Driving Customer Acquisition & Loyalty with Card-Linked Offers (CLOs)

In the ever-evolving landscape of advertising, brands are constantly seeking innovative and effective ways to connect with new customers and drive sales. One increasingly powerful tool gaining significant traction is the card-linked offer (CLO). This unique approach to customer acquisition leverages real-time purchase data to deliver targeted offers directly to consumers through their payment cards, creating a seamless and impactful experience.

CLOs are rapidly becoming a key driver for both online and in-store transactions. Their effectiveness stems from the ability to tap into actual consumer spending habits, providing advertisers with a level of precision and insight often unmatched by traditional channels. By analyzing past customer purchase behavior, brands can identify and target high-value, in-market audiences with relevant offers, fostering a higher likelihood of conversion and repeat business.

What Makes CLOs a Game-Changer?

Compared to conventional performance marketing tactics, CLOs offer several distinct advantages:

• Data-Driven Precision: CLOs provide access to rich, deterministic purchase data, eliminating the reliance on probabilistic estimations. This allows for highly accurate targeting of specific consumer segments based on their actual spending patterns.
• Measurable Incrementality: One of the most compelling benefits of CLOs is the ability to accurately measure the incremental impact of marketing campaigns. By establishing clear test and control groups based on historical purchase data, advertisers can gain a true understanding of the uplift generated by their offers.
• Fraud-Free and Brand-Safe Environment: Operating within the secure infrastructure of financial institutions, CLOs offer a 100% bot and fraud-free environment, ensuring that advertising spend reaches genuine consumers.
• Omnichannel Reach: CLOs are effective in driving both online and in-store sales, providing a unified approach to reaching consumers regardless of their preferred shopping method. This omnichannel capability is crucial in today's interconnected marketplace.

The Evolution of CLOs: Trends Shaping the Future

The landscape of card-linked offers is continuously evolving, driven by advancements in technology and a deeper understanding of consumer behavior. Key trends shaping the future of CLOs include:

• Enhanced Personalization: Leveraging the power of machine learning, CLOs are becoming increasingly sophisticated in delivering hyper-personalized offers tailored to individual consumer preferences and predicted future needs.
• Deeper Data Integration: The integration of CLO platforms with CRM systems and data connectivity partners enables advertisers to layer their own first-party data with transaction insights, leading to even more refined targeting and a holistic view of their customers.
• Expansion into New Verticals: While traditionally strong in sectors like dining, retail, and travel, CLOs are expanding their reach into new and unexpected industries like the auto industry, demonstrating their versatility and broad applicability.

Building Brand Loyalty Beyond the Transaction

The power of CLOs extends beyond simply driving a single purchase. By strategically utilizing targeted offers and understanding customer behavior, brands can foster long-term loyalty. CLOs enable businesses to re-engage lapsed customers, incentivize repeat purchases, and cultivate stronger relationships with their most valuable consumers.

Cardlytics and Qualtrics recently partnered to survey shoppers and evaluate the perspective of customers who leverage card-linked offers. Unsurprisingly, the survey found that CLOs create a more rewarding experience for shoppers and can act as that critical tipping point to influence purchase decisions.

In fact, the data shows customers spend more with card-linked offers in-hand:

• 60% of customers engage more with card-linked offers when their finances are tight
• 64% agree that having card-linked offers encourages them to spend more per transaction
• 72% of customers are more likely to spend with a brand that offers card-linked rewards 

Integrating CLOs Into Your Advertising Strategy

While CLOs offer significant potential, advertisers must understand how they fit into their broader strategy. As the lines between traditional affiliate marketing and CLOs become increasingly blurred through greater network integration, a unified approach is emerging. However, it's crucial to recognize the unique attribution models associated with CLOs, which often focus on overall incremental lift rather than last-click attribution.

Navigating the CLO Landscape: Key Considerations

For brands considering implementing a CLO program, several factors are crucial for success:

• Understanding the Nuances: It's vital to recognize how CLOs differ from traditional affiliate marketing and understand their specific capabilities and limitations.
• Strategic Budgeting: Carefully consider the pricing models associated with CLOs, whether it's a cost-per-acquisition model or funding the offer directly.
• Focusing on Incrementality: Shift the focus from simple return on ad spend to measuring the true incremental return generated by CLO campaigns.
• Leveraging Data Wisely: Tap into the rich data insights provided by CLO partners to refine targeting, personalize offers, and understand customer behavior.
• Embracing Testing: Like any effective advertising channel, experimentation is key to unlocking the full potential of CLOs.

The Future Is Linked

Card-linked offers represent a powerful evolution in customer acquisition and engagement. By harnessing the wealth of purchase data available, brands can connect with consumers in a more relevant, personalized, and measurable way.

Cardlytics is not only a leading commerce media platform, but we are also the pioneer in card-linked offers. Through our partnerships with top financial institutions, we have visibility into approximately $5.8T in annual consumer spend, allowing us an unrivaled view of consumer spending. Our platform helps you reach real customers at the right time when they are thinking about how and where to spend their money. With targeting based on past purchase history, our offers provide real value to consumers and act as the critical tipping point for a purchase.

As technology advances and the integration of CLOs within the broader marketing ecosystem deepens, this innovative approach is poised to play an increasingly vital role in driving business growth and fostering lasting customer relationships. Get started with Cardlytics today to see how CLOs can help your brand acquire customers and strengthen customer loyalty in today’s economic climate: https://www.cardlytics.com/marketing-solutions

About Cardlytics

Cardlytics (NASDAQ: CDLX) is a commerce media platform, powered by our publishers’ first-party purchase data, that makes commerce smarter and more rewarding for everyone. We offer a range of solutions to help advertisers and publishers, including financial institutions, grow and strengthen customer loyalty. With visibility into approximately half of all card-based transactions in the U.S. and a quarter in the U.K., Cardlytics enables advertisers to engage consumers at scale and drive incremental sales through our industry-leading financial media network. Publisher partners can enhance their platforms with relevant and personalized offers that improve the shopping experience for their customers. Cardlytics also offers identity resolution capabilities through Bridg, which helps convert anonymous shoppers into known and reachable customers. Headquartered in Atlanta, Cardlytics has offices in Menlo Park, Los Angeles, Champaign, New York and London. Learn more at www.cardlytics.com or follow us on LinkedIn.