In my last post Part 1. It’s the Wine, not the Vessel that Matters; Why Mobile Wallets Failed, I explained that the mobile wallet players were playing the wrong game because:
- Credit cards work perfectly fine for payment; and
- Mobile wallets are just a novelty so long as customers have to ask if the store accepts mobile payments.
After further thought, the vessel does matter, especially if you have found the Holy Grail. In this vessel analogy, a merchant loyalty program is the wine that merchants offer, so their customers will:
1. Give up personal information e.g. mobile number
2. Be marketed to e.g. text message loyalty updates
3. Be loyal and not shop competitors.
The Holy Grail is the vessel that will seamlessly and automatically make this happen.
While a Starbucks customer may download the Starbucks App, they are not downloading an App for smaller merchants.
Loyalty enrollment, tracking and engagement must be simple, seamless, and automatic, and that is what terminal integrated card-linking excels at.
Terminal integrated card-linked loyalty allows the customer to link her own payment card (credit or debit) already in her leather wallet, to the merchant’s loyalty program, so that every time payment is made, loyalty points are automatically earned and rewards automatically redeemed, at the terminal.
Terminal integrated card-linked loyalty allows the merchant to easily enroll its own customers in its own loyalty program, at the terminal, by linking the payment card with the customer’s mobile number. And there is no App or mobile wallet needed.
Terminal integrated card-linked loyalty makes it possible for small and large businesses to offer their customers the most advanced, automated and easy loyalty solution in the market place. And that is the Holy Grail.
Have you implemented the Holy Grail in your business?
Jeff Mankoff 