Setting up a hair salon loyalty program in Australia (2026)

Published 29 September 2026 · Updated 21 October 2026 · Reviewed quarterly

For a hair salon or hairdresser, run a digital stamp card in Apple or Google Wallet: one stamp per visit, and a reward that suits every visit, like a free blow-dry after 6 paid visits. Points only pay off if trims and full colours both fill your book. Clients scan one QR at reception. On Rewardtree it's 60 days free.

The steps#

1. Look at a month of bookings. If most clients book much the same service, a stamp card fits. If your book mixes quick blow-dries with full colours, check the maths below before you choose a reward.
2. Choose the reward and check the maths. A free blow-dry after 6 paid visits is simple to explain. The maths below shows what it gives back to each kind of client, and what it costs you.
3. Keep the reward in reach. A client who comes every six weeks reaches 6 paid visits in about seven months. A regular who comes monthly should reach the reward within 6 to 9 months, or it stops feeling real.
4. Put the QR at reception. Print your free QR poster and stand it where clients wait and pay. They scan it with their phone camera and join while their colour develops.
5. Make scanning part of checkout. At checkout, the client scans the same QR for their stamp. Nobody scans their phone, and staff type nothing. The card on the client's phone updates straight away.

Why hair salons need to think about the reward#

A barber can run on one stamp per cut, because most cuts cost about the same. A hairdresser's book is rarely that tidy. In one afternoon you might do a quick blow-dry, a cut and blow-dry, and a full colour, and the bills can be A$55, A$95 and A$240.

So the first question for a hair salon loyalty program is this: do you reward the visit or the spend? Both work, and they reward different clients. Here's the maths.

Stamps or points: what's fairer across your menu?#

Take three regular clients and the two programs you could run. The prices are examples, as clients see them on your menu:

• Stamps: 6 paid visits earn a free blow-dry worth A$55 on your menu.
• Points: 1 point per $1 spent, and 400 points earn A$20 off the bill.

How the numbers work: the blow-dry client pays 6 × A$55 = A$330 and gets a A$55 blow-dry, which is 16.7% of what they spent. The colour client pays 6 × A$240 = A$1,440 for the same blow-dry: 3.8%. With points, every dollar earns the same, so it's A$20 back for every A$400 spent (5%), whoever the client is.

So, honestly:

• Stamps are simplest at reception and give your quickest services the best deal. If most of your book is cuts at similar prices, they're the right choice. The barber guide shows a stamp card built around cuts.
• Points treat every dollar the same, so your colour clients, often your most valuable, reach a reward sooner. The cost is an extra step at checkout: typing in the bill.

Rewardtree runs stamp cards only. If your book really needs points, a points program may suit you better, and that's fine. If you go with stamps, choose a reward that still feels generous to a colour client, like a treatment they'd happily try. The longer comparison, for every kind of shop, is in stamp card or points.

What does the reward really cost you?#

• A free service is worth its menu price to the client, but it costs you your stylist's time and a little product. If a free blow-dry costs you about A$20 in time and product (use your own figure), the blow-dry client's reward costs you 6.1% of the A$330 they spent, and the colour client's costs you 1.4% of their A$1,440.
• Dollars off cost exactly what they say: A$20 off is A$20 less in the till.

A free service is also a chance to show off: a treatment a client has never tried may be the one they book next time.

How often do your clients come?#

Work out your card from your regulars' rhythm. For a card of 6 paid visits:

A regular who comes monthly should reach the reward within 6 to 9 months, so 6 suits most salons. If your clients come less often than every eight weeks, go shorter or choose a smaller reward.

Rewards that work for a hair salon#

Pick one reward:

• Free blow-dry after 6 paid visits. Worth its menu price, costs you time.
• Free deep-conditioning treatment after 4 paid visits. A chance to show a client a service they might book again.
• A$20 off after 5 paid visits. Simple, and the same for every client.

Rebooking, and staying on their phone#

The weeks between appointments are when clients drift to another salon. The card helps: it sits in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet with your salon's name and their progress, and updates at every visit. The simplest rebooking reminder is still free: ask at checkout, while they scan for their stamp, "Shall we book you in for six weeks' time?"

At reception: stamps and rewards#

Every client scans the same QR at reception. Each visit earns one stamp (salons usually choose one stamp a day), so a client who pops back an hour later for a quick fix doesn't collect twice. Each stamp is checked against where your salon is. A stamp collected far away is still given, but it shows as "Needs a look" on your page, and you can see and undo every stamp. If you set your opening hours, a stamp collected more than 30 minutes outside them doesn't count.

The visit that fills the card is paid as normal. On the client's next visit their phone asks "Use it now?". At reception they tap once and show you a live screen with the reward, their first name and a moving clock. Your stylist types nothing.

The worked example: a hair salon on Rewardtree in a few minutes#

Here's a stamp card, set up from scratch:

1. Your salon's name and mobile at rewardtree.com.au/signup. We text you a code to check it's your number.
2. Your reward, in one sentence. Pick Beauty, type 6 and "Free blow-dry", and your card reads "Customers pay for 6 visits. Their 7th visit gets a free blow-dry."
3. Your salon's address. Google address search finds it. More than one salon? Add them right there.
4. Go live, and print your free QR poster. An A4 poster for reception, with a page of four stickers.

The Australian rules, in plain words#

This is general information, not legal or tax advice.

• Menu prices include GST. Businesses must show consumers one total price, taxes included (ACCC: Price displays, checked 29 September 2026). So do your reward maths on your menu prices. How a free service is recorded for GST is a question for your accountant or BAS agent.
• Spam Act 2003. A message that markets to your clients, like a quiet-week colour offer, needs their consent, has to say it's from you, and needs an unsubscribe that works. An unsubscribe must be honoured within 5 working days (ACMA: Avoid sending spam, checked 29 September 2026). On Rewardtree, your salon's page has its own "can text me offers" box, and it starts unticked. More in do I need permission to text or email my customers offers?
• Privacy Act 1988. Most small businesses, those with an annual turnover of A$3 million or less, aren't covered by the Privacy Act, but some are (OAIC: Small business, checked 29 September 2026). Either way, collect only what you need and tell people plainly who gets their details. Rewardtree's shop page tells every client that your salon will see their first name, mobile and visits.

What it costs#

On Rewardtree it's 60 days free with no credit card, then A$9.99 a month per salon, or A$99 a year. That's our end-of-year special for businesses that sign up by 31 December 2026: you keep it for every shop, including shops you add later, for as long as you stay. From 1 January 2027, businesses that sign up pay A$19.99 a month or A$199 a year. The details are on the pricing page, and the page for hair salons has the short version. For nails, see the nail salon guide.

For the plan any business can follow, read how to set up a loyalty program in Australia. We make Rewardtree, so weigh our advice with that in mind.

Questions, answered#

Run a hair salon? See Rewardtree for hair salons.