London-based Birdback Will Link Cards to Offers for Superior Customer Experience

Nicolai Watzenig, CEO and co-founder of Birdback.com, told Loyalty360 he believes his London-based company−an app platform for payment cards−is unique in the marketplace.

“Nobody can offer such broadly available card-linking technology,” Watzenig says. “Most programs work with either one bank or one retailer, but because Birdback works on the acquiring/processing side, it’s completely agnostic to all those factors. This is what makes the difference and is driving such great growth.”

Birdback claims to be the first company in Europe to enable any retailer or affiliate link in-store cashback, vouchers, and loyalty schemes directly to customers’ payment cards. As a result, adoption is many times greater and marketers can gather a more detailed picture of their audience.

Here is how it works:

For the customer: See an offer you like online, put in the 16 digits on your payment card and automatically receive a discount when you pay in store.

For retailers: When a customer opts in to a marketing offer (loyalty programs, coupons, gift cards), Birdback securely captures and handles the card data. From this point forward, you can communicate and activate any future offer directly to their card, on your terms. Incentivization on demand has never been so easy.

Because payment card numbers will remain an indispensable part of the process for the long term, Birdback will stay effective even as the technology around it evolves. This includes app-based or contactless approaches, which Birdback is designed to seamlessly complement.

Card-linked offers directly link digital marketing spend to offline revenue, bridging the two worlds and increasing the value, while simplifying the customer experience. This is why the conversion rates are so much higher and why the available insights can provide companies significant value.

What prompted Birdback to launch this program whereby vouchers and loyalty cards will be replaced by nothing?

“A couple of years ago as the new wave of payments startups were emerging, we started to look closely at what problems still remained in that area,” Watzenig explained. “One that leapt out immediately was this area of paper vouchers and apps. Marketers love these tools and yet they’re still stuck in relatively old-fashioned techniques, or worse, gimmicky new ones that see very little adoption.”

When Watzenig and his team connected the dots between this and the fact bank card numbers aren’t going anywhere soon, Birdback was born to link cards to offers and create a superior customer experience.

“Birdback is partnering with the largest financial institutions out in our market to track transactions and apply discounts,” he said. “For the customer, they simply apply for a voucher as normal and put in their card number instead of downloading it. Then, when they pay, the discount automatically comes back to them as cashback.”

Once registered, new offers can be activated at any time without the customer needing to return and print off another voucher. They simply use the card that they have already registered. The opportunity to communicate this to inactive customers or target offers with incredible precision becomes much greater and both customers and retailers benefit from the experience.

When will this launch in the U.K., France, and Brazil?

“We’re already working with the biggest retailers in these countries behind the scenes and will have more to announce on those projects very soon,” he said.

Apps, NFC cards, digital wallets all ultimately connect back to a bank card for funds, Watzenig said.

“As long as the card number is registered with Birdback, the offers will still work,” he said.

Recent Content

Membership and Pricing

Videos and podcasts

Membership and Pricing