Chase Payments Reinvents Its Loyalty Program

Faced with research that shows many U.S. customers consider a strong rewards program more important than interest rates when choosing which credit card to use, Chase has launched a new site aiming to make its rewards more personalized, according to Finextra.

Roughly a third of card users ranked an attractive rewards program ahead of factors such as interest rates and credit line, and more than half said they generally try to use a credit card with rewards that are relevant to them, according to a survey of 1,000 Americans. The survey was done for Chase by Mercator Advisory Group.

Chase’s response is a revamped rewards website for its high-net-worth card business. The new Ultimate Rewards site was rolled out for Chase Sapphire cardholders this week and will be available to Ink and Chase Freedom cardholders later this year.

The new rewards site includes a personalized dashboard and online rewards activity module displaying recent activity and points accrued, as well as curated travel content and in-depth travel and restaurant guides, the ability to “like” offers so the site can tailor future content to the customer’s preferences, and customized offers based on a cardholder’s lifestyle and card activity, the company said.

Payment card companies have been investing heavily in their rewards programs as the U.S. economy has improved. In the past six months, Discover has joined a funding round for Buzz Points, MasterCard has agreed to buy PinPoint, and Barclaycard has acquired The Logic Group, Finextra reported.