The retailer’s guide to card-linked offers

In a hurry? Here are the three main takeaways from our retailer's guide to card-linked offers.

1. Card‑linked offers (CLOs) deliver measurable, incremental ROI in a post‑cookie world: For UK retailers under pressure to prove performance, CLOs stand out because they tie marketing activity directly to verified transactions, not clicks or impressions. Closed‑loop reporting, uplift modelling, and incrementality enable marketers to see exactly what revenue a campaign generated beyond baseline behaviour. This makes CLOs more reliable than traditional coupons or affiliate links, especially across online and in‑store journeys.

2. Frictionless cashback aligns perfectly with current UK consumer behaviour: CLOs remove almost all customer effort: no codes, no vouchers, no remembering to redeem. Rewards are triggered automatically at the point of sale, usually as cashback, which UK consumers increasingly prefer over points‑based rewards due to cost‑of‑living pressures. This frictionless experience drives higher conversion, repeat purchases, and increased basket size across both everyday and discretionary spend categories.

3. CLOs are now a core commerce media activation, not a niche channel: Rather than being a bolt‑on, CLOs are a central activation method within modern commerce media strategies. They complement affiliate and discount platforms but often outperform them due to cookie‑less tracking, omnichannel attribution, and access to high‑intent audiences inside trusted banking and fintech apps. The result is scalable personalisation, stronger relevance, and better long‑term loyalty outcomes.

Got time to stick around? Let's dive a litter deeper.

Your introduction

Following on from our blog, 'A complete guide to commerce media', we're delving deeper into one of the most dependable strategies within commerce media marketing: card-linked offers.

As the retail landscape rapidly evolves, innovative marketing strategies are essential if you want your business to skyrocket and compete with the best. In this article, we’ll dive into the world of card-linked offers, what they are, how they work and why they’re so valuable. Also known as CLOs, this powerful tool empowers you not only to connect with consumers but also to boost your sales through targeted retail promotions.

We’ll explore how they can level-up your customer engagement and explode your revenue, share best practices for launching a CLO campaign, and delve into the future outlook for this highly successful transaction-based marketing channel.

On the lookout for insights and strategies to upscale your marketing based on UK retail trends? Let’s get started.

Why card-linked offers matter for retailers

Card-linked offers matter to retailers because they’re an impactful way to realise a return on marketing investments using frictionless, data-driven promotions through transaction-based marketing campaigns that enable you to measure results and target specific consumer behaviour effectively.

The shift toward frictionless, data-driven promotions

It’s time to shift towards newer, more effective ways of collecting data and start creating more personalised, relevant, and successful marketing strategies.

Card-linked offers connect to a shopper’s credit or debit card, removing the need for discount codes and money-off coupons, offering a completely frictionless checkout. CLOs also offer measurable, closed-loop performance validation, so you can track your retail promotions and know exactly how effective they really are.

The rise of transaction-based marketing

As we move further into a post-cookie world, retailers are relying more on verified purchase data to target and optimise promotions. CLOs are right at the centre of this shift away from post-cookie marketing.

Transaction-based marketing is a method that uses verified purchase data to optimise a campaign. It empowers retailers to move beyond cookie-based marketing and focus on real, transaction-based marketing. The result? More accuracy. Effective customer segmentation.

First-party data is a valuable tool that enables retailers to access and analyse data from their own transactions, resulting in a deeper understanding of customer behaviour.

What card-linked offers are and how they work

Card-linked offers are a commerce media marketing activation method that enable you to deliver strategic, data- and behaviour-driven campaigns that measure success by transactions, not clicks.

CLO definition and core mechanics

Simply put, CLOs work as a digital marketing strategy that links automatic rewards directly to a customer’s debit or credit card, eliminating the need for traditional coupons or codes.

Once activated, the card-linked offer – whether it’s cashback, points or statement credit – is auto-triggered at the point of sale. No forms, no waiting, no fuss. This seamless redemption process skips the manual step, offering total convenience for your customers.

