Frequently asked questions

It is a loyalty card that lives in your customer's phone, in Apple Wallet on iPhone or Google Wallet on Android, in the same place as their train tickets and boarding passes. It replaces the paper stamp card: nothing to print, nothing to keep in a wallet, and its balance updates remotely as soon as you credit a visit.

The digital loyalty card in detail

Ankor is the platform that makes this card and everything around it: a management area where you see your customers and your statistics, a scanner to credit points at the till, and a way to write to your customers directly on their card. You install nothing: everything happens in a browser.

Any business whose customers come back: restaurants, cafés, bakeries, hair salons, beauty salons, barbers, florists, wine shops, grocers. The rule is simple: if you have ever considered a stamp card, a digital card does the same thing, better.

The loyalty card by sector: restaurant, bakery, hair salon…

No, and that is the most important point. The card is added to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, which are already installed on their phone, from a simple link or a QR code. No Ankor app to download, no account to create, no password to remember.

Four things, and none of them is a mere convenience.

• The card is never left at home or lost at the bottom of a bag.
• You no longer print anything or reorder cards.
• You know who your loyal customers are and how often they come back.
• You can write to them: the message appears on their lock screen, something a paper card will never do.

Less than five minutes. You choose a template, your colours, your logo and your loyalty programme, and the card is ready. You can watch it being built live in the simulator, even before opening an account.

Yes. The simulator on the site shows you exactly how your card will look while you set it up: colours, logo, business name, type of reward. It does not ask you to create an account, and what you set there is carried over if you then decide to open one.

Because almost nobody would install it. A shop's app needs a place on the home screen, an update now and then, and a good reason to go back to it. Apple Wallet and Google Wallet are already there, already up to date, and already open at the moment of paying.

No. No plan caps the number of cards issued or the number of customers signed up. What sets the plans apart is the number of locations, the number of staff accounts and the volume of messages included.

Technically yes: Apple Wallet and Google Wallet work everywhere, and a card issued here installs on any phone. In practice, the management area, the cards and support are in French, and prices are in euros.

You show them a QR code or send them a link. They fill in a very short form, then an “Add to Apple Wallet” or “Add to Google Wallet” button installs the card in one tap. Allow about thirty seconds, at the counter, while you take payment.

Where the customer waits: on the counter, on a table tent, next to the card terminal, on the receipt, in the window. The same link also works in your Instagram bio, on your Google profile or in an email signature.

First name and email are always asked: without them, a lost card cannot be found again. The rest is up to you. The less you ask, the more people complete the form.

Nothing is lost. The customer, their points and their history stay in your account: it is the card stored in the phone that disappears, not the account. They get it back by reopening your sign-up link and clicking “Renvoyer ma carte par e-mail” (resend my card by email). You can also resend it yourself: look them up by name or email address in the Clients tab of your account.

No. The balance is not stored in the phone but in their customer account; the card only displays it. From the new phone, they reopen your sign-up link, ask to have their card resent by email and reinstall it with their balance intact.

The card requires a Wallet-compatible phone; there is no honest way around that. You can, however, keep following them: from the Clients tab, you find a profile by name or email and credit their points by hand, without scanning anything.

On the front: your logo, your colours, their points or stamp balance, and what they still need for their next reward. On the back, opened with one tap: your addresses, your opening hours, your website, your social networks, and their current vouchers.

Yes. When you credit points or send a message, an alert appears on their lock screen, with your logo as the thumbnail. That is the real value of the digital card: your business reappears on a screen your customer looks at dozens of times a day.

Loyalty card notifications

Yes, in three ways, and none of them goes through you.

• Delete the card from their Wallet, which removes it from their phone.
• Unsubscribe from your messages using the link in your emails.
• Request complete deletion of their data from the “Conditions d'utilisation des données” (data use) page of the site.

A card corresponds to one customer and one email address: two people who want to collect together must use the same sign-up, so the same email, and each install the card on their own phone. Two separate sign-ups give two separate balances.

Yes, as many as there are businesses. Each business issues its own card, with its colours and its programme, and they sit side by side in the customer's Wallet without mixing. Balances never pass from one business to another.

On the vast majority of phones in use, with nothing extra to install.

• iPhone: Apple Wallet is built into the system, there is nothing to download.
• Apple Watch: the card appears on its own as soon as it is on the paired iPhone.
• Android 5.0 and later: Google Wallet, preinstalled on most recent models and free on the Play Store.
• The only exception: an Android phone without Google services, which happens on some imported models.

