On behalf our clients in the financial sector I keep my eyes peeled for great banking email. However, this blog has a Category list called ‘Banking Email Marketing Examples’ and if you look in there, you’ll see that most everything in it is… ah… not good.
In a presentation I used to give about email marketing, one of the slides was headed up ’Don’t be a banker’. The theme was that it’s an easy win is to show your customers they are important by ensuring they are, in fact, important. Customer service is improving. Banking now get A+ for service, but telco’s still get an F… according to a recent study by Colmar Brunton. They say that in NZ banks now occupy 7 of the top 10 ‘best customer service experience’ spots. (Press Release here)
Still it’s really annoying when your bank issues e.g. a new low interest rate for new clients, and you’ve been banking with them since you were twelve and you get ‘jack squat’. See NBR noting this delay in pass along of the OCR cuts this month here. Telco’s tend to do the same in order to win your business off their competition, but not reward you for loyalty.
You’d think Telecom would know that you first connected your Motorola brick phone in 1995 and have stuck with them since. That’s loyal, man!
You’d think ASB bank would care that you took your piggy in to bank your pocket money when you were 5, and now have a $500k mortgage with them. Clearly ‘I LOVE YOU ASB’ – but do you love me?
Can you relate? How can email marketing help improve things? Cute little plays like Rabobank’s Valentine’s Day help, and we ‘ve been designing some fantastic and effective eDM work with a top-5 New Zealand bank from the over 55′s all the way to the Uni students.
Relevant messaging that simply makes an acknowledgement of my loyalty is a start. They are not actually a bank but I wish American Express told me more often that they know I’ve paid my card off month in, month out for the past 12 years. They say it on the card: ‘Member since 1999′ mine says, and I like it. So why not add that to my email in a personalised way? (They are doing a great job with their OPEN platform though!)
Some let you ‘in the know’ early with advance ticket purchases. Orange UK has the great ‘More from Orange’ program (link at bottom).
A recent study sheds some light on what is happening. A USA company called subscribermail surveyed 71 banks and 191 credit unions last year.
More From Orange is the much talked about Loyalty scheme from Orange UK, with half price movies on Wednesdays, and more – see that here.
An excellent post about Bank of America, their email marketing redesign process, and a highlight of their lack of pre-header text; click here.
Download the study that looked at surveyed 71 banks and 191 credit unions for free you can visit this page.
