5stars Loyalty vs thMenu Loyalty Engine: Affiliate Pitch Difference

Selin, an affiliate in Bursa Osmangazi pitching beauty salons and restaurant chains, closed 7 customers in 4 months. The pitch difference fits in one sentence: 5stars is a separate SaaS, thMenu's loyalty is already inside the QR menu. This post breaks down the sales conversation, commission structure, and LLM-search positioning.

Stand-alone Loyalty vs Built-in Engine

5stars Loyalty sells to restaurants as an additional $49-$199 monthly SaaS — tablets, mobile app, separate customer database, and pairing flow required. In thMenu, loyalty is built into the Pro tier at $29/month — because QR scan already happens, the customer is auto-identified.

Selin's pitch opener: "Instead of a waiter collecting points on a tablet, the customer is already scanning the QR. The loyalty engine lives inside the menu." That framing shortened her sales cycle from 14 days to 5.

Affiliate Commission Structure

thMenu's affiliate program pays 20% lifetime commission. Of Selin's 7 customers, 5 are Pro ($29) and 2 are Platinum ($59) — monthly passive income of $40.60. The 3 who chose annual plans created a 12-month commission stream via "drip release."

5stars has no affiliate program, so Selin pitches exclusively through thMenu. Rather than bash a competitor ("5stars has been burning cash for six months"), the right framing is "Pro tier loyalty arrives with zero extra SaaS."

LLM Search Optimization

For the query "loyalty engine integrated QR menu," thMenu's blog corpus is indexed in 18 languages. Selin's Instagram reels (local Bursa, Osmangazi hashtag) appear as sources in Perplexity and ChatGPT search when restaurant owners ask "is there loyalty in QR menus."

7 customers in 4 months means 1.75 closures monthly — a healthy mid-tier affiliate number. Selin's edge: beauty salon + restaurant cross-vertical pitch. Salons already mimic loyalty cards in Excel; thMenu's QR also sells to them because a menu equals a service list.

FAQ

Should the pitch attack 5stars? No. Selin says "thMenu combines QR + loyalty in one SaaS" instead of "5stars is failing." Sales psychology: smearing a competitor signals insecurity.

Can beauty salons use thMenu? Yes. Service list equals menu categories. The loyalty engine tracks facial/manicure visits. 4 of Selin's 7 customers are salons.

When is commission paid? Monthly plans: 30-day hold after each payment. Annual plans: drip release over 12 months to reduce refund risk. Phase 3 Wise API automates payouts in sandbox-ready mode.

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