Frequently Asked Questions

RetailersBanksShoppers
Retailers

What is Payment Linked Loyalty?

Simply put, it’s smart tech which securely links your customer’s regular payment cards to any loyalty programmes they are already with or may want to join. This enables customers to be identified and rewarded every single time they shop, using only their linked payment cards.

Why is Payment Linked Loyalty relevant for retail right now?

If you’re in retail, you’ll know that for many reasons, customers are preferring contactless payments. The use of cash is declining and card or mobile payment is king. What’s more, life is busy. Customers don’t have the time or the inclination to get their loyalty card out every time they shop, meaning they are missing out on being rewarded. Retailers are also missing out on identifying their customers. Linking rewards to the payment transaction means a retailer will recognise the customer every time they shop, across all channels both in-store and online – with all the customer convenience of not needing to carry around tons of plastic anymore.

More FAQs for retailers

How is Bink different?

Bink is totally unique for two important reasons. Firstly, we have a relationship with all the major debit and credit card payment schemes in the UK. This allows us to identify your customers every time they use their payment cards, which in turn allows you as a retailer to recognise and collect data on your customers. Secondly, we can bring your programme and brand to over 9 million potential customers by featuring your brand on our own app and those of our banking partner.

I don’t have a rewards programme. Is Bink relevant for me?

Yes, Bink can help your business. You likely have thousands of customers visiting your store. Imagine if you could understand who they are and build a relationship with them that encourages them to come back again and again. When you partner with Bink, you can launch a rewards programme with zero to minimal operational overheads and instant channel distribution – one that will be up and running in no time.

I have an existing rewards programme. What can Bink do for me?

Partnering with Bink will enhance your current rewards programme, making it easier for customers to engage with. It will also provide you with additional customer acquisition channels to attract new customers, both to your brand and to your rewards programme. These will increase your brand awareness and offer you new marketing channels.

For your existing programme members, it offers more digital channels to interact with your brand. You will also be able to identify those customers every time they shop – not just when they choose to show their rewards card.

We are primarily an online business. Isn’t Bink relevant for physical stores only?

No, Bink is absolutely relevant to your online store. Bink can help you identify and reward your customers regardless of the channel they’re using. As soon as they make a payment, our technology recognises who they are. That’s as relevant for online shopping as it is in the physical world. If you don’t have a rewards programme, our technology will help you to quickly get one up and running across all channels. If you have a rewards programme already, by partnering with Bink, we can open up new marketing channels, brand awareness and customer acquisition through our Banking partners and own app. If you have a mixture of both online and physical stores, it gets even better, as Bink allows you to create a single customer view, bringing together a customer’s on and offline activity to create a holistic picture of their behaviour.

I don’t want a full Rewards Programme. Is Bink relevant for me?

Absolutely. At its most basic, Bink is all about identifying customers through their card payments. A customer needs to feel there is value in it for them but that doesn’t have to translate to a full rewards programme. It could be as simple as a series of short-term promotional stamp programmes. We’d be happy to work with you to find the best solution for you and your customers.

What channels can my customers use?

Bink can offer you a choice of the following channels. You can feature your rewards programme within one channel or all of them.

Your own website or app
A great way to make Bink easily available to all your customers, is to feature it on your own website or app. You can do this through APIs or we can provide you with a grey label solution.

Banking partners
By featuring your brand on our banking partner app, you will be seen by over 9 million potential customers. Customers who already shop with you and bank with our partners will have the opportunity to join and manage their rewards simply – through their mobile app. It’s also an excellent way for existing customers who aren’t a member of your rewards programme yet, to easily join, and it’s a strong introduction of your brand to new customers.

Bink app
When you partner with Bink, you also have the option of being featured on our own mobile app. Here, your brand will be highlighted alongside other great names in the world of retail. This gets more eyes on your brand by more consumers, no matter where they bank.

Information security

Information security is a critical focus for Bink, and we adopt the latest and most robust security management, technologies and processes. Although we do not process payments or provide any other form of financial service, we nevertheless recognise the sensitivity of the information to which we have access, and we employ robust controls to ensure the protection of this information. Bink is a registered PCI Level 1 Service Provider and we undergo rigorous onboarding processes with Bank partners prior to onboarding. Bink is working towards attaining ISO27001 compliance.

Can a customer link more than one payment card?

Yes. Customers can link up to 5 payment cards, from any banking institution connected to Visa, Mastercard or Amex.

Does it need hardware integration?

No. That is the great thing about our functionality. We draw on our existing relationships with the major debit and credit card providers to identify customers.

Can you work with our existing loyalty / CRM providers?

Yes. To be clear, we are not a loyalty or CRM provider. We specialise in identifying a customer when they shop with a payment card, and work with many loyalty and CRM providers today. If you don’t have an existing loyalty or CRM provider, we can work with you to make sure you have everything in place.

Is it expensive?

Not at all. It’s been our mission in fact, to develop a solution that is inexpensive to deploy. There’s no additional hardware needed. We work with API integrations and we have already established relationships with relevant 3rd parties (banking partners, payment schemes and loyalty/ CRM providers). We’re proud to say that Bink is cost effective, quick to deliver to customers and easy to deploy within your business.

