Posted by David Cohen on January 25th, 2012 4:48 PM
Will meals taste better when accompanied by a side of free Facebook Credits? Loyalty program Plink intends to find out, with the help of several national restaurant chains.Plink will announce a Facebook Credits-based loyalty program tomorrow, partnering with chains including Dunkin’ Donuts, Quiznos, Red Robin, and Taco Bell.
To earn Facebook Credits, users join Plink by logging on with their social network credentials and securely registering their credit or debit cards.
The more people purchase at participating restaurants and retailers, the more Facebook Credits earned.
Plink added that the process is simple at the point of purchase, as neither the customer nor the salesperson must perform any additional tasks.
The company said:
The program requires no point-of-sale integration; no paper coupons to be collected; no staff training; no interruption or slow-down to the normal customer transaction process; no tracking conducted by the restaurant or offline retailer; and no setup fees, print costs, or other merchandise to purchase. Restaurants and offline retailers simply pay Plink a percentage of the sales generated by Plink members.
And Co-Founder Peter Vogel added:Facebook Credits is the missing ingredient that’s been needed to connect social media to offline sales. Now, with the glue of Facebook Credits, our national restaurant and offline retailer partners have a way to tap into the nearly 800 million users on Facebook, motivate them to become loyal customers, and reward them.
Our take: Why not? With approximately two-thirds of Americans on Facebook, and many of them playing games or using other applications that accept Facebook Credits, it can’t hurt, especially when no additional steps are added to transactions.
