The Future of Customer Rewards: Card Linked Offers

Every customer likes receiving a discount at the till.

Not surprisingly, businesses like customer rewards programs as well – they can be a way to drive loyalty, get repeat business, and ultimately increase customer retention.

But there’s one problem: creating a quality loyalty program has been traditionally quite expensive, especially for brick-and-mortar businesses. After all, most companies do not have the clout to market a proprietary rewards app like Starbucks, so how can customer rewards be tackled more cost effectively in the digital era?

Introducing Card Linked Offers

Today’s infographic comes from Mobi724 and it explains the concept of card linked offers (CLOs), as well as the benefits they confer to consumers, retailers, and even payment processors.

As brick-and-mortar businesses look to the potential of the smartphone economy to help retain customers and increase store traffic, card linked offers (CLOs) present an interesting opportunity.

Card linked offers are relevant, personalized, and easy to redeem. Further, they ultimately create a flawless and convenient experience that can help increase brand loyalty and customer satisfaction.

How Card Linked Offers Work

Card-linked offers (CLOs) are a card-linking technology enabling operators to link a special offer or coupon to a consumer’s debit or credit card.

1. Retailers and/or banks target a consumer with relevant ads
2. The closer the recommendations are to the consumer’s preferences and geolocation in real time, the higher the chances are for redemption
3. Offers can be redeemed with usage of the linked payment card at point of sale (POS)

Combined with the effective use of proximity marketing, CLOs can help reach customers at the right place and at the right time. In return, operators see an increase card usage and spending at participating stores, while creating a unique opportunity to actively engage customers.

A Booming Market

In recent years, CLOs have become one of the most widely used online-to-offline (O2O) technologies.

Card linked offers are already a multi-billion dollar market, and a recent industry survey found that transactions are growing at a rapid pace. Impressively, 62% of CLO users that responded to the survey saw their transactions increase by 100% or more in the last year.

What else is driving growth in this expanding market?

1. A Shift to Cashless
The world is embracing a cashless economy, as the popularity and convenience of using cards and mobile payment apps increases. CLOs are poised to benefit from more cashless retail transactions, which are growing at 20% per year.

2. Changing Consumer Behavior
Research shows that having an immediately gratifying rewards experience is more important to consumers than the monetary savings they get in the process. This creates a positive feedback loop with every experience.

Gauging Success

Truly successful card-linked offers must reach consumers where they are, provide personalized offers, and enable O2O – an online-to-offline redemption experience – for the customer.

If used correctly, card-linked offers can transform massive cost burdens and a lack of efficiency into new incremental revenue streams, providing a seamless user experience for all parties.