RetailersBanksShoppers
Banks & financial partners

What is Payment Linked Loyalty?

Yes, Bink can help your business. You likely have thousands of customers visiting your store. Imagine if you could understand who they are and build a relationship with them that encourages them to come back again and again. When you partner with Bink, you can launch a rewards programme with zero to minimal operational overheads and instant channel distribution – one that will be up and running in no time.

How does the integration work? I’d like a technical response please.

Bink will provide an API to retail banking partners to enable loyalty enrolment, aggregation and Payment Linked Loyalty functionality. The API uses meta-data structures to describe all supported merchant loyalty schemes through a single generic API, allowing new loyalty schemes to be introduced with no impact to client implementations. APIs are secured with a combination of client-specific authentication and role-based authorisation policies to ensure appropriate data segregation. Individual components and services can be horizontally scaled independently on demand as client traffic volume increases. Systems are constantly monitored for performance and availability and are load balanced and scaled based on historic and forecast capacity models.

More info for banks & financial partners

How does the integration work ? I’d like a less technical response please.

The Bink PLL solution integrates with merchant loyalty programmes and provides their full functionality to PLL-enabled channels via a single, standard API. The Bink PLL solution takes the complexity and variety of loyalty schemes, standardises it without sacrificing detail, and delivers it as a single integration to banking partners via an easy to use API. Bink will work with our retail banking partners technical teams to design and agree on a joint implementation roadmap. We appreciate that each bank will have their own defined in-app launch processes, development methodology and associated governance that our programme will need to adhere to. We will adapt our approach and plans to support your bank’s requirements as part of the Programme Mobilisation phase.

Can I have control over the user journeys in my banking app?

Yes. All UI and UX will be designed by the bank’s mobile team to ensure it is in keeping with the look and feel of your own mobile banking app. Bink will advise on best practice and will be happy to share past learnings to help guide the design; however, the bank will have full ownership on the final product.

How customisable is the solution?

The Bink integration is flexible and customisable, meaning that banks can make decisions on the PLL features and journeys that they wish to include in their app. Bink will support the bank by first understanding the customer and business objectives, before proposing a tailored solution recommendation to support these objectives. Bink can support a phased delivery with bank partners to bring additional PLL features online following a MVP launch. In addition, banks will have the option to adopt new Bink products and features as they are developed and go live.

Is my customer’s data secure?

Yes. Information security is a critical focus for Bink. We adopt the latest and most robust security management, technologies and processes. Although we do not process payments or provide any other form of financial service, we nevertheless recognise the sensitivity of the information to which we have access, and we employ robust controls to ensure the protection of this information. Bink is a registered PCI Level 1 Service Provider and we undergo rigorous onboarding processes with our banking partners prior to onboarding. Going forward, Bink is working towards attaining ISO27001 compliance.

How easy is it to add new merchants?

Very easy. Bink’s integration framework for merchants is built with maximum flexibility, allowing interoperability with a vast variety of loyalty programme mechanics. Earning, viewing and redemption, as well as sign-up processes, will all be reflected accurately and in detail in the PLL-enabled banking app. New merchant loyalty schemes are added seamlessly by Bink, with no impact to the banking integration.

Which payment cards can a user add in the banking app?

Bink is fully integrated with all 3 UK payment schemes – Mastercard, Amex and Visa – so there is no restriction to the card types your customers can add and link. All our banking partners have the choice of implementing the Bink capability just for their own issued cards or to go open market. Bink will work with our banking partners to understand the customer and business objectives, before recommending the best approach.

What is the approach to future developments?

Bink has a proven track record of rapid development and innovation to improve our core technologies and deliver enhanced benefits to our users. We will work with our banking partners to cultivate a joint development roadmap and foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. We’ll further work closely and collaboratively with our banking partners to identify a backlog of improvements and prioritise these items against common business goals. Bink will work in partnership with the bank to maintain the common backlog and ensure regular review and maintained speed of delivery. Finally, Bink works using the agile method, meaning that we are able to quickly respond to changing priorities and develop in an iterative fashion, making constant improvements that benefit our users and partners.

RetailersBanksShoppers
Shoppers – people who love rewards

What is Bink?

Bink is smart technology designed to make loyalty simpler. For everyone.

What is Payment Linked Loyalty?

Simply put, it is Bink’s unique technology which enables your regular payment card to function as a loyalty card for all your brands.

I think I’m missing loyalty points or rewards. What should I do?

This could happen for a few different reasons. Please check that:

  • you registered your loyalty card in the Barclays or the Bink app before you made the purchase.
  • your loyalty card is linked – a linked loyalty card will show the latest loyalty balance in points, pounds or stamps.
  • you paid using your linked payment card.
  • you purchased products that are eligible for loyalty rewards – to check which products are eligible for rewards, please contact the retailer directly.
  • seven working days have passed – it can take this long for your loyalty balance to update and it can vary by retailer.

If you’ve done all of the above, please contact us. If you presented your loyalty card instead of using your linked Barclays payment card at checkout, you’ll need to contact the retailer directly for any missing loyalty rewards.

Detailed frequently asked questions can be found either here for Barclays customers or in your Bink app, available in the app stores. Download it here.