Coupons.com Launches Card-linked Offers

Coupons.com has released updates to its website and mobile apps with a service that lets consumers add coupons directly to payment cards.

Using the Coupons.com website or Coupons.com mobile apps for iOS and Android, shoppers can add digital coupons to their credit or debit cards from Visa, MasterCard or American Express for automatic redemption at checkout. Offers are available for restaurants and specialty retailers such as Gap, Old Navy, The Body Shop, Tilly's and Travelocity. The service incorporates technology from the company's recent acquisition of Yub Inc. that links offers to payment cards.

"We always look to innovate in ways that help consumers save money," said Bruce Sattley, SVP of product management at Coupons.com. "So we are really pleased to unveil our card linked service, which sets itself apart with ease of use, great offers and support for Visa, MasterCard and American Express cards. This combination delivers a best-in-class service for consumers and merchants wanting to take advantage of this emerging medium of digital coupons for saving on card purchases, primarily for in-store transactions, which still make up more than 90 percent of U.S. purchases."

How it works:

1. Link Payment Card. Consumers register their Visa, MasterCard or American Express card through the Coupons.com website or mobile app. Registration is required only once -- not each time an offer is added.
2. Select Coupons. Consumers then browse offers and click to add to the payment card. Coupons.com offers are reedemable for cash discounts or gift cards, not points or rewards that users accrue.
3. Save at Checkout. Use the linked payment card in the store or on the merchant's website or e-commerce-enabled mobile apps. A text message or email notification confirming the acceptance of the coupon is sent when the purchase meets the conditions of the offer. Cash discounts are credited directly to the consumer's card account and settled within a few days. In the case of a gift card reward, redemption codes are sent within a few minutes.

Additional offers from retailers and restaurants are expected to be added regularly.

The Coupons.com card-linked offers platform, named CardLink iQ, gives specialty retailers and restaurants a new way to generate sales and increase brand loyalty among customers. Merchants can use card-linked offers to drive traffic to their brick-and-mortar stores and to drive transaction volume on their e-commerce websites and mobile apps. For merchants wanting to focus on in-store sales, CardLink iQ was developed to give them an effective way to use digital marketing to drive measurable offline purchases.

CardLink iQ is a pay-for-performance model that lets merchants directly tie online marketing spend to purchases and provides detailed, real-time reporting to measure campaign performance at a granular level. Redemption limits can be set with continuous monitoring of consumer usage to enable effective management of promotions budgets. In addition to placing card-linked offers on the Coupons.com network and mobile app, CardLink iQ can also power offers directly on merchants' own sites and marketing channels, increasing consumer access with multiple touch points.

"CardLink iQ gives merchants the opportunity to connect with shoppers at scale, including the millions of users of Coupons.com, our mobile apps and our growing network of affiliate publishers," said Sattley. "With this service, Coupons.com uniquely offers retailers and restaurants a single resource for the broadest set of promotions, including site-to-store printable coupons, coupon codes for online shopping and now paperless card linked offers."