Partnership gives small businesses a one-stop solution for identifying, acquiring and retaining new customers
PASADENA, Calif. – Punchcard, a mobile engagement and loyalty network, KDA Group, one of the largest local marketing agencies in the U.S., and xAd, a leading mobile-local ad network, announce a joint partnership to deliver small and medium sized businesses an end to end mobile marketing solution that closes the online to offline loop for mobile customers. Leveraging their combined expertise, the companies will begin offering businesses comprehensive consumer acquisition strategies for acquiring new customers along with analytics and solutions for creating long-term relationships with their most loyal customers – all at a price point that fits their budget: less than $5 per day. Merchants can sign up at www.KDAlocal.com.
The process starts with consumers searching on their mobile phones for businesses nearby. xAd serves ads for local participating businesses, and when consumers click on the business’ ad, they go to an xAd powered mobile website that has been optimized for quick conversion with features such as click-to-call and one click access to maps and driving directions to help businesses acquire consumers. Once consumers shop at the participating local business, they can use Punchcard, a mobile engagement and loyalty network, to earn punches on the businesses punch card. When the consumer earns enough punches, they get rewarded with either cash back or store credit. The alliance brings the first true end-to-end customer acquisition and retention solution for local businesses.
Ninety percent of mobile consumers search locally, and those searches are highly actionable, leading to calls, in-store visits and purchases. xAd connects local businesses and mobile consumers by leveraging comprehensive ad inventory, proprietary technology and quality-score algorithm, to target and acquire consumers based on a variety of variables — pinpoint location, precise timing, behaviors and more.
Once a consumer shops at the local business’ location, Punchcard helps local businesses identify, re-acquire and reward their loyal customers, and the Punchcard Mobile App gives consumers a simple way to get rewards from the businesses they frequent most. Additionally, Punchcard for Business, the company’s innovative business-side marketing solution, gives local merchants valuable insights into the purchasing activities of their customers so the businesses can retain their customers better. Punchcard for Business enables merchants to push messages and offers automatically and directly to consumers’ smart phones via the Punchcard App based on the consumer’s prior purchase behavior.
“At roughly five dollars a day, small and medium sized businesses now have access to an end to end mobile marketing solution that makes it dead simple for them to identify, acquire and retain new customers,” said Antony Barran, President and Chief Marketing Officer of KDA Group Inc. “We’re excited to work with xAd and Punchcard to deliver our clients something they have been asking for for a long time.”
“The explosive growth of consumers who are using mobile devices to search for, find and interact with local businesses shows no sign of slowing down,” said Monica Ho, VP of Marketing at xAd, Inc. “The ability to offer consumers targeted offers and incentives for the relevant businesses around them is a win-win for both the consumer and the merchant.”
“By packaging our services together, local businesses can focus on acquiring and retaining that all important loyal customer, which is the lifeblood to local businesses – especially since 15% of a local business’ customer base typically generates 60% or more of their profits,” said Punchcard CEO Andy Steuer. “Punchcard opens up new opportunities for any local business to have an ongoing dialogue with their customers by allowing them to easily push relevant offers based on consumer purchase behavior and demographic data.”
About Punchcard
Punchcard is a mobile engagement and loyalty network designed to give merchants an effective way to retain customers while rewarding shoppers for making frequent purchases at their favorite retailers. The Punchcard app is a mobile platform that uses an electronic “punchcard” system that is easy-to-implement and simple to use for shoppers and merchants alike. Merchants get real-time data about their customers’ buying habits, as well as social and other demographic information that allows them to provide their loyal customers with targeted offers and rewards. Punchcard is run by Gigway, Inc., an Idealab company, headquartered in Pasadena and was founded by Andy Steuer in 2011. For more information, please visit www.punchcard.com, and connect with Punchcard on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
About KDA
Founded in 1964, KDA Group Inc. (www.kda.com) specializes in local marketing and offers a full suite of on- and offline marketing solutions to drive local leads for businesses of all sizes. From print and Internet Yellow Pages and local listing management to paid search, display advertising, mobile marketing and social media monitoring, KDA provides an integrated media mix customized to each client’s needs. The agency’s philosophy is to democratize media and offer a solution that gives every small to medium size business the same access, transparency and control that larger corporate clients enjoy. KDA employs 116 professionals in five offices serving more than 270 national clients including many of America’s most respected brands.
About xAd
Established in 2009, xAd is one of the largest mobile-local advertising networks in the U.S. and the only one offering both targeted search and display. Across our network, we aggregate and manage over a billion location-specific ad requests per month, billions of business listings, and over one million national and local advertisers.
Our proprietary technology and quality-score algorithm, delivers local and contextual relevance for better advertising performance: monetized calls, clicks and visits generated from ads across the mobile Web, owned and operated local apps, publisher partners, and mapping and navigation systems. That comprehensive ad inventory facilitates higher conversions for advertisers, who can reach a vast mobile audience with a single touch point, while publishers can experience high eCPM and also access a large, accurate database in one location.
Based in New York, xAd has research and development facilities in Sunnyvale, California, and Gurgaon, India and several satellite offices across the U.S. For more information, visit xAd.com.
