Marketing A Co-Branded Credit Card: 3 Strategies

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How do you sell customers, who prefer credit cards for payment, on a new card? At its simplest, marketing co-branded cards relies on many of the same principles as selling any other service to customers. These three elements can all convince buyers that a co-branded card is in their best interest.

Make Loyalty Matter

Customers love loyalty programs and store-branded credit cards are increasingly paired with business loyalty programs as an effort to get them into customers’ hands. This model links store credit card use with various incentives that are otherwise not available, whether that’s extra credit card “points,” discounts, or special access to sales. With the Amazon-branded card, for example, Prime members get 5% back on purchases made at Amazon or Whole Foods, while other customers get 3% back. Many cards also offer extended periods for returns or other in-store perks.

Another way to link loyalty with a store-branded card is by offering incentives via a refer-a-friend program. Refer-a-friend programs are an ideal way to encourage customers to promote your co-branded card by providing a small reward, such as bonus points, cash back, or even just entry into a contest, and as a result, you get more card users. This is just another example of how businesses today are using customer-generated content as part of their marketing campaigns, and it’s working. Customer generated content can even enhance their relationship with your brand and increase loyalty, with little effort on your part.

Create Product Pairings

Another way that businesses can increase the likelihood that customers will apply for a store credit card is by pairing that card with specific product promotions. This works especially well for companies that sell high-priced items like appliances and consumer electronics, for which customers might need to borrow money or pay in installations anyway. And with consumer credit up 6.7% as of late 2018, customers are eager to consider new credit offers. But how does this strategy play out in practice?

Store credit cards are often associated with offers that say something like, “Apply now and pay 0% interest for the first 18 months” – and customers making big purchases apply to avoid putting a serious expense on a card with more interest. What many don’t realize, though, is that while they won’t pay any interest if they pay off that purchase in full within the set time frame, failure to pay the entire balance can leave consumers paying compounded interest on the original cost. It’s good for businesses, who collect extra fees, and slips past most buyers who are confident they’ll pay off their purchase.

Expand Your Options

Ultimately, many businesses have found that they don’t have to do much to market their co-branded credit cards because these card offerings are part of a larger move to expand checkout options. Customers are increasingly concerned with the available payment options when choosing a retailer, and while store cards may not be their top payment option, some will apply for a card based simply on the fact that it will make the checkout process simpler. If your business can link a co-branded card with streamlined checkout, then, that may motivate applicants.

Store-branded credit cards aren’t right for every company, but with credit card US consumers’ preferred form of payment, you shouldn’t rule it out. Consumers have a hard time resisting a credit card pitch, so why not add your name to the field?

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kristina Knight-1
Kristina Knight, Journalist , BA
Content Writer & Editor
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Kristina Knight is a freelance writer with more than 15 years of experience writing on varied topics. Kristina’s focus for the past 10 years has been the small business, online marketing, and banking sectors, however, she keeps things interesting by writing about her experiences as an adoptive mom, parenting, and education issues. Kristina’s work has appeared with BizReport.com, NBC News, Soaps.com, DisasterNewsNetwork, and many more publications.