Mobile experiences drive customer loyalty.
Some will say the most cost-effective strategies a brand can execute are those which improve customer loyalty. Others will say that the digital space requires marketers and businesses to invest in mobile experiences. This article looks at the FinTech app explosion connecting those two ideas. (note: fintech is one of the fastest growing areas for venture capitalist investing in technology used to enable financial services)
First, let’s get grounded in the pain points driving this discussion:
1) Consumers are tired of having their data used and sold to drive advertising revenues for companies.
2) Marketers will have spent an estimated $129 billion in digital ads yet the AdTech model is a broken market plagued by hidden fees, fraud, viewability, etc.
3) Customer reward programs that drive loyalty, get repeat business and increase customer retention are great, but creating a quality program can be expensive.
These concerns gave rise to the rapidly growing card-linked offers on the market. These card-linked offers connect consumers to relevant deals via their app/mobile device, both in-store and online .
There are a lot of examples :
Card-linked offers are already a multi-billion dollar market driven by names you recognize as well as start ups: Yelp Cash Back, DROP, Ebates, ibotta, Freebird, WikiBuy, Uppromise, Checkout. All of these companies are attempting to influence and/or reward customer buying behavior by giving money back when they purchase certain items or shop at certain places. By repurposing their AdTech dollars to FinTech cash-back programs, brands get the opportunity to meet the consumer at their “I want to buy” moment.
Should this be a part of my marketing mix?
In theory, FinTech is an impactful and mutually beneficial advertising channel and a proverbial win-win for everyone. Whether an outlet like this is ultimately right for your brand will depend on many things, including audience relevance, price/value equation, how the brand is prioritizing other moments of customer intent, etc.
This type of outlet offers marketers:
- A deep, data-driven understanding of consumer purchase behavior around priority or high frequency categories
- An ability to learn about consumers’ preferences for products associated with cash-back rewards
- Automated, performance-driven campaigns designed to gain new customers, win back lapsed customers, increase frequency and achieve higher average order value
- Social engagement to increase brand visibility and new customer acquisition for participating brands
Dosh is a good example of what’s possible within the FinTech opportunity. Early this year, Dosh announced it had closed a $40 million Series B financing round, including $20 million in equity and $20 million in venture debt. The financing was led by Goodwater Capital and Western Technology Investment (WTI), with participation from investors PayPal, BAM Capital and Anthem Venture Partners.
Dosh was created to solve two critical pain points:
1) Address how businesses spend advertising dollars by giving them a new channel to reach and reward consumers
2) Address consumers’ frustration with the sale of their data by empowering them to benefit from that data
The Dosh platform delivers results by linking marketing spend to consumer intent all the way through to the point of sale—online or in-store.
The idea of elevating performance marketing to a strategic level, tapping into the micro-moment of “I want to buy” and being able to deliver a specific content response is the sweet spot. FinTech apps are one aspect of this opportunity and conversation about driving customer loyalty and how brands and businesses can better facilitate that outcome.
If you are looking for ways to evolve your performance marketing and customer loyalty approach give Creativore a call.
Whitney Rutkowski [email protected]