WAY is a specialty coffee roaster from Ghent, founded in 2017 at Dok Noord, where its roastery and flagship espresso bar still are. It also runs shops, espresso bars and a bakery around the city, and its online store sells coffee, capsules, subscriptions, brewing gear, books and workshops.

The WAY Coffee Club links all of this. One digital card in the customer’s phone wallet collects points on every purchase, whether that’s an espresso at the bar, a bag of beans online or a new grinder. Customers don’t need an app or a plastic card.

The Problem This Blueprint Solves: Recognize the Same Customer Across Every Touchpoint

A WAY customer might grab a coffee at Jakobijn, buy beans at Volder and order filters online. Without a shared program, each of those is a separate transaction with no link between them.

Specialty coffee also has plenty of competition. The next bag of beans or the next morning flat white can easily come from somewhere else.

The Coffee Club gives every visit and order one place to count. Because the points apply everywhere, whatever a customer buys, wherever they buy it, moves them toward the same reward.

The Blueprint: One Card, Simple Value, and a Reason to Bring a Friend

The WAY Coffee Club pairs a low-effort way to join with transparent rewards and a strong referral incentive.

1. Remove the Friction From Joining

Customers sign up through a short form, which WAY says takes about a minute, and add the Coffee Club card to their phone’s wallet. New members get 50 welcome points straight away.

The wallet card does the work an app would otherwise do. Members scan it at the till in store, and online purchases are added automatically. Their balance and vouchers are always on the card.

For WAY, that makes membership easy to offer to café customers, who might not download an app for their coffee bar but will add a card to their wallet.

2. Make Every Point Worth the Same

Members earn 1 point per €1. WAY states that every point is worth 2 cents, whichever voucher it goes toward.

This makes the program easy to explain. Saving for a bigger voucher isn’t better value, just more convenient, as WAY itself puts it. Members always know what their balance is worth, and nobody has to save for months for a better rate.

Points only expire if a member buys nothing from WAY for a full year, so regular customers never lose their progress.

3. Make Referrals the Fastest Route to a Reward

Inviting a friend earns 200 points, for both the member and the friend they invite.

That is the biggest single earning action in the program. Together with the welcome bonus, one successful referral brings a new member to 250 points, enough for their first €5 voucher. The invited friend joins with the same head start.

Members can also earn 10 points for following WAY on Instagram, which keeps the brand in view between visits.