Top 3 tips to implement a CLO strategy

Kristina: Card Linked Offers (CLOs) are becoming more popular. What do CLOs offer retailers?

Mark Bees, Vice President of Product Marketing, Linkable Networks: CLOs fulfill that desire which allows retailers to provide incremental value to shoppers by allowing them to digitally link coupons directly to their credit or debit card. With CLOs, retailers are able to leverage their brands budgets to fund item level discounts on specific SKUs. This changes the game for both merchants and brands in giving brands the power to create purchase incentives and market directly to consumers within their retailer partner's stores. For example, brands have effectively combined the simplicity of CLOs with their social media to drive consumers to make purchases at specific retail locations. Retailers can also take advantage of CLOs by offering their own whole-store offers, taking away the dependency on consumers purchasing specific products. Furthermore, CLOs have been proven to drive higher conversion rates, provide attribution for purchases, and a faster checkout experience for all parties involved.

Kristina: Should CLOs be used as a compliment to existing coupons or as a stand-alone strategy?

Mark: CLOs can be used either as a compliment to existing coupon strategies or as a stand-alone strategy, and can follow the tactics just in a different form of execution. However, if used on their own, CLOs can drive more precise targeting and attribution.

Kristina: What are your top 3 tips for retailers to create a CLO strategy?

Mark: • Make the activation easy for the consumer. CLOs offer this by their nature - all consumers need to do is link a deal to their card and pay. Strong CLO strategies will take advantage of where their customers already exist, whether it's on a deal site like Ebates or other social media channels.
• Make it valuable for the consumer. Offer real value for relevant products that appeal to the consumer you are targeting. If you are going to create deals for products your audience doesn't normally buy, there needs to be an additional incentive for them to purchase. With items they frequently purchase, smaller discounts can make a difference in creating loyalty.
• Take advantage of brand advertising budgets. Brand budgets are much larger than most retailers advertising programs and social media makes it easy to take advantage of what brands are already doing. By sharing brands' CLOs for products already carried in-store, you can drive traffic to your locations, which will in turn increase basket size and deliver a level playing field against an increasingly competitive landscape.

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Tags: card linked offer, CLO, Linkable Networks, loyalty marketing, rewards marketing