Gift cards and loyalty are the two App Market conversations every Clover merchant has. Gift cards are cheap and almost always worth doing. Loyalty is worth doing when it is simple. This page has the costs and a way to decide.
Gift cards
| Item | Cost, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Standard physical card (stock designs) | About $1.00 per card |
| Deluxe physical card | About $1.25 per card |
| Custom-designed card | About $1.25 per card plus a design fee around $100 |
| Minimum order | 100 cards |
| Digital gift cards | Issued from the dashboard, emailed to the recipient; program fee if any is set by the plan |
Figures from 2026 dealer program sheets for Clover’s gift card program; confirm at order time.
How it works: cards are activated at the register for any amount, redeemed at the register or, where supported, online, with balances tracked on the account. Reporting shows outstanding liability. Redemptions are not card-network transactions and carry no processing fee.
Why they pay: cash up front, breakage (a share of balances that are never fully redeemed), and redeemers who spend beyond the card. A cafe that sells 100 $25 cards in December has $2,500 in cash in December and, on average, more than $2,500 in sales when they are redeemed.
Loyalty
Options on Clover:
- Clover Rewards. Clover’s own program: customers identified by card or phone, points or visit-based rewards, promotions and messaging. Monthly fee by tier.
- App Market loyalty apps. Several, with points, punch cards, tiers, birthday rewards and text or email campaigns. Monthly fees that often scale with the number of enrolled customers.
- Scheduler-based loyalty for salons and services, inside the booking tool.
Reward redemptions run through the register as discounts; the rest of the ticket processes normally.
Whether it pays: loyalty works when it creates a visit that would not have happened, and it costs a monthly fee plus the discounts given. A simple rule such as buy ten get one for a cafe, or points per dollar for a QSR, is easy for staff to run and customers to understand, and it works. Multi-tier programs with app downloads and gamified rules usually do not earn their fee at small-business scale.
Setup
Gift cards: order the cards, enable the gift card app on the account, train staff on activation and balance check, put a sign at the register and a line on the online ordering page. Digital gift cards turned on in the dashboard.
Loyalty: pick one program, define the rule in a sentence, enroll customers at the register by phone number, and post the rule at the counter. We configure both on install.
Dual pricing interaction
Gift card purchases pay the normal price for the tender used. Redemptions are treated as cash-equivalent tender at the cash price in most configurations, and loyalty rewards apply as discounts before the tender choice. We confirm the exact behavior on your account so receipts stay consistent. Details on dual pricing on Clover.
Where these fit by business
Cafes and QSR: gift cards plus a simple visit-based loyalty program. Salons: gift cards heavily (they are a top seller in December) plus scheduler-based loyalty. Retail: gift cards; loyalty only if you email customers already. Bars: gift cards; loyalty rarely. The cafe setup is on Clover for coffee shops.