Why CLOs are frictionless for customers

Because card-linked offers connect to your customer’s payment card, they require no coupon codes or physical coupon scanning, offering a more streamlined customer experience that’s highly appealing and encourages repeat purchases.

CLOs offer a simple, seamless redemption process that means rewards are triggered, applied and processed automatically, so your customers don’t even need to remember they’ve got an offer to use. It’s effortless, it’s convenient, and shoppers love this.

How CLO networks track and validate purchases

Card-linked offers use transaction-level data to glean detailed information about each purchase made with a linked payment card, enabling retailers to track and analyse it and easily determine the impact of a specific offer.

Offer validation is so simple with CLOs. You can effectively match transaction data against promotion criteria, ensuring you only attribute eligible transactions to the offer. Why’s this important? It provides both accuracy and transparency for performance tracking, which is crucial for assessing the campaign's success.

Closed-loop reporting provides a clear link between card-linked offers and the sales outcomes they produce. By attributing purchases to specific offers, retailers can measure campaign effectiveness, make changes and maximise future promotions.

Why CLOs are a high-value channel for retailers

CLOS are a high-value channel for retailers because they enable you to measure results more accurately, access high-intent audiences on banking and rewards programmes, and deliver relevance and personalisation at scale.

More measurable than traditional coupons or affiliate links

CLOs offer something traditional affiliate tracking struggles to provide: real-world attribution across multiple channels. Online tracking is helpful, but offline attribution bridges the gap between online and in-store channels.

Card-linked offers enable accurate tracking of customer behaviour, transactions and purchase patterns, so you really do get an insight into the whole customer journey and tap into how effective your marketing strategies are.

So, if it’s a measurable ROI you’re looking for, CLOs are an effective way to achieve it. The detailed data they provide on campaign performance and revenue empowers you to make informed decisions and tailor your marketing strategy accordingly.

Access to high-intent audiences through banks and fintech apps

Card-linked offers appear in secure, trusted environments, like fintech and banking apps, helping retailers reach customers who already use these platforms. These are high-value consumers who not only have greater purchasing power but also tend to be more loyal to the businesses they shop with.

These high-intent customers are more receptive to offers, especially when they’re targeted, personalised, and appear within a trusted, secure environment like a banking app. So, seamless integration of CLOs is an effective strategy that enhances their experience, resulting in long-term customer loyalty and trust.

Relevance and personalisation at scale

Card-linked offer platforms can target specific customer groups based on purchase behaviour, with relevance boosted by widespread contactless adoption. Targeting enables retailers to deliver personalised offers that align with an individual's interests and shopping habits, making them much more likely to convert.

CLOs use machine learning targeting and algorithms to land with specific customer groups, allowing retailers to optimise their marketing and deliver offers to the right people at the right time, without losing the ability to scale up.

When you look at Gen Z payment preferences, such as contactless payments, digital wallets and seamless checkout experiences, it makes sense that convenient, frictionless payment options like card-linked offers resonate with such a tech-savvy demographic, as well as anyone who prioritises speed, convenience and security.

Benefits of card-linked offers for retailers

Card-linked offers bring many benefits, including increased footfall, higher conversation rate, higher basked sizes and repeat purchases, enhanced customer insights, and align with economic and consumer trends,

Increased footfall and higher conversion rates

It’s not all about online shopping: CLO discounts are a compelling incentive for customers to visit and shop more often, both online and in-store. Card-linked offers drive a conversion uplift by encouraging people to shop through these targeted discounts that create a sense of urgency.

The seamless integration of these enticing CLO discounts is a real motivator for customers to redeem offers during their visits, resulting in an in-store sales boost, whilst encouraging repeat visits and increased traffic. Think of it as your competitive edge.

Higher basket sizes and repeat purchases

In our blog post, 'A complete guide to commerce media', we share three case studies that prove CLOs increase buying frequency and basket value.

