Financial Marketing and Cross Selling Blog
Generating referrals from your banks website -
In a recent ABA Bank Marketing magazine article, Little Changes -Big difference, it was noted that “nearly 95% of visitors to a bank home page visit to login”. This is a staggering figure, especially when you consider all the other areas of your site and the importance they hold in building relationships.
If this is where your customers are going, then this is where you need to be talking with them about all the other great services you have that can help solve their problems. But you can’t look at online advertising the same way you look at print, radio or TV advertising.
In our recent post on bank marketing we highlighted a report by Forrester that showed 32% of customers don’t mind targeted ads in their bill statements but only 8% said they didn’t mind these same ads on the web. This clearly shows consumers view information they receive online differently from the information they receive in the mail.
So what should you be talking about with your customers online and how should your messages look? It should appear natural and not too flashy. Anything with bells and whistles will turn your customer off. Unlike with print ads where if the design doesn’t catch the eye within the first couple of seconds its next location is the waste basket.
In this same October issue of the ABA magazine another article, Build the Online Brand, highlighted some of the keys to redesigning your bank website. One that resonated with me was “Speak in your customers language – not banker jargon”. When talking with customers in online banking, make sure the content speaks to their problems in a way that makes sense. If something triggers with a customer that relates to a current and upcoming life event, they’ll be more likely to click then if it’s something mundane like CD rates or latest savings account perks. And make sure you steer them to content that fits this same ingredient of “easy to read”.
In our up coming webinar, “Using Education-based Marketing To Generate Referrals From Your Website”, we will be discussing techniques you can use to build stronger relationships with your online users. And most importantly, we’ll talk about how you can bring them back to your branches to meet with your professionals.
Bank marketing gets a boost from recent Forrester Research report
In a recent MarketingWeek article, they highlight findings from a Forrester Research report that shows citizens from the U.S., U.K., France, Germany and Italy are alright with receiving targeted advertisements in their banking statements they receive in the mail.
What was shocking to me was the finding that showed the percentage of consumers who still get and also read their mailed statements. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve checked the “eco-friendly” button for my statements. In fact, 70% of my demographic (25-34 yr olds) read their bank statements on paper. Who are these people?
However, one finding I hadn’t thought much about but when I do it does make sense is people are more willing to read targeted advertisements in paper form then online – 32% prefer statement ads while 19% said email and 8% said web. Direct mail was the worse with only 6% saying they don’t mind reading this approach.
The Internet is looked at as a free society and when ads disrupt this freedom it throws the viewer for a loop. Whereas the more traditional mailed materials are expected and not as intrusive.
Bank marketers need to make sure that these two forms of communication are different in nature. Online, the marketing must be more subtle and not as flashy. The more natural it looks the more likely you are to attract readers. Unlike print where it’s important to catch the eye with a bold design otherwise it will end up in the waste basket in lighting speed.
We like to tell our clients that the biggest advantage they have over competitors is the many touch points they have with their customers. This report helps to strengthen this fact and should present bankers with some new ideas for communicating with their clients.
Truebridge launches “Education First” Employee Recognition Program
We have added a new program to EducateFirst Content Marketing System called the “Education First” recognition program. The program works hand in hand with our in-branch training process, which teaches employees to use the educational materials (Quick Guides) to start dialogs and generate referrals.
Upon completion of either the online training modules or through a customized training webinar, employees will receive in the mail a certificate and cover letter signed by their manager that reinforces the importance of using education available in their online Financial Answer Center and downloadable Quick Guides as a dialog starter. Also included is a one page “cheat sheet” as a helpful reminder for how to use the marketing handouts and Quick Guides during a routine customer transaction.
If you would like to learn more about this program, please contact your account manager at 800-476-6118.
Five reasons why bank branches don’t deliver referrals
We all know it’s a problem and everyone has their own opinions on why we only see a trickle of referrals but how do we open the faucet? In today’s featured post we’re here to help uncover what’s really going on at the frontlines.