Yes. A card added to Apple Wallet on the iPhone automatically appears on the paired Apple Watch, with the same QR code to show. It is even the quickest gesture at the counter.

More about Apple Wallet loyalty cards

On iPhone, Wallet has been built into the system since iOS 6: no recent version is required. On Android, Google Wallet requires Android 5.0 or later and Google Play services. An Android phone without Google services, which happens on some imported models, will not be able to install the card.

Google Wallet installs for free from the Play Store and comes preinstalled on most recent phones. Once installed, the add link works normally, without signing up again.

More about Google Wallet loyalty cards

Wallet does not exist on iPad, and the card is designed to be shown at the counter from a phone or a watch. Your management area, however, opens on any computer, tablet or phone.

Not to display it: the card is stored in the phone and opens even without a network. A connection is needed for it to update after a visit, and the phone catches up as soon as it is back online.

A phone or a tablet with a camera and a browser, that is all. Many businesses simply use an old tablet placed next to the till.

• No handheld scanner or barcode reader.
• No special terminal to rent or buy.
• No software to install, neither on the till nor on phones.

Your account has no import button: a customer file (CSV) goes through our team, who imports it with the balances after checking a preview, with duplicates removed. Otherwise, the transfer is done customer by customer, on their first visit, in a few seconds. If your base is large, talk to us before you start.

• Ask your current provider for an export of your customer base, usually a CSV or Excel file. It belongs to you, and it is easier to get before cancelling than after.
• Create your Ankor card, then write to us with this file, or start signing customers up at the counter.
• Without an import, each customer signs up on their first visit and you carry over their previous balance from their profile.

Not automatically: nothing moves on its own from one system to another. A customer's balance is carried over either through our team importing your file, or when you enter it on their profile, which takes a few seconds. It is the only rule that matters when changing tools: a customer who loses their points because you changed provider feels punished for a decision that was not theirs. So keep your old export to hand, and credit each customer on their first visit.

Let the paper cards live on for a few more weeks: the transition finishes by itself once everyone has switched, with no cut-off date to announce to your customers.

• At each visit, you sign the customer up on the spot, in about thirty seconds.
• You carry their stamps over to their digital card from their profile.
• You take back the paper card, or let them keep it while they get used to it.

Guide: paper or digital loyalty card

The same day. The card is ready in a few minutes, the QR code prints straight away, and the first sign-ups happen at the counter from the next service. The pace depends mainly on one thing: your team remembering to offer it.

There is only one gesture to learn: open the scanner and aim at the customer's QR code. The screen then shows the customer's name, their balance and the button to credit. A few minutes are enough, and a new staff member cannot access your programme settings.

Offer it at the moment of paying, when the phone is already in hand, and give an immediate reason: a first stamp free on signing up, or a reward reachable in three or four visits. A card that starts at zero and promises a reward in ten visits makes nobody want it.

Guide: creating a loyalty programme

If in doubt, start with stamps: it is what your customers understand without explanation.

Guide: points or stamps, which to choose

Yes, from the Loyalty programme tab of your account. Balances already earned are not recalculated: they stay as they are and the new rule applies to the following visits. Warn your customers with a message before changing the tiers; it is the kind of surprise that gets noticed.

You open an account and you have 30 days, without paying anything. The period starts when the account is created, not at your first use, and all the features of the chosen plan are available during that time. The detailed conditions are on the “Conditions des offres” (offer terms) page, in French.

No. Your cards, your scanner and the campaigns included in your plan work normally during the 30 days. It is not a demo: the customers you sign up during this period are your real customers, and they stay afterwards.

No. The trial lasts 30 days and it is free. We write to you seven days before it ends, then the day before, with the exact date and the price of your plan: you decide to subscribe with full knowledge, from the Subscription tab of your account.

Three, and you set the tiers and rewards yourself in all three cases.

• The stamp card: each visit is worth one stamp, whatever the amount spent.
• Points per euro spent: the amount on the receipt decides, which rewards large baskets.
• Cashback: the customer gets back a share of their purchases as credit, to spend on a later visit.

Each visit credits one stamp, whatever the amount. You set the number of stamps to reach and what they give, for example ten stamps for a free coffee. It is the clearest programme for a customer, and the one that needs the least explanation at the counter.

You set how many points one euro is worth, and your staff member enters the amount of the receipt when crediting. A customer who spends 40 euros earns four times more than one who spends 10, which rewards large baskets. Points are rounded down to the whole number.

