Bond Brand Loyalty Debuts SynapzeINSTANT™ Rewards as Game-Changing Solution for North American Banks

• New app enables banks to better control reward costs and increase program profitability
• Allows customers to instantly pay with redeemed credit card loyalty points in-store or online
• Gives customers instant satisfaction with an endless aisle of rewards from leading retailers
• Easy and affordable to implement, no integration barriers or retailer POS challenges

TORONTO and NEW YORK, Jan. 27, 2016 /CNW/ - Bond Brand Loyalty has rolled out an innovative new solution to help North American banks lead in the competitive landscape of reward and loyalty programs, all while offering bank customers a near "endless aisle" of instant redemption with leading retail brands. Better yet, the standalone rewards app requires no large-scale retailer POS integration or associated expense.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160127/326388LOGO)

SynapzeINSTANT™ is a new app-based solution for any bank with a credit card loyalty program. It's easy to use—and provides real-time in the moment redemption delivering higher satisfaction to customers. A recent Bond Brand Loyalty consumer study found that:

• The number one driver of satisfaction in the financial services category is "time to receive redemption rewards."
• More than 50% percent of consumers are "somewhat likely" or "very likely" to pay a 10% premium to be able to instantly redeem points in a store.
• One-third (33%) said they'd be "somewhat likely" or "very likely" to pay a premium of 50%.
• The same survey showed that 47% of primary travel redeemers are "somewhat likely" or "very likely" to redeem points for retail perks rather than wait longer to build up and redeem for travel.

"SynapzeINSTANT™ was created to help ease the ever-increasing costs financial institutions endure while trying to differentiate," said Bob Macdonald, Bond Brand Loyalty President and CEO. "Our long-standing relationships in the financial services sector have helped us understand the impact of challenged profitability for payments. We know that banks need a lower cost-per-point solution that gives them an edge, and we believe SynapzeINSTANT™ is it."

Programs that offer instant points redemption can engender greater program satisfaction than those requiring reward products to be shipped. SynapzeINSTANT™ provides this speed by allowing customers to use loyalty points to pay in store or for online purchases at participating retailers, essentially wiping part or the entire credit card charge from their statements. The cardholder simply clicks on the button to redeem points, and the cash amount is reimbursed on their credit card statement. In addition, when a customer is near a store aligned with the program, the app's location-based and push notifications will alert the customer about redemption opportunities.

"Credit card loyalty program providers have been looking for the right Instant reward solution for years," commented Carlo Pirillo, Executive Vice-President Digital Solutions at Bond Brand Loyalty. Pirillo further added, "One of the greatest barriers with point redemption solutions has been the impact on retailer POS and workflow. SynapzeINSTANT has zero impact on the retailer and with instant convenience, near-cash redemption, reporting capabilities and push notification messaging built right in, we are confident that this is the most user-friendly, elegant and simple solution to hit the marketplace."

Overall, SynapzeINSTANT allows banks to increase program profitability—and gives customers instant satisfaction with literally hundreds of thousands of redemption options from leading retailers, unimaginable in a traditional rewards catalog. The payback for banks will continue with more frequent customer engagement, lower reward costs and increased brand loyalty.

For additional information please visit bondbrandloyalty.com/instant. In addition to financial services, Bond Brand Loyalty works with leading clients in the consumer product goods, retail and automotive industries.

About Bond Brand Loyalty
Bond Brand Loyalty, formerly Maritz Canada and Maritz Loyalty Marketing, is a management-owned agency that specializes in building brand loyalty for North America's most influential and valuable brands. Our mission is to make marketing more rewarding for customers, richer and more resilient for brands, and more profitable for our clients. We build measurable, authentic and long-lasting relationships through a combination of services that includes loyalty solutions, customer experience, marketing research, customer analytics, live brand experiences, and proprietary loyalty technology platforms. Visit our website, follow us on Twitter or contact us at 1-844-277-2663.

SOURCE Bond Brand Loyalty

Image with caption: "Bond Brand Loyalty (CNW Group/Bond Brand Loyalty)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160127_C4821_PHOTO_EN_607050.jpg

please contact: Richard Lane, 905.696.5319, [email protected]