In my list of gift card predictions for 2024, one of the predictions was that ‘Raise would make some other notable change’. Here’s part of what I wrote:
In 2024 I’m predicting they’ll make another notable change. Perhaps they’ll close down the Raise (formerly Slide) or Raise (Marketplace) app, maybe they’ll go back to the Slide branding, maybe they’ll bring back shopping portal earnings when buying gift cards through their apps and/or sites or maybe they’ll start running regular promo codes. Who knows? Raise certainly doesn’t seem to, but hopefully we’ll know by the end of 2024 what additional spaghetti they’ve decided to throw against the wall.
Well, we’re not even a full month into the new year and spaghetti is already being tossed at a wall. An anonymous reader reached out to share some details about a survey they were sent by Raise. Seeing as Raise has more than one Raise making up the sum of its parts, this survey related to Raise as in the app formerly known as Slide.
I’m not sure exactly what each question entailed, but one of the questions was specifically this:
Would you be interested in paying a monthly subscription fee for in-app benefits like additional Raise Cash on every purchase?
It therefore looks like they’re floating the idea of a subscription model which I’m assuming would cost more than a penne per month and wouldn’t be a buca-teenie amount.
At first I thought it was a somewhat ridiculous idea, but then realized there could be some appeal to this for the right person depending on the pricing and benefits involved. For example, let’s say the subscription was $4.99 per month and this meant you earned 0.5% additional Raise Cash on your purchases (n.b. I doubt this is what they’d be planning – I’m just using this as an example). If you spent $1,000 per month on gift cards in the app, you’d break even. Anything above that and you’d be making a profit.
Here’s the thing though – the concept doesn’t make much sense to me as a result. I’m not sure how many Raise (formerly Slide) customers there are, but I can’t imagine it’s a massive user base. Of those, I’d assume only a small percent would be willing to pay a subscription fee as it likely wouldn’t make sense for the average person who’s buying a $25 gift card here and a $37.12 gift card there.
That means that the only people who’d opt in to a membership program like this would be those who’d done a cost/benefit analysis and so would know that they’d be earning more in Raise Cash due to all their bulk purchasing than they’d be paying out for the subscription fee. That means that despite having customers paying a subscription fee, Raise would actually be losing money on the deal versus the current setup. Sure, there’d be people who end up subscribing and pay the monthly fee without recouping their money, but I’d assume that would be a minority for a service like this.
One option would be for Raise to implement a cap on how much additional cashback subscribers could earn. Either way, I’d have to assume that overall they’d be paying out more than they’d be taking in due to them having savvy gift card buyers, so I’m struggling to see how the math would make sense. That’s not even accounting for the cost it would take for them to program this, implement it, processing fees for the monthly payment, etc.
Gnocchi on wood they don’t end up making some kind of changes along these lines that affect all users.
Am I crazy here? Have I pasta by any good reasons for Raise to want to do this? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Hasta la pasta, Raise!
BB started membership plan for basically being able to buy about 1/2 their gift card sales. However, that’s straight cash discount. Raise has raise cash which is ridiculous. This is a case where Raise thinks they have more pull than they actually do. Remember the idea floated of a Raise credit card?! Slow your roll, Raise.
I blasted them in my survey response… not sure it will do anything but still felt good to give them a piece of my mind. I use to spend $$$ per month with Slide but that’s gone to basically 0. They made some terrible business decisions with the move from Slide platform to “Raise” app.
This idea fusilli
Just bring back being able to purchase gift cards using vvgc’s!
Raise should of just stuck to their original plan. Shopping Portal users. I quit using Raise when they removed themselves from Shopping Portals. Topcashback Gift Cards usually has higher payouts anyway.
To be fair to Raise, they do still have occasional good deals, although virtually always from resellers, not on their new cards. But, in line with what others have said, I have gone from shopping on Raise several times a week to several times a year once they dropped portal cashback.