Back in April we conducted a survey that included over 160 sales reps and program managers from banks throughout the country. We pulled together some common factors that have been thrown around in the industry as barriers for branch referrals and asked them to rate each one on how big of a barrier they were. Here is what we found (in order from least to greatest barrier):
United Nations Federal Credit Union uses Truebridge to boost cross selling and referrals
U.N. Credit Union Cross-Sells for Fast Wealth-Unit Growth
Published: Tuesday, September 29, 2009
By – Matt Ackermann
A few months ago, Stephen J. Ryerson got an e-mail from a customer in Sarajevo looking for automobile insurance.
To most financial services companies this would seem odd, but when you work for a credit union that caters to employees of the United Nations and their immediate families, nothing is unusual.
“‘Flexible’ and ‘nimble’ are my middle initials these days,” said Ryerson, the president of United Nations Federal Credit Union’s wealth management arm, UNFCU Financial Advisors. “There is just nothing typical about what we do. We aren’t Bank of America or Merrill Lynch. We are meeting the needs of international customers our way.”
This mentality has helped beef up the credit union’s investment business, and it is a cross-selling example that even big companies could learn from.
A survey of 4,600 Americans by Forrester Research said that four in 10 are open to buying more products from a single financial services company but, because of “a nearly industrywide failure to cross-sell,” most do not.
On average, consumers own nearly nine financial products – but just 2.5 of them with any single company.
Ryerson would have loved even that kind of production when he was hired in 2003. “We had an investment program, but it was not progressing the way management hoped,” he said. “I came in, and the first order of business was to examine what we were doing and change everything.”
The $3 billion-asset credit union, which has about 85,000 members, had $25 million of assets under management in its financial advisory unit and generated less than $1 million in annual revenue, he said.
Thanks to a new brokerage partnership with Raymond James Financial Services and a marketing initiative with Truebridge Financial Marketing of Boston aimed at cross-selling, UNFCU increased its assets under management nearly sevenfold in the past five years, to $170 million, and added offices in Vienna and Geneva, Ryerson said.
“I think we have made progress, but really we have barely scratched the surface,” he said. “Currently, we are only penetrating 2% of our customers. A successful program has to be double-digits. If we can get to even like 6% or 7%, you are talking about more than $500 million in assets within five years.”
UNFCU began working with Truebridge in June 2004 to educate the credit union’s platform representatives about the products the wealth unit offers. Ryerson said Truebridge has helped increase cross-selling significantly through both of the credit union’s branches in New York – one in the U.N. headquarters and another at a U.N. facility across the street.
Truebridge has increased the number of leads UNFCU has received from platform reps by 10% to 15% annually, Ryerson said. “This service really pays for itself,” he said. “The cost of this service is pretty modest, and the return has just been exceptional.”
The marketing firm offers materials to educate customers. Stewart Rose, the president of Truebridge, said it is offering its services through 24 banks and credit unions and has five or six more in the pipeline. Its service is offered on a subscription basis, he said.
Other credit unions and banks, including Sovereign Bancorp, are also using the service to increase referrals. Rose said Sovereign has increased referrals to its retail investment unit by 15% or more for three years straight since beginning to use Truebridge.
“If you look at cross-selling, it is really top of mind right now for bank executives,” he said. “It is one of the top objectives for banks and credit unions. We want to help them develop revenue by helping them generate referrals.”
Educating customers is vital to improving cross-selling, outsiders say.
“Product executives must understand that, to effectively cross-sell, their firm must be considered an advocate, have a strong relationship pricing strategy and develop an outreach program that lets potential one-stop shoppers understand the benefits of having a broader relationship with their firm in terms they care about,” said Brad Strothkamp, a Forrester analyst.
In addition to traditional investment products, such as mutual funds, stocks, bonds, and annuities, UNFCU has added home and automobile insurance in the past year to help customers like the one in Sarajevo. Ryerson said the unit is also beginning to market through embassies. “Because we are already serving the U.N., we can provide a lot of services to these folks as well,” he said. “This is a natural market for us.”
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