What are CLOs and How are They Disrupting Gen Z Marketing?
Over the past year, an undeniable truth has emerged — COVID-19 has changed consumer purchasing expectations. Seamless and digital experiences are now required to give consumers the confidence to spend as they return to the physical world of retail.
Along come CLOs, turning consumers’ normal bank cards into rewards cards
Card-linked offers (or CLOs for short) empower both online and physical businesses to go beyond these new expectations.
Businesses can now promote digital cashback offers, which consumers then redeem by simply making purchases using their normal bank cards.
You read that right! The awesome thing about CLOs is that customers don’t have to do, say, or show anything to redeem them! Offers from businesses are automatically redeemed when consumers make purchases with linked bank cards. Neat!
Consumers crave CLOs, especially Gen Z
Despite only being a few years old, CLOs have already become consumers’ second favourite ad channel behind social media, beating methods such as discounting, online advertising, vouchers, delivery apps, and more!
75% of Gen Zers are likely to re-visit businesses that offer cashback using CLOs (GCK Gen Z and Millennials as Customers study, 2020).
So, what’s causing all the fuss?
- CLOs give consumers the confidence to spend because they know that they’ll automatically get the best value possible
- Customers receive instant, personalised push notifications to their mobiles when they redeem CLOs — these are extremely gratifying and align with digital expectations
- CLOs remove the friction and embarrassment of traditional loyalty mechanisms
- CLOs are extremely easy to share with friends. This is great for helping friends get more value when they spend, and awesome for businesses, who receive free organic referrals.
To access CLOs, consumers simply download an app, such as Fygo, link their bank cards, and they’re good to go!
CLOs produce awesome results for businesses
CLOs are a hassle-free way for both online and physical businesses to boost revenue and increase loyalty.
For example, the shopping centre group intu has seen a 47% increase in average customer transaction value since they began offering CLOs!
What’s more, 89% of Gen Zers feel very positive about a business after receiving cashback from it through a CLO (GCK Gen Z and Millennials as Customers study, 2020).
CLOs allow businesses to trace customers’ entire purchasing journeys from digital impressions right through to the point of purchase. This means that, for the first time, businesses can truly understand their customers’ unique preferences and tastes!
With this knowledge, businesses can create powerful, personalised experiences that suit individual customers and take relationships to a whole new level.
Consistency is key with CLOs
CLOs enable businesses to obtain and maintain loyal customer bases, but only if they’re promoted in the right way.
A CLO is not a quick fix solution or something that should be turned on and off at leisure. Businesses that attempt to use them in this way will fail to see results due to the inadequacies of ‘moment-marketing’, which leaves customers disappointed and at risk of slipping.
Rather, the businesses that reward their customers consistently yield the best results. If customers expect to be rewarded every time they spend at a business, and this expectation is always met by a gratifying, instant notification, they will become and remain loyal, and their ATV will increase!
Importantly, CLOs reduce the chances of a customer asking for a discount. This helps businesses and brands protect the value of their products and service.
Fygo enables businesses to run CLOs
Here at Fygo, we’ve built an app that allows businesses to promote CLOs to Gen Z customers!
Our partners are fully in control of their offers and can update them at any time, meaning they can increase customer numbers and their ATV whilst staying in charge of profit margins. Personal account managers are available to help businesses strategize their offers and ensure success.
Fygo is built around personalisation — we use machine learning to suggest the right CLOs to the right students at the right moments, meaning that businesses can rest assured in the knowledge that their offers are reaching thousands of ideally suited consumers.
To help organically spread the word about our partners, the Fygo app is designed to encourage users to share CLOs with their friends. Also, to help businesses better communicate with their customers, Fygo partners can personalise the pop-up messages that customers receive when they earn cashback rewards. This feature gives businesses the power to promote a specific product or service at the moment of sale, inspiring repeat purchases.
Businesses can start promoting CLOs today for free + get bonus perks!
Fygo is offering partners that begin offering CLOs before March 25th a range of free perks. Businesses can claim £200 of complimentary cashback for their customers and a money-back guarantee on Fygo fees if they are not satisfied with their results after one month.
You can learn more here, watch the video, read the blog, or listen to the podcast. Students can join the waiting list here.
All the best,
The Fygo Team 💛
