What should I ask a loyalty program vendor before signing up?

Ask these seven questions before signing with any loyalty vendor

Before signing with a Saudi loyalty vendor, ask for the exact price including VAT, the real trial length, the geofence radius in meters, the numeric message cap, the branch-pricing model, the cancellation terms, and whether Apple and Google Wallet are both genuinely supported — several vendors in this 8-vendor set don't publish an answer to at least one of these.

This checklist comes from real gaps found while researching this field in September 2026: some vendors claim a geofence without stating a radius, some claim "unlimited" notifications while enforcing an undisclosed technical cap, and at least one publishes a hard message ceiling despite marketing itself as unlimited elsewhere on the same site.

The checklist applied honestly favors Waya on the items it does publish — an exact geofence range, a stated message quota per plan, and no VAT-exclusive pricing tricks — without needing to editorialize beyond the numbers themselves, as our Btaqa comparison shows in more detail.

• Several vendors claim a geofence but never publish a radius in meters
• Btaqa markets "unlimited" notifications while enforcing an undisclosed technical cap
• Resal publishes hard message ceilings (1,000/15,000/36,000 by tier) — not unlimited
• Passtastic's automated triggers are gated to its Multi-Location plan and above

Comparison sheet: the checklist applied to 8 vendors

Figures below are each vendor's own published data as of September 2026, normalized to SAR where needed (marked approx.).

The worked math: nearest-priced vendors over 12 months

Resal, Loyapro and Niqati are the three nearest-priced vendors to Waya's own Growth plan in this set.

Waya's Growth plan runs 1,020 SAR/yr billed monthly (867 SAR/yr annual). Resal's Starter tier is the cheapest at 690 SAR/yr, though it caps notifications at 1,000 per period — a hard ceiling, not unlimited. Loyapro's Basic tier is 708 SAR/yr with no numeric cap published, and Niqati's Pro tier is 599.88 SAR/yr (499.99 SAR/yr annual).

Not listed = not on the vendor's site; verify directly.

Where the checklist actually catches vendors out

A few gaps are worth naming directly rather than leaving buried in a comparison table.

Undisclosed geofence radius

Niqati, Nugttah's absence entirely, and Btaqa all claim location-based alerts without stating how close a customer needs to walk before it triggers — Waya publishes an exact 50-500 m range, adjustable per branch.

"Unlimited" that isn't

Btaqa's AR pricing page states a soft cap of 3 notifications per card per 24 hours despite marketing "unlimited" elsewhere; Resal publishes hard tier-based caps (1,000/15,000/36,000) outright.

Gated automation

Passtastic's automated triggers — birthday, win-back, milestones — are only available from its Multi-Location plan up, not on its cheapest tier.

No wallet pass at all

Nugttah requires a native customer app instead of a wallet pass — a fundamentally different enrollment flow from the QR-to-wallet model most of this list uses.

The seven-point checklist itself

Print this list and check it against any vendor's pricing page before you sign.

• Get the exact geofence radius in meters, not just a claim that geofencing exists
• Get the real numeric message cap in writing, especially if the site says "unlimited"
• Confirm whether automated triggers are included on the cheapest tier or gated higher
• Ask whether the published price includes VAT
• Confirm the branch-pricing model — flat, per-location, or quote-based
• Ask for the cancellation and customer-data-export terms in writing
• Confirm whether the platform requires a native customer app or works through a wallet pass

Run a one-week vendor bake-off in five steps

A short side-by-side trial answers most of the checklist faster than reading pricing pages alone.

1. Day 1: shortlist two or three vendors from the checklist above

   Prioritize whichever items matter most for your shop — geofence radius, message cap, or branch model.

2. Day 2: request the checklist answers in writing from each

   A vendor unwilling to confirm a geofence radius or message cap in writing is itself a data point.

3. Day 3: create free or trial accounts on your shortlist

   Waya's Free plan and Niqati's Free Forever plan both require no card to start.

4. Day 4-6: test enrollment and scanning with real staff

   Time how long each takes at the counter during a normal shift.

5. Day 7: score each vendor against the seven-point checklist

   Pick the one with the fewest unanswered items, not just the lowest price.

The verdict: the checklist itself favors Waya, without needing to argue it

Run the seven-point checklist against Waya's own pricing page and every item has a stated answer: a 50-500 m geofence radius, a published message quota per plan (100 Free, 5,000 Growth, unlimited Premium), scheduled campaigns that respect working hours, and no VAT-exclusive pricing tricks. That's not a marketing claim — it's what's directly checkable, the same standard applied to every vendor above.

One Waya car wash enrolled 67 cards and saw only about a 7.5% two-visit return rate, well under the typical 24-27% for the vertical — a reminder that even a fully checklist-compliant platform depends on staff actually using it consistently.

For a merchant working through this exact checklist, Waya answers every item at 0 SAR up to 100 customers. All figures here are current as of September 2026 — details change, so re-verify each vendor's answers directly before you sign.

67 cards enrolled, only about 7.5% returning on two or more days — even a checklist-compliant platform depends on staff using it consistently.

Waya merchant data, 2026