Leveling Up Branded Apps With Payments

Over the past decade, brands ranging from sweetgreen and McDonalds to Nike and Ford have invested heavily in owned digital experiences by developing and launching branded apps. But most in-app interactions still represent a limited window of engagement. Users show up when they need something, then leave.

Take a sports team app, for example. Fans might download the app and open it on game day to check a player’s stats or the season’s schedule, and then they move on. User behavior is episodic.

Many brands try to solve this problem with an add-on rewards offering, but even these efforts still fall short of creating a habitual user experience. With a typical rewards layer, fans could earn points when they buy tickets or merchandise, which can then be redeemed for discounts on future purchases. The issue is these payments are made with third party, not co-branded, cards, so the team isn’t earning on interchange revenue, and the fan isn’t collecting rewards on the rest of their everyday spending.

Add in a payments component, though, and the app suddenly gains a lot more utility. For fans, this means a way to earn brand-specific perks, even on unrelated spending. For businesses, this means more revenue and higher retention.

Rain’s Branded Wallet-in-a-Box gives businesses everything they need to launch a robust payments program in the app their customers already use.

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Turn Intermittent Engagement into Everyday Utility

When a brand offers a co-branded card and integrates it inside its own app, they can start creating spend-driven loyalty. This isn’t a points program bolted onto the side, but a financial layer that strengthens the relationship between the brand and the user with every transaction, on or off the platform.

Instead of engaging only in limited moments, like game day, a payments layer incentivizes users to engage more often.

Here’s what businesses get with Rain’s Branded Wallet-in-a-Box:

• A white-labled wallet embedded into an existing app or experience
• Onramps that allow users to fund accounts with both crypto and fiat currencies, including through cards and ACH
• Stablecoin-backed balances with conversion handled behind the scenes
• Programmable rewards tied to user spend or other activities
• Merchant and brand-funded rewards and sponsorship opportunities
• Rain-issued cards that can be used anywhere Visa is accepted

The result is a branded payments and loyalty experience that works on-platform, and in the real world, wherever your users spend.

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Rewards With Real Attribution and ROI

Rewards are the layer that makes branded payments truly sticky. With Rain, rewards aren’t limited to purchases inside your own checkout flow.

With co-branded cards usable anywhere Visa is accepted, brands can utilize transaction data in real time. Rain helps you partner with third party businesses to create merchant-funded incentive programs, meaning users can earn where they’re already spending money — like their nearby grocery store, routine gas station, or favorite online retailer. Every redemption becomes an attributable event, and every campaign can be evaluated through transaction data, delivering measurable return on ad spend.

Why This Works

Most loyalty programs are add-ons that live outside the core product experience. Points are tracked in a separate system, rewards are redeemed somewhere else, and the loop between spending and value is weak.

Closed-loop payments, like the bank-like system Starbucks uses, solve part of that problem, but introduce a new one. If value can only be spent inside a single ecosystem, usage is capped by how often a customer shops there.

Rain’s approach is different: embed the wallet and rewards inside the app, then extend spending via co-branded cards that work anywhere Visa is accepted. Businesses get full visibility into spend behavior and can earn interchange on every transaction, not just purchases made in their own checkout flow.

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More Efficiencies for Businesses, Same Experience for Users

Rain’s stablecoin-native rails make card programs more accessible for brands who otherwise would be priced out by traditional issuing economics. We settle with Visa every single day — including weekends and holidays — dramatically reducing working capital and reserve requirements for businesses.  

Stablecoins make things cheaper and faster, but because Rain’s infrastructure keeps the complexity on the back end, partners and cardholders can reap the benefits without needing to touch crypto or change how they pay. Programs can be funded in fiat via wire, ACH, or SWIFT transfers, and for cardholders, swiping a Rain-issued card is the same familiar experience they know and expect.

Every Rain-issued card program includes required KYC and AML workflows. We cover onboarding, identity verification, ongoing monitoring, and country-specific requirements, so you can stay compliant without having to build your own risk and ops stack.

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The Next Era of Branded Platforms

A payments layer takes branded apps to the next level.

The ability to store value, spend anywhere, and earn brand-native rewards transforms occasionally visited platforms into something users embed into their daily lives. For businesses, payments mean better retention and new revenue streams.

Rain’s Branded Wallet-in-a-Box helps you launch this experience quickly, without compromising on compliance, card usability, or global scale.

If you’re a brand looking to turn intermittent engagement into a daily habit loop, let’s talk.