Credit Cards Now Link to Customer Loyalty Programs

A customers' credit or debit card now can be combined with loyalty program cards for restaurant chains so that payment, purchase history, product preference, and promotional offers are all tracked and offered in one card at the time of purchase.

Portland-based Chockstone, Inc. announced Monday that it will launch the new technology that it calls SingleSwipe, with Subway, Chilli's, Tully's Coffee and Boston Market. 

Jeff Lipp, CEO of Chockstone, states, “The primary drivers of this service – speeding up the payment process, eliminating the hassle factor for consumer participation in a rewards program, and lowering the overall cost of loyalty programs – improve the investment return that operators are experiencing through electronic rewards programs.”

The intriguing part of this technology is the marriage between credit card, reward cards and the Internet. Consumers register their cards online. And merchants can implement highly-targeted point-of-sale promotions themselves through a web-based campaign management tool.

Chockstone launched the new program Monday. It claims, "clients who use loyalty marketing programs to reward their customers see an average of 4% increase in annual same store sales. Some have seen as high as 14% “loyalty lift.”

The chart above from the company claims a significant different in store sales between those who offer loyalty rewards and stores who do not.

Martin Walker, vice president of marketing and merchandising for the 146-unit Tully’s, said in Nation's Restaurant News that SingleSwipe has the potential to simplify the operational aspect of the chain’s loyalty program and “easily encourage” customers to try new products and reward them for their repeat purchases.