Verifying eligibility for gated offers, with SheerID

30 January 2019 | 3785 Shares

SheerID’s Digital Verification Platform enables brands to deliver gated, exclusive offer programs–a new marketing approach that digitally verifies specific target segments like the military, students and first responders for exclusive promotions.

Compared to universal promotions, which are leading to consumer fatigue and disappointing conversion rates, gated offer programs help brands differentiate by precisely targeting high-value groups with discounts and promotions designed exclusively for them. According to SheerID’s 2018 Shopper Study, two-thirds of shoppers said gated offers are more valuable than traditional coupons that are available to everyone. Nearly half of shoppers sais gated offers would make them purchase sooner, and 82 percent said a gated offer would make them shop with a brand more often.

Hundreds of brands across retail, software, travel & /hospitality (with or without a subscription model) are investing in gated offer programs to acquire customers and build loyal relationships. However, no gated offer program is complete without digital verification to protect the exclusivity of the discount and streamline the customer experience.

Powered by the industry’s largest verified identity network, SheerID uses hundreds of authoritative data sources to verify credentials in real-time within an organization’s purchase process. This ensures a seamless customer experience that mitigates fraud, reduces churn and fuels loyalty to drive revenue growth. SheerID’s verified identity network now includes over 1.2 billion consumer attributes for verification across ten customer segments: military, first responders, teachers, college-bound students, college students, college graduates, seniors (over 50s), private-sector employees, federal employees, and businesses.

By ensuring only those eligible for a specific offer can redeem it, SheerID’s digital verification platform offers a simple and cost-effective approach to preventing discount abuse – which can reach as high as 35 percent – and protecting margins. SheerID creates a user-friendly redemption process that increases efficiency and improves customer satisfaction, leading to improved loyalty.

Customer Spotlight: YouTube

To capture the attention of a student segment, YouTube recently launched a gated, exclusive offer for all full-time students of an accredited college or university in the US.

Eligible students can now sign up for YouTube Music Premium for $4.99 per month, half off the usual price, and YouTube Premium for $6.99 per month, discounted from $11.99. The student plans include ad-free access to millions of songs, original series and movies, along with background listening and offline access.

The company made sure the verification process was easy and secure by implementing it with SheerID’s Digital Verification Platform. Students enter a few pieces of information, like name, university, and date of birth, and SheerID instantly verifies their eligibility for the offer using authoritative data sources.

Digital verification provides brands like YouTube with the data needed to establish a direct relationship with customers and nurture them with personalized campaigns.

Hundreds of the world’s biggest brands – including Spotify, Foot Locker, and Amazon – rely on SheerID as their trusted verification partner to acquire customers and build loyal relationships. By using digital verification to protect their gated offers, brands experience on average a 3x boost in their conversion rate, driving a 20:1 return on ad spend.

Founded in 2011, SheerID is backed by Voyager Capital and Centana Growth Partners.