Many people are having to make cuts, and a cashback offer makes your brand better value, enabling them to increase their spend with the knowledge that they’ll receive a portion back, resulting in an average transaction value (ATV) uplift. The ongoing availability of card-linked offers often leads to customers who feel valued and are more motivated to engage with your brand, driving a higher rate of return visits and repeat purchases.

Better customer insights through card-level data

Card-linked offers are a great way to level up your customer insights, enabling you to create accurate customer profiles by analysing card-level data. Through CLOs, retailers gain access to detailed behavioural data gleaned from purchase stats, such as spending patterns and shopping habits.

You really get to understand your target audience on a deeper level, allowing you to customise your retail promotions and product recommendations and target your offers to meet the needs of each customer segment better. And this personal element increases the likelihood of engagement, loyalty and conversion.

Aligns with today’s economic and consumer trends

In today’s retail landscape, consumers increasingly prefer percentage off cashback-style rewards, making CLOs and cashback marketing a compelling proposition (Business Wire). With the cost of living ever rising, these card-linked offers align with consumers’ price sensitivity and offer incentives that appeal to cost-conscious shoppers. So, if your shoppers are on the lookout for ways to make their money stretch further, opting for more economical purchases, CLOs are the ideal way to encourage purchases.

Recently, we’ve noticed an increase in cashback demand amongst consumers, which is another reason why card-linked offers are so effective right now. By giving back a percentage of the purchase amount, CLOs meet this demand, whilst encouraging customer loyalty. The customer-centric approach of these card-linked offers delivers high customer value by enhancing their shopping experience.

How CLOs fit within commerce media and discount platforms

CLOs are the perfect addition to your commerce media strategy, effortlessly complementing affiliate marketing activities. Since the cashback offer links to a card they already use, there’s nothing extra for the consumer to do, which is why many card-linked programmes outperform discount schemes.

If you haven't done so yet, click into our blog, 'A complete guide to commerce media', for an in-depth review of everything you need to know about commerce media marketing.

CLOs as a core activation method within commerce media

With their seamless integration, card-linked offers act as a primary activation channel within commerce media strategies. This integration is a key reward activation method for engaging customers and driving sales, offering retailers a direct channel to target their audiences.

In short, CLOs are a form of retailer advertising that lets brands promote products and services through targeted offers. The result? The ability to reach consumers and drive traffic to both physical stores and websites, whilst giving your brand visibility a boost.

Why CLOs outperform traditional discount channels

The contactless retail environment in the UK right now makes card-linked offers particularly effective across the grocery, convenience, and hospitality segments. CLOs shine in omnichannel environments thanks to their seamless integration with both online and offline retail channels. It’s a cohesive shopping experience that’s convenient, secure, and frictionless, and customers love it.

CLOs offer more accurate attribution than traditional discount channels because you can track and link purchases directly to specific offers, then measure their effectiveness.

CLOs vs coupon platforms vs affiliate marketing

Looking for CLO advantages and how they compare to affiliate marketing? For a start, they offer cookie-less tracking, bypassing the need for cookies to track customer behaviour, and the result is a more accurate way to attribute sales to specific offers (Affiverse Media).

Another benefit is reduced friction during the transaction. Card-linked offers eliminate the need for customers to tap on affiliate links or remember discount codes, streamlining the checkout experience.

Did you know that CLOs offer omnichannel attribution, allowing retailers to track and attribute in-store purchases to specific marketing campaigns? This is a feature you don’t often find in traditional coupon platforms, making card-linked offers a better, more convenient option.

Best practices for retailers launching CLO campaigns

Best practices for retailers launching CLO campaigns include using purchase data for targeted segmentation, aligning offer types with customer expectations, crafting a simple, compelling value proposition, and partnering with the right CLO network.

Start with targeted segmentation using purchase data

One of the many benefits of CLO networks is the ability to segment your customers with precision. How? By leveraging purchase data to group people based on their shopping habits, like behaviours, preferences and transaction history.

