Rewards programs often falter because the kickbacks customers receive can be hard to redeem at best and downright useless at worst. However, the digital card wallet Coin has plans to offer one of the most universally accepted rewards in the world.
Coin announced Friday (Nov. 20) that it has launched Coin Rewards, a pilot program specific to the Bay Area that will allow customers who make purchases using the card replacement device to earn rewards in the form of Amazon gift cards. In some cases, these rewards won’t wait to kick in under the high minimum format of many other programs that make customers spend hundreds of dollars for dozens in rewards. For example, TechCrunch reported that the purchase of something as inexpensive as a coffee could yield a $5 Amazon gift card.
“Coin is going beyond convenience and security by providing rewards,” Coin Cofounder and CEO Kanishk Parashar said in a statement. “We want to give our customers ubiquity in where they pay, flexibility in how they pay and rewards for their bottom line.”
TechCrunch outlined that the program will depend on push notifications and consumer opt-in to deliver Amazon-linked rewards. In some cases, this will present as a simple in-app popup prompting shoppers to buy an item to receive a specific credit. In others, the company may ask shoppers to tweet their most recent purchase through Coin as a form of native promotion.
“Eventually, the Coin should pay for itself,” Parashar told TechCrunch.
After scrambling to release an EMV-compatible product in late summer and powering through production issues throughout 2014, Coin may finally have a feather to stick in its cap with the Amazon gift card program. However, shoppers first need to buy the device to enjoy its features, and that may prove a bigger — if not ongoing — problem for the beleaguered Coin.
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