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Guide

Paper vs QR loyalty for pubs

Paper stamp cards built pub loyalty: cheap, familiar, zero technology. The honest question isn't whether paper works — it's what you give up by not being able to see or verify any of it.

Published by Nabaperks · operated by Lapen Inns · updated

What paper does well

Nothing to explain and nothing to install: a card, an ink stamp, done. For a venue that wants zero screens anywhere near the till, paper still wins that trade.

Where paper leaks

Cards get lost, forgotten and quietly re-stamped at home — and none of it is visible to you. There's no record of who came back and no way to tell whether the scheme pays for itself.

What changes with a QR browser card

A browser-based loyalty card customers open from your QR code. No extra hardware. No POS or EPOS integration required.

Stamps become venue-linked stamps — stamps linked to the venue QR, one claim per customer per UK date — and visits land in a dashboard you can actually read.

  • Getting started

    Paper: Order printed cards, hand them out at the till

    QR card: One venue QR — the card opens in the browser

  • For the guest

    Paper: Another card to carry, easy to lose

    QR card: Nothing to install; the card lives in their browser

  • At the till

    Paper: Any ink stamp, no verification

    QR card: Stamps linked to the venue QR, one claim per customer per UK date

  • What you learn

    Paper: Nothing is recorded

    QR card: Visits, members and returning customers in a dashboard, plus a weekly digest

  • Ongoing cost

    Paper: Reprints whenever cards run out

    QR card: £49/month after a 30-day free pilot

The switch without the setup job

Instead of handing you empty software, Lapen Inns does the launch. We handle the whole launch: venue and card configuration, a margin-safe mystery reward pool, and your first A4 counter-poster run — generated, printed and posted to your pub.

First-Regular Guarantee: If your live card hasn't brought back a first regular by the end of your 30-day pilot, the pilot stays free until it does.

More practical pub loyalty guides

If you’d rather not do any of this yourself

£49/month, or £490/year — 2 months free, after a 30-day free pilot. First-Regular Guarantee: If your live card hasn't brought back a first regular by the end of your 30-day pilot, the pilot stays free until it does.

Card required — cancel anytime from your billing page.