This segmentation gives retailers a tool to personalise discounts, offers and rewards to specific customer groups, targeting new customers or high spenders, for an increase in engagement.

Card-linked offers are also an effective way to identify and target high-intent users who have shown a strong interest in your products or services and are more likely to convert and make repeat purchases.

Align offer types with customer expectations

Whilst money-off or buy-one-get-one-free deals appeal to customers’ price sensitivity by offering a clear cashback earnings and creating a sense of urgency, consumers perceive cashback as better value (Retail Touch Points).

The customer psychology behind this is simple: it taps into the feeling of getting something back, with tangible savings that can accumulate over time, increasing satisfaction and customer loyalty.

Ensure your value proposition is simple and compelling

Retail CLO programmes grow faster when the rewards are easy to understand and activate. So, you must aim to offer clarity, keeping your value proposition simple with clear benefits and rewards that customers can experience through the card-linked offer programme.

Retail messaging is crucial here, so if you can maintain a consistent brand voice across all communication channels, you’ll reinforce brand identity and recognition. Combine this with a streamlined onboarding process and transparency about the offers, discounts and cashback available (including your T&Cs), and you’ll earn your customers’ trust quickly.

Partner with the right CLO networks

Partners like Pluxee UK connect you with CLO networks that align with your core customer demographic, guaranteeing you’ll reach the right consumers to achieve your desired goals.

When it comes to working with banks and fintech partners, both the trust and credibility of your card-linked offers are enhanced because customers perceive them as secure and reliable, enabling a seamless integration into existing payment systems for completely frictionless rewards.

As an added benefit, banks and fintech partners can provide access to high-intent customers who are more likely to take you up on your offer.

Real world use cases and inspiration

We partner with some of the UK’s biggest brands across every industry, increasing their market share, activating lapsed customers, and increasing average transaction value and frequency.

Dive into our guide to commerce media marketing to read some impressive case studies.

Grocery and everyday spending categories

CLOs are incredibly effective in high-frequency categories such as groceries, supported by the prevalent use of debit cards in the UK. This combination of factors makes grocery cashback offers for daily purchases the perfect strategy for engaging customers and driving retail sales.

Multi-location or omnichannel retailers

Both multi-location and omnichannel retailers can benefit from the way CLOs offer one unified system to capture both in-store and online sales, bridging the gap between online and offline channels. This provides comprehensive omnichannel tracking, enabling you to measure the impact of your CLO campaigns seamlessly, online to offline, and get the most out of your omnichannel marketing strategies.

Loyalty enhancement for existing customer bases

If you want to see a customer loyalty uplift, then card-linked offers are the way to go. By automatically rewarding existing customers based on their purchase behaviour, this seamless and personalised incentive approach not only enhances customer satisfaction but also encourages repeat purchases.

Introducing CLOs as part of your customer retention strategy is an ideal method of engaging and retaining your most loyal customers, driving both long-term value and business growth.

How to measure CLO performance

One of the biggest benefits of card-linked offers is the ability to access reliable data and real insights that measure the success of your campaign. Not just clicks, we’re talking transaction-based metrics. You can tie every offer redemption to a verified transaction, making CLOs a more reliable method of analysing and reviewing your offer performance.

Key metrics to track

Card-linked offers enable closed-loop measurement that links promotions directly to verified transactions, enabling retailers to attract new customers, re-engage lapsed customers, target a competitor’s customers, increase average transaction value and improve average transaction frequency.

When running a CLO campaign, the key metrics to track include:

Incremental sales lift: Measuring the additional revenue generated by CLO campaigns compared to your baseline sales.
Redemption rate: Tracking the percentage of customers who redeem card-linked offers after seeing them.
Return on Investment (ROI): Calculating your return on investment and assessing the profitability of your CLO campaigns.
New vs. returning customers: Differentiating between new customers acquired through your card-linked offers and returning customers who have engaged with your offers.

