Frequently Asked Questions

Cardlytics is a native ad platform within banks’ digital channels. We partner with top financial institutions in the US and UK to provide rewards to their customers. Through our bank partnerships, we see where and when customers shop both online and in-store. We use these purchase insights to identify opportunities for marketers, target ads to real people within their banks, and measure the actual sales impact of our campaigns. We help brands drive incremental sales and grow market share.

Cardlytics delivers personalized offers to consumers within their banks’ digital channels. Offers are promoted by banks to help their customers save money. To get cash back, consumers simply click to activate their offers, then purchase later with their bank’s credit or debit card. When they purchase, the value of the offer is automatically deposited back into their bank account.

These offers are native ads that Cardlytics delivers on behalf of marketers. With insight into consumer purchase patterns through our bank partnerships, we target offers to help marketers find new customers, increase loyalty, and bring back lapsed buyers. We’re also able to report the exact impact of these campaigns on marketers’ actual sales, both online and in-store.

Cardlytics partners with several of the largest banks and processors in the US and the UK. In the US, these include Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, US Bank, Truist, PNC, Regions and Venmo, as well as many smaller financial institutions. In the UK, these include Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland, Halifax, Curve, MBNA and Monzo.

Our services are currently available in the US and the UK.

Cardlytics has insight into where and when customers shop, both online and in-store. Through our bank partnerships we see credit, debit, ACH, and bill pay transactions, including related purchases made via mobile wallets. We do not have access to any personally identifiable information (PII) or insight into transactions in sensitive categories such as healthcare. This enables Cardlytics and our partners to deliver a customized experience while still protecting consumer privacy.

No, Cardlytics does not receive or have access to any PII from our financial institution partners. Please read our privacy policy to learn more.

Cardlytics is a pay-for-performance platform. Costs are determined by the actual sales we’re able to deliver. There are no hidden fees or production costs - we manage everything from ad copy to fulfilling customer rewards.

Cardlytics works with a wide variety of regional and national advertisers across retail, eCommerce, restaurant, grocery, gas, travel, telecom, and streaming services.

Through our partnerships with banks, Cardlytics has a complete view of consumer spending habits. We’ve built an exclusive native ad platform in banks’ digital channels where we apply our Purchase Intelligence to:

• Identify opportunities and develop precise marketing strategies based on where, when, and how consumers buy.
• Deliver targeted offers in a fraud-free, brand-safe ad channel where marketers can reach real people as they’re planning where to spend and save.
• Measure campaigns’ incremental sales by connecting ads to actual store purchases, both online and in-store.

Overall, our massive scale, pay-per-performance pricing, and measurable return on ad spend (ROAS) ensure we can deliver results that even a CFO can love.

Most marketers do not have a view into their customers’ purchase behavior outside of their own stores and websites, nor into the purchase behavior of individuals who are not yet customers. With insight into transaction data, Cardlytics customizes targeting based on purchase history of how consumers shop with an advertiser’s brand, category, and competitive set. This allows for sophisticated targeting that maximizes opportunity among likely buyers, whether they are new, lapsed, heavy category shoppers, or omnichannel consumers.

No. To protect consumer privacy, Cardlytics does not receive demographics or any other personally identifiable information (PII) about our banks’ customers. Instead, we use purchase insights to target ads based on where, when, and how consumers spend. Using past purchases as a predictor of future intent enables Cardlytics to efficiently target campaigns and eliminate much of the guesswork associated with demographic-based audiences.

If you need to target a specific strategic demographic segment, we can work with you to understand the goal behind the demographic profile and create a purchase-based targeting plan that will drive results for your business objectives.

In short, YES. With over 186M bank customers, we help brands drive significant sales and grow market share. In fact, we’ve driven over $46B+ in measurable sales for marketers. Most of our multi-year clients use the program on an annual basis to deliver incremental, baseline sales. Marketers count on Cardlytics to consistently bring in new customers, increase the frequency of purchases from occasional buyers, and increase share amongst customers who also shop at competitors.

With insight into bank transaction data, we report our exact impact on sales. There is no need to estimate performance or rely on complex attributions or integrations. These are real purchases, made by real people who saw ads in our platform. Also important, we report on both online and in-store sales. This enables marketers to accurately track ROI regardless of where customers decide to buy.

Nielsen Sales Lift Measurement is available as an independent, third-party process for measuring and reporting sales lift from Cardlytics’ campaigns. The Nielsen Sales Lift Measurement analysis is based on purchase data seen through the Cardlytics platform and uses Nielsen’s own methodology to calculate lift metrics for sales, purchases, and basket size.

Yes! Cardlytics’ view of bank transactions provides a line of sight into consumer purchase behavior before and during the campaign. We can accurately measure your campaign’s impact on sales, answering questions such as:

• “Did my campaign increase sales?”
• “Would customers have purchased anyway?”
• “What was my incremental return on ad spend?”

Using a best-in-class test vs. control methodology, Cardlytics withholds a representative control group to make apples-to-apples comparisons between the spending patterns of people who were exposed to an ad, and those who were not. As a result, Cardlytics can measure the incremental impact that ads within our channel have on sales.

For those using MMM to understand how our program impacts your topline sales, just put us in touch with your MMM consultant, and we’ll deliver the data you need to validate our results. We typically provide weekly impacted sales (online and in-store) by geography, with the associated media spend.

No, our advertising solution is only available within our partner banks’ brand-safe and fraud-free digital channels.

No, Cardlytics is a turnkey solution that does not require any POS integration. Customers redeem their rewards by paying with their bank card, and the rewards are directly deposited back into their bank account. Your store staff will process these sales no differently than any other sale. For restaurants, guests still pay and tip on the full price of the meal.

Cardlytics is not a discounting program. Customers pay full price at the point of sale, and for restaurants, guests still tip on the full price of the meal. From a customer’s perspective, their bank is funding a compelling offer. Rewards from the Cardlytics program are directly deposited into their bank account, further reinforcing the “bank rewards” program positioning. Cardlytics works with numerous advertisers who can’t discount certain items, and all have found the platform to be compliant with those restrictions.

We partner with bank processors such as FIS, Fiserv, NCR and Connect FSS to extend our loyalty solutions to financial institutions of all sizes. If your core banking is processed through one of these partners, please reach out directly to your provider’s account manager.

By offering a cash-back program to your bank customers, you can enjoy increased card usage, greater customer satisfaction and loyalty, and reduced customer attrition and churn.

Yes. Cardlytics never receives any personally identifiable information (PII). We host key aspects of our technology within our bank partners’ secure firewalls and only access the information needed to inform campaigns. All campaigns are based on fully de-identified bank data. This enables consumers to receive a best-in-class targeted advertising experience without sacrificing privacy.

Due to the sensitive nature of our data, we do not sell purchase information or insights studies. Rather, we generate actionable insights for marketers who deliver rewards to consumers via our native banking channel.

Visit www.ir.cardlytics.com.