Lost Opportunity
Why aren’t banks capitalizing on basic customer information?
April 2006 By Lois Geller
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We discovered that the more excitement we could work into the letter, the better, especially if we could get prospects to imagine what they could do with a line of credit.
Creative wasn’t the problem. It was the bank’s database. We could never get the information—information we knew it had, somewhere—about triggers that might boost response into the double digits.
I often wonder if the government has something to do with the reason big financial corporations don’t do this kind of thing better. Or perhaps, their head marketers expend all their energy and budget on acquisition efforts, reaching for the high-hanging fruit.
If I Owned ABC Bank of South Florida …
I’d consider writing to retired customers about preserving their wealth and growing their incomes; having many of their assets in one, organized bank; automatically rolling over CDs; and withdrawing retirement savings at special times to preserve interest rates. I’d communicate with families with children about such things as saving for college educations and paying for family vacations.
When we sit down with Mason & Geller clients, we consider:
4 Does the group have special psychographics and demographics we can define well enough to write a strong segment or unique creative brief?
4 Is the segment large enough to create a “relationship path” with loyalty rewards and still be profitable for the company (do the numbers)?
4 Can we measure performance at various touchpoints to figure out how they’re contributing and where the opportunities exist?
4 Are there enough people in the segment to incorporate several tests and our control?
4 How do we mine our database and then find more people like our high performers on outside lists?
How would this all work if my New York bank had followed up and sent me to a nearby branch in Florida? Well, I might have opened an account here. But the New York branch didn’t want to close out my account. It also had my IRA and a brokerage account, which apparently couldn’t be moved or used here. So I defected to another bank.
Now the new bank is blowing it. No one at the nearby branch can spare the time to show me how to do online banking. Dwain, our general manager, is showing me how to do it with his bank. So, I’ll move to his bank with a HELOC, charge cards, brokerage accounts and insurance—again.
My dream is that the bank would stop talking about how big it is, how smart it is, the location of its branches, and begin to talk to me—its most valuable asset, a good customer. It would act more like Peter Calia, a Miami mortgage broker. Peter managed to secure my mortgage while I was traveling and took care of all the paperwork over the phone. When I needed an income tax return, he volunteered to call my accountant and get it for me. Everything went flawlessly. I thought I’d heard the last from Peter, but then I received his terrific newsletter, along with a note asking for referrals.
I couldn’t think of anyone to refer at the time, but about six months ago, I needed a HELOC so I called Peter. He told me to come over to the branch and meet the manager. I did, and opened an account there, secured my loan and finally met Peter face-to-face.
I was recently named to my building’s house committee. We all need shutters now that we’ve been battered by several hurricanes. Many families need to borrow the money to fund this huge expense. I called Peter, who said he’d speak to our condo members and explain how we can do it.
If only my banks could relate to me this way. I sometimes call it “just in time marketing,” but it’s really all about caring for your customers. yy
Lois Geller is president of Mason & Geller Direct, a direct marketing agency in Hollywood, Fla. You can reach her at loisgeller@masongeller.com.
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