5 Ways to Boost Your Co-brand Card’s Referral Program

You scaled the first mountain – you acquired a new cardholder (Check!) Your thoughtfully timed, well-executed onboarding journey has gotten the new cardholder well-entrenched into your card’s val prop (Check!) The new cardholder is doing all the right things – effectively leveraging the loyalty program and utilizing the card to its fullest potential (Check, check!)

BUT – don’t get too comfortable, card marketers. It’s one thing to gain a cardholder’s loyalty, it’s a whole other challenge to gain access to the holy grail – a loyal cardholder’s network – the family and friend connections that may enjoy your card product, too.

To incentivize a loyal cardholder to refer-a-friend, marketers can take some intentional steps to stack the odds of referrals in their favor:

1. Don’t Annoy Your Base with a Clunky UX: It is integral for marketers to make the referral process as simple and seamless as possible. Consumers crave convenience – if you can build a referral process that removes the need for cardholders to log in to refer, all the better!

2. Meet the Moment: For travel and transportation co-brand cards, find moments to interact with cardholders while they’re on-property. For example, hotels can feature referral messages on TVs when cardholders arrive to their suites. Airline and rail companies could take a similar approach by featuring referral offers in online banner ads viewable to cardholders logging into local WiFi networks while on the plane or train.

3. Leverage Time-Based Incentives in Messaging: If possible, advertise the exact steps and/or time commitment it will take for cardholders to complete the referral (e.g., “Less than 30 seconds!”) – this can appeal to consumers who value efficiency and speed, and make them more likely to respond.

4. Amplify Milestones: In recent years, many card marketers have been working to improve their Card Anniversary emails by injecting personalized statistics (in the vein of Spotify’s famous end-of-year Wrapped experience) that numerate a cardholder’s good behaviors and celebrates successes. These emails are often good opportunities to encourage cardholders to “share the card love” with their friends and family to gain an incentive.

5. Don’t Forget to Flatter: It seems so simple but is often overlooked – do not forget to thank your cardholders for their loyalty to your brand. Briefly acknowledge a cardholder’s good card behaviors before presenting him with referral offers. 

As the old saying goes, optimizing your referral program is likely to be a marathon, not a sprint. Stick with it and enjoy the ride!

By: Sarah Langmead, Strategy Director

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Pragmatic is a digital and direct marketing agency providing strategic and creative services with expertise in card marketing. Check out our co-brand card marketing expertise and please reach out with any challenges we can help you solve.