Thanx CEO Zach Goldstein: ‘Let’s Call Them Card-Linked Services, Not Offers’

The BIA/Kelsey “Status and Review of Card-Linked Offers, 2015” report, which is based on in-depth interviews with industry leaders, has generated a lot of interest among the various shareholders of card-linked offers and non-advertising marketing solutions (including financial institutions, tech vendors and publishers).

We’re especially interested in the feedback from Thanx CEO Zach Goldstein, who tells us he’d like to see the Card Linked Offer space rebranded as “Card-Linked Services.” The main reason? “There is a lot of value that can be delivered to a consumer by linking their card without receiving and fulfilling an offer,” he says. “In our case, for instance, easier reward accrual for loyalty programs.”

In Goldstein’s view, the report — which is bullish on momentum in the card-linked offer space — could be even more bullish. He’s seeing conversion rates for Thanx campaigns ranging from 22 percent into the low-30 percent range. This is well above the 3 percent to 12 percent conversion rates that we cited as the norm.

Goldstein also takes issue with the report’s conclusion that cashback is the preferred reward type — something that is widely assumed by the financial institutions and related ecosystem, but sometimes disputed by players that focus more on loyalty.

“Many of our merchants would rather sacrifice margin than top-line revenue,” he says. “We actually see far more businesses who like to use card-linked for the ‘accrual’ portion of the experience (tracking spending to qualify) but redeem rewards through a more traditional channel or through mobile.” For more of Goldstein’s views on card linking, click here.

The CardLinx Association, which partnered with us on the report, is going deep on card-linked offers with a great lineup of speakers in New York April 28. We hope to see you there.