• by Ray Schultz , August 1, 2018

PayForward, a three-year-old startup, has a more complex email program than most firms.

It sends messages not to its own clients but to employees of companies it serves, offering cash-back discounts from retail partners.

Employers offer the PayForward program as a benefit. But it takes more marketing skill than you might imagine.

It begins with an app. Employees join the cash-back program on an invite basis only. Except for the invitation which sometimes is handled by the companies themselves, the emails start when — and only when — people log onto the app. PayForward receives email lists from the employers.  

But there were issues. One was that PayForward was sending promotional emails through its prior ESP, and transactional emails from an internal database. It wanted to combine those functions in one platform, and also get access to analytics to determine who opened and clicked. 

Jacqueline Collard, vice president of marketing at PayForward, had worked with Yes Lifecycle Marketing at her previous job at Sports Chalet. So she called the firm in, and they started working together in January of this year— “technically a repeat customer,” laughs Sabrina Kolling, senior account manager at Yes Lifecycle Marketing.

It took four to six weeks to set things up, and then they were off and running.

People who sign up for the app receive a transactional welcome message, and they then go into the marketing channel, where “they receive a weekly email — let’s say Subway is offering $5 cash-back,” Kolling says.

The company sends roughly 25,000 emails a month — not a vast amount, but it will probably double within the next six months. Using Yes Lifecycle Marketing's  Template Builder, the PayForward can drag and drop to create the email — they don’t have to know Java Script.

In some instances, retailers provide cash-back incentives, in others employers provide benefits. Cash is usually deposited into the person’s bank account — “end users don’t have to even think about it,” Kolling says.   

“The app is complex and they are growing that app to be very robust for the end user,” she adds.

The result? Collard says that the partnership with Yes Lifecycle Marketing  “has enabled us to create more personal, dynamic, engaging, and creative emails.”

Companies that offer the largest incentives are achieving a sign up rate of 85% with two email touches.  The first email generates a sign-up rate of 65%, and a 100% click-through rate. Marketing open rates are close to 25%.

PayForward is also looking at more granular targeting — it can segment campaigns based on what its partners are offering. For example, if Sephora is offering an incentive, it might target women only.  

What’s next? The Valencia, California-based PayForward is looking at achieving more of a national presence.