EMV isn’t the only innovation coming soon to a pump near you.
The financial software company FIS, which says it has been in the loyalty space for over twenty years, has just launched another such program, starting with gasoline sales. Customers in the program, which is currently offered at participating BP gas stations, will be able to literally watch themselves save money in real-time through their rewards points.
The program is currently rolling out nationwide following the BP pilot in which customers saw instant savings of up to $0.50 per 20 gallons of gas. It will soon be available for every one of FIS’s loyalty clients.
“With every customer we tested [the gas pump program] with, there wasn’t one who didn’t smile when they saw the number go down,” says Bob Legters, senior vice president of product for FIS; referring to the moment when customers would swipe their cards to pay for gas—and get a delightful little surprise when they received a notification, right there, that they could immediately redeem points to pay for gas.
No fuss, no two-factor authentication; all the customer has to do is essentially say, ‘Yes, I’d like to pay less money, please.’ According to Legters, this “Premium Payback” program has quickly become one of the top redeeming products—small wonder.
It is available across about 9,000 BP stations in the country, and available to be integrated and used at any point of sale for merchants to reward participating customers—coffee shops, retailers, or other businesses.
“With loyalty programs, you’re always looking for the triple win,” says Legters. “You want the customer to have value, the financial institution to save, and the merchant to have value as well.”
As previously mentioned, loyalty programs are somewhat of a specialty for FIS; the company currently operates about 6,800 of them nationwide. Gas, according to Legters, was one of the main areas that customers consistently assigned a higher value to a lower price (that and pet food, oddly, Legters said).
There are currently around 9 million end-users participating in the program.
To learn more about payments, join us in Tel Aviv for Bank Innovation Israel this November 1-3. Register here.