The customer gets back a share of what they spend in a pot in euros, shown on their card, and you choose the rate. At the till, your team deducts the amount of their choice, up to the balance, as soon as the pot reaches the minimum you have set (or from the first cent). The rate and the minimum are set from your account.

In the Rewards tab, you write a tier as “number of points” and “what it gives”, for example 10 points for a free drink. The label appears as is on the customer's card, so be specific: “a free dessert” is easier to understand than “a surprise”.

Points and rewards in detail

Yes, as many as you like: 5 points for a coffee, 15 for a pastry, 30 for a meal. The card always shows the next tier to reach and how far there is to go, which gives a visible goal rather than a list.

The welcome bonus exists on the platform, but it is not set from your account: there is no box that lets you turn it on yourself. The same effect is achieved by hand, straight away: you credit the first stamp right after sign-up, at the counter. That is in any case what most surely persuades a customer to sign up.

No. A points balance stays earned as long as you do not change it yourself. Vouchers, on the other hand, can carry an expiry date that you choose when you issue them.

Yes. You define a scale, for example Bronze from 50 points and Gold from 200, and each customer is given the level they have reached. These levels help you spot your best customers in your account and target a message at them alone.

A reward is a rule; a voucher is an item you give to someone. It is what you need for a goodwill gesture, compensation or a targeted promotion.

Yes, and you choose it. The voucher appears on the back of your customer's card while it is active, disappears once used or expired, and you can extend a date afterwards if you want to make a gesture.

They show their card as usual, your staff member scans it and confirms the reward from the scanner. The corresponding points are deducted, the card updates straight away, and the operation appears in the customer's history.

Yes, from the customer's profile in the Clients tab: you can adjust their balance by hand. The history keeps a record of the original operation and of the correction, which is intended: a history that can be rewritten is worth nothing the day there is a dispute at the counter.

Yes, with off-peak hours. You define a time slot and a multiplier, for example double points between 2pm and 5pm, and credits made during that slot are multiplied automatically. It is the most direct way to shift part of your footfall.

Yes. As soon as a staff member credits points from the scanner or from the management area, the customer's card is updated and their phone receives the notification, usually in less than two seconds. The customer can check their new balance before they have even put their phone away.

The customer's QR code credits nothing: it identifies them. Only a staff account logged in to your business's scanner can add points, and each operation is recorded with the staff member who did it. So you can see, in the history, who credited what and when.

The customer QR code and the scanner

You open the scanner on your phone or tablet, aim at the QR code on the customer's card, and their balance appears. A button credits the visit; if your programme works on the amount spent, you enter the receipt. The whole gesture takes a few seconds.

No, it is a web page. You open it in the browser of the till device and add it to the home screen to find it like an app, without going through an app store or managing updates.

No. Crediting a point updates a balance shared between your account, the customer's card and their phone: that requires a connection. If the network goes down, note the visits and credit them from the Clients tab when the network is back.

Yes. In the Clients tab, you look the person up by name or email and credit from their profile. That is what you need when a customer has forgotten their phone, calls you about an order, or when you catch up on a day without network.

From the Staff tab, you create one account per person with their own login. Everyone signs in with their own access, which lets you see who credited what, and cut off one person's access without changing everyone's password.

No, and you choose what each person sees. There are three roles, from the team member who only serves customers to the administrator who sets everything.

Staff and access management

Up to 2 accounts with the Essentiel plan, up to 6 with the Pro plan. Your own account, the administrator's, does not count; managers and team members do. Beyond that, a custom plan can be discussed with us, especially if you have several teams or high seasonal turnover.

Delete their account from the Staff tab: their access to the scanner is cut off immediately, including on devices where they were already logged in. The operations they carried out stay in the history; they are part of your records.

No, there is no integration with till software today: the scanner works alongside, on a separate device or in another tab. That is also what lets you start without touching your existing setup or calling in your till provider.

Yes, from the Campaigns tab. You write a short message, you choose who receives it, and it appears on your customers' lock screen as well as on the front of their card. It replaces an SMS campaign, and is much simpler.

Marketing campaigns on the card

On the phone's lock screen, as a notification with your logo as the thumbnail, and on the card itself when the customer opens it. It arrives neither in an inbox nor by SMS: it is your card that speaks, which explains the read rate.

The Essentiel plan includes 3 per month; the Pro plan does not limit the number. The counter resets each calendar month, and your account shows you where you stand before each send.

Yes, with the Pro plan. You build a segment from real criteria: number of visits, points balance, level reached, date of last visit. A message sent to your twenty inactive customers is worth more than a message sent to everyone.

