Sporting duo plan to add 500,000 more sports fans to rewards programmes.

Founders of Rewards4, the fast-growing sports technology company behind the innovative award-winning programmes that reward fans’ engagement, have today announced their ambition to recruit a further 500,000 members by 2019.  

Having founded Rewards4 in 2008 to provide sports fans with thousands of ways to be rewarded for their passion for sport, Tom Cowgill and Ian Lancaster are now expanding the platform into both rugby and football to drive exponential growth following success in racing, cricket and golf.

Ian Lancaster, director and co-founder of Rewards4, said: “Over the next five years, we will expand quickly into rugby union, rugby league and football.

“Our goal is to sign at least 50 clubs to our rugby, cricket and football programmes. By 2019, we are aiming to have another 500,000 sports fans collecting points using the platform.

“Ultimately, we’d like to be known for creating a rewards’ based platform which becomes the industry standard across sport, worldwide.”

The programmes work by connecting fans’ shopping and betting behaviour to their sporting passion.

Once their club has joined the relevant programme for free, fans can simply sign up as a member – also for free – and collect reward points as they spend with their favourite retailers and betting partners. 

These points can then be redeemed against the cost of the next purchase with their club be it a season ticket, an extra matchday ticket or even a club shirt. The points essentially pay for the sport they already love to attend, giving extra value to fans and resulting in better engagement. 

At the same time, it’s a win-win for the club as the points result in incremental spend with the club as well as at the venue.

The platform also provides clubs with a unique insight into where fans spend their money away from the sport, allowing those clubs to deliver better fan engagement through targeted rewards over each fan’s lifetime as well as giving clubs rich data to assist with commercial and sponsorship negotiations.

Rewards4 has recognised that today’s consumer-savvy sports fans want to feel rewarded for their loyalty to their club or sport by receiving rewards that are relevant and important to them as well as treats, perks and experiences that they’re excited about. 

Tom Cowgill, director and co-founder of Rewards4, commented: “All sports clubs and venues recognise that fan engagement must play a central role in their overall growth strategy, particularly as each fan touchpoint is an opportunity to collect valuable data that can drive further value to both clubs and sponsors. 

“Our simple and effective platform enables clubs to capitalise on rewarding fan loyalty through meaningful, relevant and exciting rewards.

“Following our successes in golf, racing and cricket, we are now ready to grow our portfolio of sports specific programmes, particularly in football and rugby.”

Rewards4 has developed a relationship with the UK’s largest cashback operator Quidco, and its 4,000+ retail partners. Quidco sources the best deals and points rates from their retailer base for the fans taking part in the Rewards4 programmes.

In 2016 alone, almost 100,000 Rewards4 members spent £16 million with the programme’s retail partners and £1.5 billion was staked by members with betting partners. The success of the Rewards4Racing programme resulted in an acclaimed silver award for Best Fan Engagement programme in the 2017 Sports Business

The success of the Rewards4Racing programme resulted in an acclaimed silver award for Best Fan Engagement programme in the 2017 Sports Business Awards .