Understanding incrementality and baseline behaviour

It’s important to measure incrementality when evaluating the effectiveness of a CLO campaign, so you know the additional impact it has had on generating revenue, vs. organic performance. This enables you to assess the ROI of each campaign, giving you crucial insights into the true value of your efforts.

Many CLO platforms run controlled uplift models using purchase data visibility. Uplift modelling is a way to analyse the incremental impact of a card-linked offer campaign on both customer behaviour and revenue generation, helping CLO platforms accurately measure the added revenue attribution in relation to a specific campaign. It’s a way to optimise your marketing strategies based on data-driven insights, so you can see an uplift in the performance of your whole campaign and make informed decisions going forward.

Looking ahead: The future of card-linked offers

With direct access to 8 million employed consumers who are actively looking for value, partnering with Pluxee UK will get your business and your brand in front of the right customers. While your customers enjoy money back in their pockets, the benefits to you include:

Comprehensive transaction reporting: Detailed transaction reports for both validation and reconciliation, for the ultimate accuracy in tracking your campaign’s performance.
Transparent pricing structure: With zero hidden fees, Pluxee UK provides clarity and predictability for your marketing budget.
Simplified invoicing process: One invoice to review, no matter how many programmes you use, for totally hassle-free accounting.
Automated rewards redemption: An elevated customer experience that grants seamless and efficient reward distribution to all.
Cost-effective model: Pluxee UK operates on a cost-per-acquisition (CPA) model, meaning you get to make the most out of your spend by paying for actual customer acquisition.
No tech-integration required: Focus on maximising the impact of your campaigns without the IT setup.

The future of CLOs is right here!

The rise of AI-driven personalisation

Like many areas of business, AI is proving to be a useful tool, and CLO platforms are no exception. If you’re looking for hyper-relevant targeting in your business, this is where the integration of AI personalisation comes in.

Through machine learning targeting and understanding patterns and trends, AI algorithms are revolutionising CLO campaigns. How? Through the personalisation of offers that are tailored to individual customer preferences, delivered to the right audience at the right time.

CLOs as part of employee and membership ecosystems

In the world of employee benefits and loyalty ecosystems, card-linked offers play a pivotal role, seamlessly integrating into broader reward ecosystems, like Pluxee UK's card-linked programmes, offering a whole host of benefits.

Incorporating CLOs into employee benefit programmes provides personalised discounts and cashback offers. CLOs can also be integrated into prepaid programmes, giving employees access to exclusive offers and rewards linked to their transactions. The result? A more rewarding experience for employees and an effective way to strengthen employee loyalty.

Growing demand for secure, cookie-less solutions

As worries around privacy and data security continue to grow, we’re seeing a rising demand for cookie-less marketing solutions that prioritise user privacy. A huge benefit of card-linked offers is the way they bypass cookies entirely, supporting a privacy-first approach (Affiverse Media).

This secure alternative doesn’t rely on tracking cookies for targeting, aligning with the trend towards privacy-focused marketing. It’s transparent, respectful and provides a safer environment for your customers and your business.

Build trust, and ultimately, this is the foundation for customer loyalty.

Why card-linked offers are one of the best choices for retailers seeking incremental growth

In a retail environment shaped by privacy changes, economic pressure and rising expectations, card‑linked offers stand out as a smarter way to drive growth. By connecting marketing activity directly to verified transactions, CLOs give UK retailers something increasingly rare: confidence.

Confidence in performance, in attribution, and in the ability to prove incremental value across both online and in‑store journeys. When rewards are frictionless, relevant and rooted in real purchase behaviour, engagement and ROI follow naturally.

As commerce media continues to mature, CLOs are no longer a nice‑to‑have add‑on. They are a core activation channel that aligns retailer goals with consumer needs, delivering simplicity for shoppers and measurable outcomes for marketers. For brands looking to acquire, retain and re‑engage customers at scale, card‑linked offers provide a future‑proof foundation built on trust, transparency and performance.

Talk to our team

Sources:

Retail Touch Points

Affiverse Media

Business Wire