Budget
DirectSpend cards can lower your costs without affecting program size or value of rewards. How is this possible? Merchants pay to be DirectSpend card partners, so you pay less. This reduces your costs without reducing the number of people in your program or the dollar value of what you give them. Plus, card recipients don’t pay any back-end fees, either.
Strategy
DirectSpend gives you the freedom to design how a card works, to fit specific objectives like the ones here.
Objective: Create a specific experience to support your theme.
Solution: Charles Schwab created cards good at upscale restaurants to support their “Be My Guest®” customer loyalty program.
Objective: Channel spending back to your company or strategic partners.
Solution: Subaru® offers consumers purchase incentive cards good for parts, service and merchandise at participating dealers.
Objective: Appeal to an audience with distinct preferences.
Solution: Carrier® Bryant® encouraged sales of their heating and cooling systems with a card created specifically for their all-male distributor target.
Experience
DirectSpend cards aren’t everyday cards. They’re guilt-free indulgences. This makes them three times more effective than cash or cash-like rewards.*
It may seem counter-intuitive, but the psychology works. Here’s how: brand names associated with DirectSpend cards trigger people’s imagination and make rewards more tangible. This causes people to think about rewards more often and in more detail, which creates anticipation. And more anticipation means more motivation.
Human psychology continues to work in your favor when reward cards are redeemed, too, because purchases are truly rewarding, not necessary items like light bulbs or dog food. So rewards are remembered and appreciated, not lost in the everyday shuffle.
*Source: University of Chicago study