Another, much-needed, option for earning points
The UK doesn’t have enough options for earning points. Go back a few years, and it was really only American Express. That changed when Barclays launched their Avios products, Capital On Tap started, and now there’s Yonder.
What is Yonder?
They’re a London-based Fintech that is focused on rewards and points. Not specifically for airlines, but certainly with a focus on them. What’s great is that they have both debt and credit card products, and there’s a free version of each.
I always find it interesting to go behind the scenes with some of the companies that are helping shape the loyalty space, and their CEO, Tim, agreed to answer some of my questions.
If you want to read more on Yonder, visit their website.
Al: What can you tell us about the Yonder story so far: where did the idea come from, and how has it been since the launch?
Tim: My co-founders, Harry, Theso and I came up with the idea of Yonder when we worked together at Clearscore. We had front-row seats to the consumer credit industry and could see where cards were failing customers. It felt like it was a pain to redeem rewards, and they sometimes felt irrelevant to people’s lifestyles, or they came with a lot of caveats.
So we decided to launch something different. The aim was a card that changes what it means to get rewarded. We launched publicly in 2022, and it’s been a wild ride so far. In just 4 years, our members have grown from a handful of friends and family to a base that’s spent more than £750m ($1bn) with us.
We initially launched with dining rewards, but we’ve grown our experience partners massively since then. We now work with hundreds of dining, online shopping, wellness, entertainment and travel partners, and we’re growing our network constantly.
The act of redeeming points itself is a big part of the magic of Yonder – you just pay with your card at a partner and then choose to earn or redeem points with a swipe in the app. It’s a delightfully smooth and satisfying process that takes the pain out of
spending points – no QR or activation codes in sight.
Al: Yonder allows you to swap points into Asia Miles. What are your plans on adding more airlines into the mix – and is Avios on your radar?
Tim: Cathay Pacific is our first airline points-conversion partner, which is super exciting. Members can already put their points towards flights with any airline at any time, as we want flexibility to be a priority for our rewards. So it felt like a natural next step to add more options to the mix with a points-transfer partnership.
This is hopefully the first of many, and we’d love to keep growing this area of the business. We know how important travel perks are for so many rewards card users, and customers who love points often use more than one card and service. We want
Yonder to be able to complement members’ travel plans and other spending habits, whether or not it’s someone’s primary card.
Al: Can you tell us a bit more about how you build relationships with airlines? How open is that door, and what does the process typically look like?
Tim: The process itself varies a lot. One airline approached us themselves as one of their marketing team was a member, so they knew the value we can offer, and others we’ve approached ourselves.
We build specific partnerships with airlines that feel like a good fit for our demographic of customers – airlines that are more of a ‘challenger’ in the UK market. The partners we work with also see an opportunity to be able to stand out on Yonder and access a travel-savvy audience.
Al: How important are the travel rewards to Yonder customers right now, and into the future? Given you also offer rewards across other verticals, where does travel sit in the priority list?
Tim: Travel is right up there for us – it’s the reward category our members spend the most on.
We’ve ultimately built an end-to-end solution for travellers. From the moment you’ve decided where to go on your trip, you’re earning (or redeeming) points on your flight and hotel. You can sort an eSIM for 120+ countries before you jet off, without leaving
the app. For some extra luxury at the airport, members can use their points in return for some 5 star treatment at No.1 Lounges or with Lounge Pass. Then when you land, you’re covered by worldwide travel insurance (if you’re on the full membership). And we don’t charge you FX fees.
We like to tell members how much they’ve saved on those at the end of the trip, as we think it’s a nice touch.
We’ve also launched city guides in the app, giving members inspo for their trips to some of the world’s most popular cities. And to top it off, Yonder cards are accepted pretty much everywhere as we’re a Mastercard, so that’s one less thing for members to have to consider whether they’re at home or abroad.
Al: You no doubt have access to a lot of data around spending patterns and how – what’s something interesting that you saw in that around consumer behaviour that you didn’t expect?
Tim: A couple of areas spring to mind. One is about how our members have been using their rewards. Traditional orthodoxy suggests that people want to save up their rewards for one big moment, but what we see is that our members use their reward points much more frequently – 10-12x a year, which is a very different behaviour from the expected norm.
