Going Beyond Purchase Data: Mutual Loyalty at Cardlytics

As a data guy, I love purchase data. Because for me the data is a signal. A positive confirmation that something we want to happen, happened. In our world it drives conversions, and we are drowning with conversions, in a good way. I participated in a fireside chat at this year’s Loyalty Summit to talk more about purchase data as it relates to loyalty, customer relationship management (CRM), and Cardlytics. Here are some of the highlights from that chat.

Mutual Loyalty in a Closed Loop Program

Thirteen years ago, we created an industry that would benefit banks, brands, and their shared consumer. As an advertising platform within banks’ digital channels, we are able to capture anonymized customer spend data that helps us target the consumers brands want to reach. Ultimately, this drives loyalty for the bank and the brand. At Cardlytics, we call this “mutual loyalty.”  

Here’s a simplified example of how this works… Most retailers know who comes into their store, but they don’t know what happens after they leave. They don’t know if they are getting their full share of a consumer’s category spend or only a fraction.  By partnering with financial institutions, Cardlytics is able to understand the full view of the consumer, allowing a relevant offer to be delivered to a consumer that will ultimately grow the brand’s share of category. Brands get efficient use of marketing dollars while financial institutions get to deliver meaningful value that funded by the advertiser, to their customers.

It starts with a (data) signal

We also work with the banks to help create an experience of reward and delight. We know that customers log into their mobile app or online bank between 10 to 12 times a month to look at their balance, transaction history, etc. We inherently become another channel or extension of the CRM system for advertising partners, creating a full closed loop loyalty program. It’s a win, win, win - the advertiser reaches its intended audience to create a sale, the bank gets to delight its customer with cash back rewards from some of the top brands in the country, and the customer receives cash back into their account.

It’s a fast-moving space but we are excited for the success our banks, advertisers and end consumers are seeing through our program.

You can listen to my recent session at The Loyalty Summit- CRM.