How we can build SME loyalty across Europe
October 7, 2024 | By Audrey Bui Khac
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) often face the challenge of choosing between personal or business banking services.
In a recent survey commissioned by Mastercard involving over 10,000 SMEs worldwide, 80% reported using personal banking products for their business transactions.
Why? Almost one third pointed to the superior rewards they receive. When selecting a debit or credit card, loyalty and rewards programs, cashback, and merchant offers were amongst the most appealing benefits.
Given SMEs make up 99% of all European enterprises, there is a significant opportunity for banks and financial institutions to maintain and even grow their SME market share, by offering benefits that provide both financial and strategic value for small business cardholders and that recognise the unique needs of SMEs as a business, rather than a regular customer.
For consumers, we know that rewarding them can create long-term, mutually beneficial relationships, but today's loyalty landscape requires delivering more than occasional incentives; consumers expect substantial value beyond an annual birthday treat.
The same applies to SMEs, where offering an enhanced customer experience is essential, and rewards need to be meaningful and relevant.
To help banks and financial institutions build loyalty and incentivise their SME customers, we recently launched Business Bonus Ultimate, a new loyalty program for SME business cardholders that will enable them to benefit from their daily business card payments.
Through Business Bonus Ultimate, banks and financial institutions looking to engage their SME customers can effortlessly deploy a comprehensive end-to-end loyalty program, backed by Mastercard’s decades of loyalty expertise.
Small businesses benefit from earning points on their day-to-day purchases, which can be exchanged for diverse rewards including cashback, pay-by-points, or exclusive offers from partner merchants.
This comprehensive solution effectively tackles the challenges faced by issuing banks in Europe in building relationships and enhancing SME loyalty, whilst also ensuring every spend by SMEs benefits them in return.
By offering personalized experiences, and fostering collaborative partnerships, we can work together with banks and financial institutions to build a loyalty strategy that offers truly relevant rewards to support SMEs across Europe.
Business Bonus Ultimate is just the beginning of this exciting journey, and we are committed to continuously enhancing our offerings to meet the evolving needs of our issuers and their SME customers.
