClub is built for exactly that, alongside whatever booking system you already run.
Bottom line
There is no single best salon loyalty scheme in the UK, but there is a best scheme for each problem. Stamps for high-frequency treatments on a budget: Magic Stamp or Loopy Loyalty. Points for an automatic thank-you: Square Loyalty on a Square till, TreatCard inside Phorest, Client Loyalty inside Fresha. And recurring revenue, the one job every retroactive scheme cannot do: a paid membership. Choose the mechanic before the provider, use the platform roundup when you get to software shortlists, and if the membership route is the one that fits, the PerkClub team is happy to walk through the numbers for your salon.
Common questions
- Do loyalty schemes work for salons?
- Yes, but the mechanic has to fit salon economics. Clients visit every four to six weeks with a £30 to £90 ticket, so a buy-nine-get-one-free stamp card can take a year to pay out and loses its pull long before that. Schemes that work for salons reward each visit (points or treats) or restructure the relationship entirely (a paid membership with a monthly included service). Phorest reports salons using its TreatCard loyalty see revenue increases of around 21%, and membership schemes go further by booking revenue before the visit.
- What is the best loyalty scheme for a small salon?
- For a small independent salon the shortlist is short. If you just want a light thank-you mechanic, Square Loyalty (from £25/month per location, if you are on Square) or a digital stamp card with a per-visit reward (Magic Stamp from £39/month) does the job. If you already run Phorest or Fresha, try the loyalty built into the software first. If the real problem is unpredictable revenue and quiet weekdays, a paid membership such as PerkClub is the only option on the list that changes cashflow rather than decorating it.
- Stamp card or membership for a salon?
- A stamp card rewards a visit that already happened; a membership charges a monthly fee for a recurring service, so revenue is booked before the client walks in. Salon visit rhythms favour the membership: a client on a monthly blow-dry membership at around £49/month generates predictable revenue every month, while a tenth-visit-free card takes most of a year to pay out and does nothing for your quiet Tuesdays. Many salons run both: a membership for committed clients and a light points or treats mechanic for everyone else.
- How much does a salon loyalty app cost in the UK?
- As of August 2026: Magic Stamp starts at £39/month per site and Loopy Loyalty at $25/month (priced in US dollars). Square Loyalty costs £25 to £65 per location per month depending on loyalty visits. Fresha's Client Loyalty add-on is around £49.95 per location per month on top of its subscription. Phorest includes its TreatCard loyalty within quote-led software pricing. Membership platforms like PerkClub charge a flat monthly platform fee plus Stripe processing on member billing. Always check current pricing before committing.
- Do clients need to download an app for a salon loyalty scheme?
- Not for most modern schemes. Magic Stamp, Loopy Loyalty and PerkClub use Apple Wallet and Google Wallet passes, so there is nothing new to install. Square Loyalty identifies clients by phone number at checkout. Phorest and Fresha surface loyalty through the booking flows and apps your clients already use, which is one genuine advantage of software-bundled loyalty.