Yes. You describe the occasion once, and the message goes out by itself when it comes round. It is what keeps the programme alive in the weeks when you have time for nothing.

• Birthday: a few days before the date, with a real personal voucher if you wish.
• Voucher about to expire: a few days before a still-active voucher expires.

It goes out a few days before the date, and you choose how many. It only concerns customers who entered their date of birth when signing up, which means leaving that field active. You can attach a real personal voucher rather than a simple note.

With a points multiplier on the quiet time slot, for example double points between 2pm and 5pm. Credits made during the slot are multiplied automatically, and the customer has a concrete reason to come at 3pm rather than at 1pm.

Guide: loyalty programme for restaurants

Campaigns go through the Wallet card, not by SMS. The emails sent to your customers are those of the sign-up journey: welcome, address verification, resending a lost card. They carry your colours and logo, and can be sent from your own domain if you have one.

Yes, and it is a legal obligation as much as a good idea. They tick their consent when signing up and can change their mind at any time using the unsubscribe link in your emails. Unsubscribed customers are automatically left out of your sends: campaigns, automatic messages and announcements. Their card keeps updating normally.

Two to four times a month is a comfortable pace, provided each message says something: an offer, something new, an exceptional closure. A message with no content is the surest way to get the card deleted, and a deleted card does not come back.

Yes, with the Pro plan, which covers up to three locations managed from a single account. Your shops share the same card, the same customer balance and the same programme. Each shop has its own sign-up QR code, each staff member can be attached to theirs, and the Analytics tab gives the figures shop by shop.

The loyalty card for several locations

Yes. A customer collects on a single card, whichever shop they visit, and can claim their reward in another one. It is generally what your customers expect from a brand, and it avoids having several cards for the same business.

On iPhone, yes. You enter your addresses, and the card can appear on your customers' lock screen when they are nearby, with the message you chose for each shop. It is the phone that detects proximity, not us: the exact distance depends on Apple Wallet and the phone's settings, and we do not know your customers' location.

Apple limits to ten the number of places a card can watch. In the Shops tab, you choose the ten addresses that make the card appear nearby. Your other shops remain visible on the back of the card.

Beyond three locations, or if you need management by brand, it is handled with a custom plan. Write to us with your number of locations, your customer volume and your messaging needs: we build a proposal from there.

Yes, completely: logo, banner, background colour, text colour, programme name, labels of the displayed fields and rewards. The card should look like your business, not like a template: it is what your customers will see dozens of times a month.

A sharp PNG or JPEG image, preferably square for the thumbnail and with a transparent background if you have such a version. A cropping tool helps you when uploading. Avoid a photo or a very detailed logo: at the size of a notification thumbnail, only a simple mark stays readable.

Yes, and your customers have nothing to reinstall: cards already in circulation update by themselves with the new design. You can announce the change with a message so that it is noticed rather than simply happening.

The back opens with one tap from the card, and updates like the rest. It shows, in this order:

• The customer's current vouchers.
• Your website and social networks.
• Your addresses and opening hours.
• The free texts you add: programme terms, phone number, instructions.

Yes, and it is worth ten minutes' thought. “The Club” or “The counter regulars” are more memorable than “Loyalty programme”, and the name appears on the card as well as in your messages.

Yours. The card carries your logo, your colours and the name of your business: it is your card, not ours. Ankor only appears in a discreet mention on the back, on the line stating who operates the service.

Enough to know whether the programme works, which is the only question that matters.

• The number of customers signed up, and how it changes over time.
• Visits over the period, and the points given.
• Rewards claimed.
• Revenue recorded at the scanner.
• Your best customers, and those who no longer come.
• With the Pro plan, in addition: how often your customers visit, their return rate after a first visit, footfall by day and hour, regulars who are drifting away and the effect of your campaigns.

Loyalty statistics in detail

Yes. Each customer profile shows their visits, the points credited, rewards claimed, their vouchers and the date of their last visit. It is what lets you recognise a regular even when you are not the one at the counter.

Yes, by filtering on the date of last visit. It is the most profitable segment to work on: a customer who has not been back for two months is not lost yet, and a message with a concrete reason to drop by is often enough.

Not on your own: the management area displays the list of your customers and their profiles on screen, but no button downloads them as a file. Your data remains yours nonetheless, including the day you decide to stop. If you need a file, write to us saying what you plan to do with it.

Two plans, at a fixed price. The price depends neither on the number of your customers, nor on the number of cards issued, nor on your revenue.

AnkorCard pricing, plan by plan

The number of locations, staff and messages included, then the targeting and measurement tools.

