That’s according to the PYMNTS Intelligence report “Card-Linked Offer Growth Hinges on First-Time Users,” which was based on surveys with more than 2,100 consumers. It also found that after using card-linked offers, 93% of card holders plan to come back for more, maintaining or increasing their card activity in the months to come.
The trick is educating card holders about the card-linked incentive programs, how to use them and what they can earn. Getting the uninitiated consumer up to speed on card-linked offers in the first place is key. Seventy-three percent of nonusers said they are not at all or only slightly familiar with card-linked offer programs.
Consumers require a certain level of familiarity with the concept of card-linked rewards and customized deals to be attracted to the concept. There are holdouts, however, who said they have their reasons for not taking advantage of card-linked rewards — and they are especially prominent among consumers in the low- and middle-income brackets.
As PYMNTS Intelligence data not included in the original report showed, those reasons vary and appear shaped by income levels.
A lack of familiarity with the reward programs among card users is the top reason consumers have not taken advantage of card-linked offers, with 39% of middle-income card users (those earning between $50,000 and $100,000 annually), 38% of low-income respondents (those earning less than $50,000 annually) and 35% of high-income earners (those earning more than $100,000 annually) saying they simply didn’t know about the programs.
Thirty percent of low-income earners also take a pass on card-linked offers because they are uncomfortable sharing their personal information, while 23% of the same group said they don’t like the target marketing behind the offers. Nearly 20% of the same segment also distrust how their personal data might be used if they sign up for rewards programs.
Seventeen percent of middle-income and low-income consumers, meanwhile, decline special offers out of concerns that doing so might lead to overspending.
These findings highlight a key pattern, as card issuers or offer providers could address nearly every one of these concerns through customer education efforts aimed at broadening awareness and putting people’s minds at ease.
