Blackhawk Network announced an agreement with Rybbon, a leading digital rewards platform, to provide businesses with virtual open-loop Mastercard® reward options. Businesses can now use these rewards to engage customers digitally. Reward recipients can add these Mastercard rewards to mobile wallets from Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay to make purchases with just the tap of their phone or smartwatch. According to Blackhawk’s research1, digital prepaid rewards are efficient and preferred incentives when recipients want to receive rewards quickly—making them an incredibly effective business tool for marketing, research and employee programs.
“Consumers appreciate the speed and versatility of virtual rewards, and now is the time for businesses to leverage them to boost participation and engagement in programs,” said Jignesh Shah, CEO of Rybbon. “We enjoy working with Blackhawk because of its superior digital rewards capabilities. They empower our customers to quickly reach their audience and create regular touchpoints that drive satisfaction and behavior. Additionally, Blackhawk’s virtual rewards enable our customers to deliver rewards usually within moments of someone earning them, no matter where they are.”
Blackhawk drove advancements in the digitization of open-loop prepaid cards as rewards when it enabled their integration into mobile wallets. Blackhawk’s research1 found that 72% of respondents report high levels of satisfaction when adding prepaid cards to mobile wallets.
“Contactless payments are becoming more commonplace in the U.S. and have significant traction globally—in fact, three out of five smartphone users have a mobile wallet2,” said Bill Warshauer, VP, Sales at Blackhawk Network. “Our research found that 81% of respondents agree that a digital prepaid reward would make them more likely to do business with a company in the future. Digital prepaid solutions help businesses reach mobile-minded consumers while building brand engagement and reducing the time between behavior and reward. These key competitive differentiators cannot be overlooked as part of a modern rewards program.”