A new year is here and with it come new goals and expectations at your financial institution. One area that should be at the forefront of your plans in the new year is your loyalty program. Loyalty programs should be designed to nurture the relationship between financial institutions and cardholders, rewarding them for their card usage and reinforcing your position as their primary financial institution. Loyalty programs shouldn’t only help to maintain the relationship but continue to surprise and delight cardholders. This approach strengthens your organization’s position when consumers are looking for a home loan, auto loan, or wealth advisor. More than ever, it is vital to have a rewards program that attracts and engages cardholders, and as experts in cardholder engagement and loyalty, we’re sharing our recommendations on the top features loyalty programs should have in 2023. 

Real-Time Rewards

The fastest growing trend in modern loyalty programs is to save cardholders the effort of having to log in to a website to redeem their points and instead allow them to redeem at the moment when making a purchase. Real-time, cash-like rewards allow cardholders to immediately save by using their points and reinforce the benefits of their financial institution. ampliFI Loyalty Solutions offers a Real-Time Rewards suite that features three programs that enable participating financial institutions to allow cardholders to redeem points directly at the POS system or immediately following the transaction at some of the most popular retailers in the country. As cardholders experience the convenience of redemption through real-time rewards, it creates a redemption loop encouraging card usage to earn points so they can use their points in cash-like ways. 

Cryptocurrency Redemption

How many questions have you received from cardholders that are passionate about cryptocurrency asking when they might be able to link their accounts to some of the most popular cryptocurrencies? While the level of comfort with cryptocurrency varies from FI to FI, this hot trend is likely of interest to a portion of your cardholder audience. In addition to those ready to invest in cryptocurrency, most financial institutions likely also have cardholders who have heard of cryptocurrency, and are interested in it, but don’t know where to start. 

One tactic to appeal to both groups is to offer cryptocurrency redemptions through your loyalty program. ampliFI Loyalty Solutions offers cardholders the ability to exchange their points for cryptocurrency, which is held in a secure wallet separate from financial institutions. This process allows financial institutions to promote cryptocurrency redemption to cardholders, without requiring extensive compliance training and approval as an organization. It’s also a great, low-risk way to gauge interest in cryptocurrency among cardholders. 

Data-Driven and Lifecycle Campaigns

Just as other products and services, have campaigns catering to cardholders, it’s equally important to have strategic marketing dedicated to your loyalty program. Whether it is alerting cardholders of expiring points and urging them to redeem before the expiration date or awareness campaigns about redemption options, keeping cardholders aware and informed builds awareness and reminds them of the advantages of being a cardholder at your financial institution. Look for a loyalty partner that offers the ability to utilize data-driven and lifecycle campaigns for cardholders to drive engagement and revenue.

Throughout the year, financial institutions should consistently evaluate their loyalty program to ensure that it meets the demands and expectations of their cardholders. At ampliFI Loyalty Solutions, we’re always happy to discuss loyalty trends with our clients, so they have the latest information about ways to engage with their cardholders and enhance their banking relationships.

We’re excited about the developments in store for 2023 and the continued success of our clients!


Not an ampliFI’s client yet? Contact our loyalty experts for a free consultation and demo to learn how we can ampliFI cardholder engagement at your financial institution.

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