Swipely connects customer rewards with your credit card, launches “Marketing Manager”

One of the most exciting aspects of the tech startup scene is the potential it has to make our lives easier. The only problem is, companies often start out solving a problem that never existed. Plus, if there is a legitimate problem, solutions that are proposed aren’t always going to work.

Take, for example, those rewards cards that companies like Pink Berry have. Merchants stamp a card, and after 10 trips or so, customers get a free froyo. As you might imagine, keeping one of these cards for every single business is a pain — they’re easy to lose, clog up our wallets and don’t offer merchants a way to keep track of rewards VS return customers. This is where rewards apps often come into play, but some companies have their own apps, while others buy into different initiatives…eventually that process becomes cumbersome as well.

Now, one startup by the name of Swipely hopes to set a gold standard for rewarding customers and bringing them back. Swipely’s product isn’t what you might expect though, as it works atop transactions. This means that as long as customers have their credit card, they’ll always have their loyalty card.

The startup has quietly grown over the past few months, and is already expanding in Boston, SF and NYC. Today, Swipely is releasing a web-based platform for small businesses that turns their cash register into a direct marketing machine. The Marketing Manager helps local merchants understand, retain and engage customers with powerful analytics, a turn-key loyalty program and targeted consumer campaigns.

From Swipely:

The Main Street Marketing Manager works by converting the big data behind a merchant’s credit card payment system into a direct marketing tool that brings customers back. It presents data through simple analytics on loyalty program membership, average ticket size, days since last visit and more. It also recommends personalized email campaigns to launch in one-click that boost ticket size and purchase frequency.

In minutes, a merchant can review the revenue opportunity associated with launching a particular campaign and automatically send the right message to the right customer at the right time — a ‘set it and forget it’ approach.

Taking a look at Swipely’s Marketing Manager, it becomes clear just how powerful this level of insight can be. Web designers often take powerful analytics for granted, but this release brings an unprecedented level of transparency to small businesses. Overall, it lets owners know what works and what doesn’t while keeping customers coming back.

➤  Swipely