In news announced today, Groupon, Jet.com and Hotels.com are supporting mobile coupon application Ibotta’s shift into in-application rewards, urging more users to start spending on mobile after consumers have become more comfortable with the experience.

Users shopping on apps for retailers such as Groupon, Jet.com and Hotels.com will now be able to earn cash back within the Ibotta platform. Mobile purchases are beginning to gain speed following slow growth over the past few years, and Ibotta will likely drive sales on the mobile space by offering these incentives.

“Ibotta is giving consumers the reason to download the featured app and then specifically go all the way through he process of buying something so in order to earn their percentage cash back they have to actually buy something in that app,” said Bryan Leach, CEO of Ibotta. “Other platforms may introduce you to an app to download it but you don’t have a reason to transact.

“Ibotta gives you a cash back reward for transacting so naturally the rate of conversion from the deep link to a purchase is very high,” he said. “Actually over 20 percent, which is higher than you see through Facebook or anywhere else.

“And they have the ability to recommunicate with that consumer, so unlike an add Ibotta can reach back out to you to make sure that you checkout the most current deals. They have become a megaphone for their recent partners to make sure they are getting their message across to Ibotta’s user base. And that results in people deciding which app to use and purchase to make.”

Mobile purchasing rise
Ibotta users are being encouraged to spend with retailer partners on their mobile apps. Groupon, Jet.com and Hotels.com are a few of the apps to jump on board with its launch.

Users can browse mobile deals within the Ibotta app, which includes a deep link to each retailer’s app. Once a user finds a retailer of interest, he or she can click on its name to be directed to the app if it is currently installed on the mobile device.

If a retailer’s app is not downloaded, Ibotta’s platform will direct the user to an app marketplace where it can be downloaded.

Ibotta importance
Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores similarly leveraged Ibotta’s customer relationship management platform and segmentation capabilities to serve cash-back rebates and personalized content based on previous purchase behavior (see more).

Anheuser-Busch also targeted millennial consumers by partnering with Ibotta to offer users aged 21 or over special offers for purchasing beer at convenience, liquor and grocery stores, as well as select bars and restaurants (see more).

“The user goes into Ibotta, finds a featured mobile app, unlocks a cash-back offer, for example, 15 percent cash-back on in-app purchases, presses the button and is immediately taken by a deep-link into the featured app, completes the transaction and instantly gets a notification from Ibotta that the rebate has been added to their Ibotta account,” Mr. Leach said. “They can then take that cash right out on Venmo or PayPal or buy a gift card on Ibotta.

“If they don’t already have the featured app on their phone, Ibotta takes them directly to the app store or Google Play market and they are persistently deep-linked straight into the main page of the destination app,” he said. “So it is a seamless app-to-app handoff between Ibotta and the featured app.

“It is a very high quality experience because it is not a mobile Web site, so the featured app will allow them to save their payment credentials and allows them to have a more delightful experience when they shop. They can go back to Ibotta as many times as they want when they use the featured app and always earn cash back on their purchases.”