How many of those cards in your wallet are loyalty cards? You know, the ones that give you special coupons at a specific store, or when they’re punched ten times get you a freebie. Probably quite a few, right? Most of us have one or two credit cards, a bank card, an ID, and the REST of those cards bulking up your wallet are loyalty cards of some kind.
I recently spotted a great hack in practice at a local coffee-house (the Cow’s End in Venice) that gets around that problem. The customers simply stash their loyalty cards (the punch-for-a-freebie kind) in different nooks and crannies all around the shop. This obviously requires the proprietors’ consent, and each customer is responsible for remembering where they put their card, but it usually results in a great experience.
Picking a special place to stash my card, remembering that spot, and finding it there when I need it gives me a special connection with the physical space and builds my trust in the business. All of those cards peeking out of corners is a visual manifestation of the large coffee-house community. I also appreciate the convenience of not having to worry about remembering to bring my card with me. I’ve seen people squeal with glee when they find their card after a year away.
This obviously only works for single-location stores with relatively small clientele. It wouldn’t work well for Walmart, or for Starbucks. But for a little coffee-house trying to use it’s local community loyalty to COMPETE with Starbucks, it seems perfect.