Yes, in both directions, and the change takes effect on your account without reinstalling anything. Moving from Essentiel to Pro immediately lifts your staff and message limits; your cards, your customers and your balances stay as they are.

On monthly billing, none: you stop whenever you want. On yearly billing, the commitment covers the year paid, in return for the reduced price. In both cases, the first month's trial commits you to nothing.

On monthly billing, yes, with no fees or notice. On yearly billing, the subscription runs until the end of the paid period and you can ask not to be renewed. Just write to us; there is no cancellation process to follow.

The account is suspended, but nothing is deleted.

• The scanner is deactivated: no more points can be credited.
• The points balance is hidden on your customers' cards, replaced by an “X”.
• Balances also disappear from your dashboard.
• What remains: your customers, their history, your settings, your card. Everything comes back exactly as it was as soon as the subscription is set up.

No. No opening fees, no fees per card issued, no commission on your revenue. The price of the plan is the price, and the sends included are those announced in the price list.

Nothing is charged during the 30-day trial. Seven days before the end, then the day before, we write to you with the exact date, the price of your plan and the link to the Subscription tab of your account, where payment is made on a secure page.

Yes. The billing details you enter when signing up (company name, address, billing email) are the ones that appear on your invoices, and you can correct them from your settings.

Each subscribed business has a code to pass on. The referred business starts with its usual trial month, and the referrer earns one month, up to twelve months in total. The code only becomes active from its owner's first payment; the details are on the “Conditions des offres” (offer terms) page, in French.

At the last step of sign-up, in the field provided. It cannot be added afterwards, and a business can only use one code. What counts is the check made when the account is created, not the one shown while typing.

Write to us. Beyond three locations, with many staff or a large volume of sends, a custom plan is built from your real figures rather than by stacking options. For reference: from €25 a month per location, decreasing with volume.

From the login screen, ask for a reset: a link valid for thirty minutes is sent to you by email. If you receive nothing, check your spam folder and that you are using the address given when opening the account.

Yes. Two-factor authentication, a code sent by email in addition to the password, is mandatory for administrator and manager accounts, and you can also require it for your team members. You can also log in with a passkey (fingerprint or face recognition, no password), which already verifies your identity on the device. Inactive sessions close by themselves, which matters for a tablet left in the shop.

Yes, as many as needed: the till tablet, your phone, the office computer. You can log out all of an account's devices at any time, which is what to do if a phone is lost or stolen.

The “État des services” (service status) page of the site shows in real time whether everything is working, and reports ongoing incidents. It is the first place to check before writing to us: the answer is often already there.

You do. Your customers sign up with you, not with us, and we do not use your base for anything other than running your programme. You can access it at any time from the Clients tab, and it stays yours the day you decide to leave.

Within the European Union. As the site's data policy states, some technical subcontractors may process data outside the European Union: the email sending service, and the Apple and Google notification servers through which card updates necessarily pass. These transfers are governed by the European Commission's standard contractual clauses.

The service is built for it: consent collected at sign-up, clear information about what is collected, one-click unsubscribe, and a deletion procedure your customers can use without going through you. The “Conditions d'utilisation des données” (data use) page details the processing and retention periods.

Nothing complicated: they can request it themselves from the “Conditions d'utilisation des données” (data use) page, and they receive a confirmation email to validate. You can also start the anonymisation from their profile. Their personal data disappears; your overall statistics stay accurate.

No, never, neither to advertisers nor to anyone else. That is not our model: we live from businesses' subscriptions, which is precisely why we have nothing to gain from doing otherwise.

No. None of your customers' payments goes through Ankor: the loyalty card only identifies the customer and carries their balance. Your takings stay entirely with your payment provider.

The cards stop updating on your customers' phones. Your base stays yours: note down from the Clients tab what you need before closing the account. The data is then kept for the time set by the site's data policy, in particular the five years the law requires for the transaction history, and then deleted.

Through the site's contact form, which comes straight to us. Mention the name of your business: it saves a back-and-forth and lets us look at your account before replying.

Within twenty-four working hours in general, and faster for anything blocking a business during service. The Pro plan gives access to priority handling.

Yes, on the part that matters most: calibrating your programme. How many stamps before the reward, what it should be, what to say at the counter so people sign up. Write to us during your trial; it is the moment these choices are made: a programme badly calibrated at the start is hard to fix later.

Yes. Write to us and we will arrange a time to show you the tool on your own case: your card, your programme, your questions. You can also start on your own with the simulator, which already gives a good idea of the result.