Redemption means a customer cashing in what they earned: the free coffee handed across the counter, the ten dollars taken off the bill. The word is also used for a measure, the redemption rate, which is the number of rewards claimed divided by the number of rewards earned over the same period. Large schemes talk about redemption in terms of points; a shop with a stamp card can think of it simply as how many full cards turned into a reward in someone's hand.
A high redemption rate is what a small shop wants. It means the reward is worth coming back for and staff are handing it over. A low rate means rewards are going unclaimed, which looks like a saving on paper but is really a thank you that never got said.
In practice
A pet shop counts its rewards for a quarter. Members filled 80 cards, and 72 rewards were handed over, a redemption rate of 90 percent. The eight unclaimed rewards belong to customers who filled a card and then did not return in the period. That is normal, and several will be claimed on their next visit.
If the rate had been 50 percent, the owner would look for one of three causes. The reward might not be wanted, for example a free bag of a food most customers do not buy. Staff might not be offering it at the till. Or customers might be filling cards without knowing, because nobody tells them.
The simplest way to count redemptions is at the till: ring each reward through as its own line, a $0 item or a discount key labelled "card reward". The till's sales report then counts them by day and by operator, with no extra work.
In Counter Club
A full card shows its reward code next to the Stamp button, so the reward can be handed over on the same visit. Codes cannot be marked as used from the dashboard yet, so count redemptions at your till rather than from the Rewards waiting column. See rewards.