Another is that we see our credit customers paying their bills far more frequently. Our members can choose to pay off their bill automatically weekly, fortnightly or monthly if they want, and we see different behaviour to the typical wait for your monthly statement; our customers like the idea of not accumulating up spend on their credit line so they pay far more frequently – some even pay off one transaction off a time!
Al: You, uniquely, offer both a debit and a credit card. Which one is the most popular right now?
Tim: We only launched our debit card a few months ago, and incredibly, our member base is now almost a 50:50 split. Launching our debit card was a game-changer as it opened up Yonder to a whole new market that wants to earn points for their spending,
but doesn’t need or want a credit card.
They might already have one they’re happy with, or they might just prefer not to borrow. Our debit card has shown people how
rewarding your spending can be, whether or not you want to commit to credit.
But on the credit side of things, we’re really proud of our retention levels there too; our churn rate is low and we have a huge group of longstanding customers, which tells us that we’re doing something right. It doesn’t matter how good you think your
product is – if your customers aren’t sticking around, then it’s not working.
Al: You started in London but have expanded beyond that. What’s your city roadmap been like?
Tim: We launched back in 2022 as a card for Londoners, but we expanded into other cities a couple of years ago and now offer local dining and drinking rewards in Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol & Bath, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Glasgow, as well as
London.
Our members in these cities love the aspect of real-life discovery Yonder offers; they rely on us for recommendations on the places to book their next date night or dinner with friends. And for those people who live elsewhere, we have plenty of online shopping and travel rewards to choose from.
We’re launching Yonder in Amsterdam this spring, which is a really exciting first step for us into mainland Europe.
Al: Who are your competitors, and what’s your pitch to a potential user on why they should use Yonder?
Tim: Amex and Revolut are doing similar things in market, but our rewards offering means it can be a challenge to compare us directly. Essentially, Yonder’s built for people who love to travel, have new experiences, and discover new products and brands.
Think of Yonder as if Amex, Monzo and TimeOut had a baby. Instead of hoarding points for boring rewards or a flight upgrade you might never use, Yonder gives you points you can actually spend regularly; whether you’re meeting friends for dinner,
catching a theatre show, planning a holiday or just grabbing a coffee on your commute. Yonder helps you discover new brands and experiences you’ll love, travel without the stress, plus it gets accepted everywhere – and it’s all wrapped up in a world-class app.
Al: What’s the future hold for Yonder? What new features, or types of features, will you be launching soon?
Tim: We’ve got a long list of these! More than 30% of our members’ overall spend is travel-related, and people see us as a trusted source of inspiration, so agentic travel planning is a priority for us. We want to play a bigger role in helping you feel like a local whenever you travel.
We’re working on some exciting features that will allow our members to earn points for some of their bigger regular payments that they’ve missed on earning rewards on up to now – watch this space for more news on that.
We’re also planning new membership tiers to give members more flexibility, as well as looking at how we can serve SMB businesses.
Al: Tell us a little about your Yonder team and teammates. What are they like, what are they passionate about, and what do you enjoy about working with them?
Tim: We’ve built a remarkable team who’ve brought expertise from brands including Monzo, Amex and Wise. They’re all incredibly talented and a testament to the product the Yonder is today.
In less than 18 months, the founding team built an entire credit card from scratch, which secured FCA authorisation in less than 10 months. Since then, we’ve grown to a 60-strong team to keep delivering for our members, and every week, I’m amazed by the speed at which we move and ship new features.
In my opinion, the right team is the biggest investment you can make when you build a business. It’s an absolute pleasure getting to work with them all every day
Al: Finally, you’ve been raising money successfully over the last few years, where will Yonder be in five years time, geographically, commercially and product.
Tim: I’d love to see us scaled across all of Europe, reaching millions of members in a unique way. We’re not about just getting lots of members – we want our members to be highly engaged with Yonder, to be discovering new things and going on great adventures with friends and loved ones. And in five years’ time, we want Yonder to be looking at hundreds of millions in revenue.
Big thanks to Tim for giving us his time to talk about his product, team and where his business is headed.
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