Counter Club is made by the Not a Chain teamBack to the directory

For bookshops

A card for the reader who buys a book a month

Independent bookshops already know their regulars by their reading. A card gives those readers a reason to keep buying here, and a members list gives you a way to say the new release is in. Counter Club runs the card from the till and the message from the Campaigns page.

Start freeHow it works

Free costs no money: you agree to receive marketing from Not a Chain and its partners by email and phone, and can unsubscribe any time. What that means

Quill and Compass Books

One stamp per book. Ten earn a free book up to $25.

7 of 10 Three books to go.

What gets in the way for bookshops

The margin is thin

A free book after ten is a real cost. Set the target so the reward is affordable: ten stamps for a book up to $25 works for most shops.

Events need an audience

An author evening with twelve people in it feels like a failure. An email to the club, on a paid plan, is how the regulars hear about it.

Paper cards live in the book

Half of them are used as bookmarks and never seen at the till again. A mobile number comes to the till every time.

A worked example

Bookshop work, with Counter Club

A fictional bookshop, Quill and Compass Books, sets its card at 10 stamps for a free book up to $25. One stamp per book bought. The QR is on a bookmark handed out with every purchase and on a card at the till. In two months 90 readers join. On Regulars, the owner emails the club fortnightly about new arrivals and the next author evening, to the 55 members who confirmed an address. The next event has forty people in it. Eleven are club members who filled a card that month and used their code on the night.

Questions from bookshops

Can the reward be a book up to a price?

Yes. Write "a free book up to $25" as the reward and it shows on the join page. The code on the member's row records it when the card fills.

Can I stamp special orders?

Yes, when the customer collects. Press Stamp on their row at the till.

Can I email about events every week?

Within your monthly allowance, yes. Fortnightly keeps the opt-outs low and the open rate up for a bookshop; weekly starts to feel like a newsletter.

Put the QR by the till this week

Setting the card takes two minutes. The first fifty members are free, paid for by a marketing consent instead of a card, and the card runs in full from day one.

Start freeSee pricing

Free costs no money: you agree to receive marketing from Not a Chain and its partners by email and phone, and can unsubscribe any time. What that means