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Customer Loyalty App Feature

Refund Advantage™

Overview
App Benefits
How it Works

A Revolutionary New Refund Tool You Can Bank On

Retailers can now leverage returns for an improved bottom line, and a more rewarding customer return experience.

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Overview
App Benefits
How it Works

Leverages customer returns into increased sales and customer loyalty.

Refund Advantage™, is a new feature of the CLA customer loyalty program that leverages customer returns into increased sales and customer loyalty. Simply put, it is a tool that converts cash and credit card refunds into instantly redeemable store credits, then banks and manages those credits in the merchant’s CLA loyalty account. Refund Advantage™ is bundled with a paid subscription to the Customer Loyalty Accelerator (CLA) program.

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Technological Edge Sets the Stage.

Refund Advantage™, is a major advancement in the processing and management of store credit refunds and sets the retailer stage with a technological edge. It empowers merchants to not only capture refunds as instantly redeemable store credits, but also to bank and manage the store credits in the CLA customer loyalty app.

The result for merchants is the technical capability to reduce the return rate and improve the bottom line, key goals of retailers everywhere. The result for customers is delight over customer return experiences that are fast, efficient, rewarding, and loyalty-building.  

Convert. Bank. Manage.

To use the Refund Advantage™ tool, it’s as simple as “convert, bank, manage” via the admin panel of the retailer’s CLA Customer Loyalty account.

Convert the refund to store credits.

Bank the store credits in the merchant’s customer loyalty account.

Manage the store credits via the loyalty app indefinitely.

Set Up Fast.

While store credit systems typically take some time to set up, the Refund Advantage© set-up time is relatively fast. Merchants first sign up for a paid subscription to the CLA customer loyalty program, then enroll customers, one at a time, into the same program, for no extra cost. Each customer will be assigned their own account within the merchant’s loyalty program where store credits will be banked and stored. The Refund Advantage™ tool is simple to install, easy to use.

Energize with Incentives.

Refund Advantage™ is the first tool of its kind, designed to incentivize customers to say “YES!” to store credits, and streamline and automate the process of issuing and managing store credits. Retailers can sweeten their Refund Advantage™ store credit refund packages by adding free return shipping, bonus loyalty rewards, or free merchandise, for example, to further incentivize customers to accept a store credit refund.

As the retail industry strategizes ways to increase 2023 sales and reduce the 2022 reported average 16.5% return rate per National Retail Federation, retailers are looking for creative solutions to cut expenses. One solution is CLA’s new Refund Advantage™ which gives merchants the technical capability to turn around losses by leveraging returns into store credits to reduce the return rate. Another option is to eliminate free return shipping; More than half of all retailers have already dropped free return shipping. Other retailers have tried to recoup lost revenues by reducing return windows from 45 days to 30 days, for example.

These cost-cutting measures open the doors for savvy retailers who can now use these same incentives plus loyalty rewards to inspire return customers to accept or request Refund Advantage™ store credit refunds.

“Retailers view the return process as an opportunity to further engage with customers, as it provides additional points of contact for retailers to enhance the overall consumer experience.”

 Mark Mathews, NRF Vice President of Research Development and Industry Analysis

Refund Advantage™ = Store Credits and Much More

One of the best ways that will lead to long-term revenue and customer retention is to reduce the return rate via a store credit refund, according to Shopify and several industry leaders. For savvy retailers, a store credit refund represents a powerful customer service tool and is a vital component of a retailer’s marketing strategy. It’s common knowledge within the retail industry that a store credit refund is preferred over cash refunds for most retailers. Refund Advantage™ = store credits and so much more. Plus, Refund Advantage™ puts the merchant back in control of the customer’s future spending. 1. Cash - No control of future spending 2. Credit Card - No control of future spending 3. Merchant Card - Open to fraud/lost cards, not tied to any incentives 4. Refund Advantage™ - Heavy influence of future spending

Results Delivered.

The result for merchants is the technical capability to reduce the return rate and improve the bottom line, key goals of retailers everywhere. The result for customers is delight over customer return experiences that are fast, efficient, rewarding, and loyalty-building.

 

Refund Advantage™ Availability

Refund Advantage™ is bundled with the CLA Customer Loyalty Program and is available for subscription at Clover and Shopify.

Once subscribed, merchants then enroll their customers in the customer loyalty program to activate their individual free sub accounts that will house the store credit refunds.

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Motivate Customers

MOTIVATE your customers to spend larger amounts in your store and more often by rewarding them instantly with “CLA Instant Rewards©," instantly-redeemable store credits that they can spend right away. Learn more> >

Optimize Inventory

OPTIMIZE your inventory with Inventory Advantage© to maximize your inventory ROI.  Inventory Advantage© is a groundbreaking tool for the loyalty industry, the first of its kind available only here. Learn more>>

Promote Specials

PROMOTE with Inventory Advantage’s “promote inventory” feature by assigning greater rewards to seasonal merchandise or overstocked inventory to drive store traffic and move product fast. Learn more>>

Maximize ROI

MAXIMIZE Inventory ROI with Inventory Advantage’s “exclude inventory” feature to exclude certain inventory items from participation in your rewards program. This works well for low profit margin or limited supply inventory. Learn more>>

Target Market

Export your CLA customer data to an optional email marketing platform such as Mailchimp to identify your target audiences, then MARKET to them via email marketing campaigns. Learn more>>  

Accelerate Loyalty

Roll with the CLA app to ACCELERATE your customers' loyalty and repeat business at your store. The CLA App is also called the Customer Loyalty Accelerator.  

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Overview
App Benefits
How it Works

The CLA app in three steps

How it works

Immediate Rewards

Your customers receive an immediate in store credit for enrolling in your CLA program and providing accurate digital contact information.

Instant Store Credits

Once the customer is enrolled, they can instantly apply their reward towards purchases at your store, plus earn additional rewards with more spending.

Increased Spending

Customers are motivated to spend more by easy-to-understand, instant store credits – that don’t require complicated point accumulation programs. And rewards can be reloaded based on spending levels set by the merchant.