It is imperative for brands to adopt an array of advanced technologies to exceed the needs and wants of consumers. Since modern customer experiences and building brand loyalty is about engaging consumers where, when and how they want to be engaged, many new technologies from across the digital and mobile space can help brands cross this bridge.
One of the main problems with technology, however, is that there is now simply too much of it. What’s more, it also seems like there are new systems and platforms emerging every second of the day, and they all carry the promised of heighted customer engagement.
When it comes to the interaction between bank apps and retailer-based loyalty programs, it appears that MasterCard has become aware of this problem.
MasterCard, a global payments and technology company that connects billons of consumers and financial organizations across the world, just announced a new international plan to develop a standardized technological specification to simplify the integration of retailer loyalty programs with bank-issued mobile payments apps.
The new initiative was just unveiled at the Cartes event in Paris, France, and it demonstrated how its standardized “middleware” specification allows mobile apps to seamlessly connect payment, promotions and reward redemption systems between banks and consumers. This will also allow customers to utilize a single mobile app to make payments, redeem specific and individualized coupons, digital loyalty program cards, and more.
MasterCard made it clear that such loyalty program redemption features have already been available via various online portals. However, these features have yet to be made easily available via a mobile app.
And this what the brand hopes to change.
“We’ve all been there, fumbling with a loyalty fob, coupon and payment card,” said James Anderson, MasterCard Executive VP of digital payments. “We’ve worked closely with various industry partners to develop and implement one standard approach to enable a seamless experience in redeeming loyalty points or promotions when making mobile payments at the point of sale. Having one standard will make it easier and less costly for merchants, wallet issuers, terminal providers and others in the industry to implement these programs and focus on other elements of the customer experience.”
In the next few months MasterCard plans to make this offering available to industry partners across Europe and beyond.