Card-linked offers (CLOs) is a technology that connects a special offer to a consumer’s credit or debit card. CLO performance, however, is limited by its ability to obtain card transaction histories. Addressing this, the French SME PayLead has developed a new approach called account-linked offer (ALO®), which collects all transaction data and paves the way for smart loyalty programmes based on precise patterns of spending. The EU-funded PayLead project is carrying out a feasibility study to validate the ALO® solution in terms of its commercial viability and financial and intellectual property rights strategy.

What's the Open Banking use case?

With ALO®, customers will have the ability to access tailor-made loyalty programs with hyper-relevant offers from their favourite merchants, thanks to the analysis of transactions made from an account level, and not a single card, through Open Banking. When purchasing from a merchant, participants will benefit from promotional or rewards offers sent directly to their account without the hassle of redeeming or exchanging rewards points. These new loyalty plans are plug & play and provide a high degree of flexibility for banks looking to craft a unique user experience. Banks can decide how to present and place the program in their application, create a branded consent page, rank offers based on purchase history, and categorize offers by type, location or reward rate. The entire experience is open to the bank's interpretation and gives them the freedom to provide an interface that their customers are familiar with.