How can Fintech and Crypto companies monetize their card programs?
How can Fintech and Crypto companies monetize their card programs?
- Striga
- 8 min read
Table of Contents
Fintechs, Neobanks and crypto companies are built around solving a user’s pain point —like opening an online bank account, managing finances, or trading digital currencies — and charging a transactional or monthly fee in exchange.
As these companies evolve, they start searching for more services to monetize. The objective isn’t just to generate more revenue, but to diversify its sources and capture new audiences.
Monetization starts with a clear payments flow
To discuss monetization strategies, it’s useful to go over the key players involved in the payments flow. That way, you can identify the different sources of expenses, and where the best opportunities for revenue growth are.
Key players in the payments flow:
- Cardholder: It’s the end user. They trigger the payments flow when they “swipe” the card to make a payment. To them, the central value of the card is the convenience of easy and cashless payments anywhere. They also appreciate the occasional rewards or cashback program.
- Merchant: They are the recipients of card payments. Any company that wants to receive payments from a cardholder needs a merchant account, which is set up with an acquirer in order to settle the funds.
- Acquirer: It’s a financial institution that enables payments for merchants. They provide the software and hardware to enable payments, either via a physical “Point-of-Service” (POS), or an online portal.
- Card Networks: They pass along information on transactions and help settle funds between the acquirer and the issuer. They also define the standards/protocols that all acquirers and issuers must follow, and determine the rules by which disputes between them are handled.
- Issuer: They receive the transaction’s information from the acquirer and reply by either approving or rejecting it. An approval requires verifying that a transaction is valid, the card belongs to the cardholder, and the account has enough funds or credit.
How to monetize a card program:
Fintech and Crypto platform with debit cards
Explore different plans for your users
Different users have different needs and budgets. By charging a single upfront fee, you alienate most of them. The solution is to offer subscription tiers with more and better services as you go up. This way, everyone buys the services they need or pay what they can, and you maximize revenue. A common practice is to break it down into the following:
- Free trial or free plan: For the casual users. They need basic features and don’t use the card that much, so charging money will make them back down. This plan usually allows for a limited number of cards, no customizations, and standard fees. These users can be made loyal over time so that they choose to try a paid package.
- Beginner plan: For those who want to test more features, but aren’t fully committed to the card yet. This plan usually comes with access to most features, an a minor discount for transactional fees.
- PRO Plan: For the power user. It gives full access to all features, a decent discount on transactional fees, full customization, and even “complementary” services like cashbacks and rewards.
That structure should usually be enough, but if your product allows it, and it makes business sense, you can even permit users to “build their own plan” and give them tailored pricing.
Tip: Don’t suddenly drop new packages on top of all your users. Instead, do some A/B testing. Pick a sample of users, release the card packages to them, and see how they react. Optimize from what you learned, and scale it.
Apply fees for ordering cards
A way to start a card program with positive cash flows is by applying small fees on the delivery and replacement of a card.
As an example, a fintech built on top of Striga will have to pay 4.5 EUR per card. If it charges 7 EUR to users, that means a 2.5 EUR margin. It is not much on an individual level, but it adds up, and can be reinvested into loyalty programs. Card deliveries in Europe usually cost between 6 and 8 euros, so there’s space to profit while remaining competitive.
Tip: A physical card is a great way to create loyalty and a barrier to exit. It’s okay to profit from it in the short run, but not at the expense of the future. Don’t make acquiring a card too hard or expensive, or you’ll decrease your customer lifetime value
Launch your card's rewards program
Rewards programs may seem counter-intuitive when thinking about monetization. After all, how can giving money away make you money? Well, it can if you frame it correctly. By creating “gamified” rewards, users will engage much more, hence spend more via your app, and make up for the “gift” you gave them —and then some.
Example – a points system that lets user redeem their points for cash within your app:
- “6x” points on select subscriptions such as Netflix, Hulu and Spotify
- “4x” points on select food delivery & rideshares such as Uber, Lyft, MTA, Bolt, Bolt Food, Uber Eats, and Doordash
- “2x” points on everything else
You can even partner with said companies —they acquire more clients via your platform— to get a discount yourself and pass it on, instead of losing margin.
The result is that your users start spending more and more of their conventional expenses via your platform, thus, increasing your volume.
Rewards programs may come in many shapes, it really depends on your users’ profiles and your business model. As long as its an engaging experience, it will yield results.
Launch referral programs to increase your user base and revenue
Most Fintech and crypto platforms have referral programs. Using a personalized invitation, a member can invite friends or family members and get rewards in exchange. This way of getting customers is very efficient:
- You only pay after a user has been acquired, essentially guaranteeing a return on your investment
- Your users already fit the profile of people you want to look for, so it stands to reason that their friends may fit too. You leverage their networks.
- You don’t have to dedicate resources beyond designing the program and paying. Users do all of the heavy lifting for you
Tip: A referral program only works if your variable costs per user are lower than your revenue per user. If, on average, you lose money for every user, and its not due to fixed costs, getting more users will only increase your losses. First, figure out how to scale profitably. Consider invitation printing to make your referral invites more personalized and engaging.
Striga Crypto-banking as a service:
Your gateway to monetizing your cards program
Companies of all sizes can use the Striga banking platform to issue cards and explore new revenue streams. They can create and offer self-branded debit cards, as well as onboard users, hold crypto assets, and offer traditional financial services powered by crypto capabilities.
- User Onboarding: Striga helps with KYC and AML processes, so you can focus on growing your product.
- Issue cards: Create virtual cards instantly and issue self-branded physical cards
- Manage your operation: Control card expenses by imposing spending limits, detect risky transactions and block them, and develop advanced combinations of rules to create new use cases.
- Monetize your program: Users who hit a transaction threshold can get cashbacks, discounts or rewards.
Closing Thoughts
Fintech and crypto companies are winning over customers thanks to card programs.
Cardholders require rewards, but become loyal in exchange, and may even help you grow your business via referrals. Neobank cards, which can be both virtual and physical, offer the same flexibility and utility as traditional credit and debit cards, while providing a modern banking experience.
Striga Crypto-native Banking as a Service:
Your path to building and launching financial products
Join the financial businesses that use Striga’s cloud platform to delight their customers and launch their own products without the complexities that come when dealing with core banking solutions’ relationships, licensing, compliance and payments methods.
EN 
FR