Several companies including Macy's and McDonald's are experimenting with technology offered by such firms as Cardlytics, Cartera and Clovr Media that allows them to insert targeted ads into consumers' online banking statements.
The ads work as one would expect: a consumer uses her debit card or credit card to purchase breakfast at McDonald’s might find a 10% off coupon for her next meal (via the Washington Post). Furthermore, the user doesn’t even have to clip the coupon. A click on the link means the chain will automatically recognize the debit card the next time it is used. "The one thing these debit programs have is a significant amount of transaction and behavioral data," Mark Johnson, president and chief executive of Loyalty 360 told the Post. "You're going to see a big push to make that insight more sellable."
Cardlytics developed the format, with other firms such as Cartera offering similar services. Another related example is Clovr Media, which raised $1.5 million in seed funding from Kepha Partners and CommonAngels last October for its card linked offers technology that allows advertisers to offer special discounts to consumers in the pre-purchase consideration phase along with providing an immediate reward after the product is purchased.
In at least some of the programs, consumers are able to opt-out but it appears that only 2% of the 10 million households in one of them - the Cardlytics program - have done so.
Easing Fears
A few years ago such an application would like have been meet with suspicion on the part of consumer. But financial transactions have become ever more automated and mobile and many consumers' fears of managing money online have eased. For example, consumer confidence and comfort levels for mobile banking transactions are at an all-time high, according to recent data from The Nielsen Company. (via MarketingCharts). It found that 13.2% of US households accessed their bank account via a mobile device in Q2 2010, compared to 20.8% who accessed their account via the bank’s customer service call center.
