Linkable Networks Inc. is putting a new spin on merchant-funded rewards with a system that enables consumers to link retail offers they see in various advertisements online, in print and on television directly to a credit or debit card account.
Linkable’s program brings financial institutions a loyalty function that sits outside traditional portals such as online banking, company CEO Tom Burgess tells PaymentsSource.
“Unlike the traditional merchant-funded model, where retailers subsidized the program but it was still in the bank environment, we bring Linkable offers in the advertising world,” Burgess says.
For example, consumers who click a banner ad on a website can instantly link an offer to a credit or debit card. The offers also could come from QR codes found in print ads, elevator screens or even billboards in Times Square, Burgess says.
“These are places the bank has never been,” he adds.
Banks that market the program to their cardholders can ask them to opt in to the system. Consumers not previously exposed to Linkable’s offers may register through the company after clicking a banner ad or capturing a QR code on their mobile device, Burgess says.
Consumers receive an email confirmation from Linkable after an offer is linked to a card, Burgess says. Linkable then sends another email after the consumer makes the purchase at the retailer offering the discount to alert him cash back from the deal is being processed. Consumers then receive another email to alert them the incentive was credited to their account.
“We learned during our research period that the consumer wants [notification emails] when they link it, redeem it at the store and when the money arrives in their account,” Burgess says.
Linkable is giving consumers the option to receive the cash back as a deposit to the card or a PayPal account or as an Amazon.com credit.
Burgess views the system as “a combination of cash back, rebate and coupon.”
Linkable also is working to have the discounts instantly settled at the point of sale with establishments such as restaurants.
From an advertising perspective, retailers should view Linkable’s program as a new ad feature, Burgess says. The system “is a new way to engage with the consumer, and we get value from the ad itself,” he says.
Linkable also “closes the loop” for the advertiser, Burgess says. “We link the $5 offer to the card and then get the consumer into the store to complete a purchase,” he adds.
Linkable is still weeks away from announcing bank partnerships but already has deals with back end card processors that would make 95% of credit and debit cards eligible for the program, Burgess says
The Boston-based company recently received an undisclosed strategic investment from Citi Ventures.
Linkable is joining an already crowded merchant-funded rewards market, which could become a problem, notes Madeline Aufseeser, an Aite Group senior analyst.
“The market is starting to get flooded with these daily deals,” Aufseeser says. “I think consumers are starting to get either inundated [with deals], turned off [by them] or are really taking advantage of them.”
As with other merchant-funded program, Linkable’s success will depend on “the quality of offers and the quality in the delivery method in which they are received, which will vary by vendor in this space,” she says.
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