Basket is a UK-based B2C platform enabling users to earn and spend rewards through in-app wallets, loyalty programs, and referral campaigns. As Basket prepared for international expansion, the leadership team realized their existing verification setup was slowing them down.

They needed a solution that could prevent fraud, simplify operations for a small team, and deliver sustainable unit economics at scale. Prelude became that solution.

The Challenge: Growth with a Lean Team

“A big focus for us this year is getting international with a very small team. We wanted something we could plug in and almost forget about. With our previous setup, adding a new country meant a week of engineering work. That’s just not scalable.” — William Neill, Co-Founder

Basket’s verification also wasn’t fully embedded into onboarding, leaving gaps for fraud and adding complexity to compliance.

Fighting Fraud, Protecting Growth

Fraud was a real problem: bots exploited referral campaigns to grab credit, sometimes earning the equivalent of £50–100 before being caught.

“It messed with our analytics, put load on our team, and undermined trust. Requiring verification means less work for us and much cleaner data. Yes, it adds friction, but the business benefit outweighs it completely.” — William Neill

By introducing mandatory phone and email verification now powered by Prelude — Basket:

• Cut bot-driven referral exploits.

• Cleaned up growth metrics, making analytics reliable.

• Gave marketing a verified audience, with email and phone numbers that don’t bounce.

• Built a foundation of trust ahead of launching a social layer in the app.

Seamless Integration & Savings

Prelude’s technical and economic model stood out:

• Integration in under an hour:
  “Our devs had it integrated in under an hour. They were surprised and happy.”

• 20–25% lower OTP costs:
  “In our modeling it worked out at 20 to 25% savings on every OTP. Globally, with regional pricing differences, the savings were even bigger.”

• Clarity in the business model:
  “It makes total sense. Prelude is innovating in this space, and it was refreshing to see costs separated clearly.”

Taking Work Off the Team’s Plate

For Basket, reliability is as valuable as savings:

“I haven’t checked the dashboard since we integrated — and that’s probably the best sign. If I don’t have to think about OTP as a problem, that’s fantastic.”

Prelude’s approach means:

• No manual auditing of bills.

• No constant monitoring of dashboards.

• No engineering backlog for each new market.

“The less stuff I have to think about at night, the better. If verification just works in the background, that’s worth paying for.” — William Neill

Results That Move the Needle

✅ 20–25% cost savings per OTP, more at global scale.
✅ Integration in under 1 hour, versus weeks of engineering work previously.
✅ Reduced fraud, protecting loyalty earnings and analytics accuracy.
✅ Verified user base, enabling marketing via SMS, email, and WhatsApp.
✅ “Forget about it” reliability, freeing leadership and engineers to focus on growth.

Looking Ahead

As Basket prepares to enter the U.S. market and roll out social features, verified profiles and trusted data are critical. Prelude provides the foundation.

“With Prelude, we’ve unlocked speed, savings, and trust. It’s seamless, and it just works. At scale, the economics are compelling, and we’d gladly pay for that confidence.” — William Neill