Author: Jim Bruene

Key Bank Gives Away iPod nanos for Free Checking Accounts

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Key Bank, Toronto Dominion Bank

From a customer's perspective, this is a hot offer. Open a Key Bank free checking account. Make two automated deposits of $100 or more and take home an Apple iPod nano worth $150. The only downside, the tax bill next April for the $150 in implied interest.

I can't vouch for the ROI of a giving a $150 premium for a free checking account, but Key Bank has run thousands of marketing campaigns, and I trust their spreadsheets say this will pencil out. And they are not the first to give it a try. Citibank aggressively handed out iPod Minis with new checking accounts several years ago. North of the border, TD Canada Trust is also using the must-have music player in its promotion running through 7 August, handing out an iPod shuffle for a new checking account, an iPod nano for new checking plus a credit card, or full 30 GB version for all of the above and $5,000 in savings (see landing page below).

I'm not crazy about the TD ad, but it's hard to miss with the huge FREE IPOD next to the in-your-face picture. However, Key seems to be missing the mark. The bank succeeds in taking one of the most-sought-after gadgets in the past 20 years and making in nearly invisible on the page, rendering the device in grayscale and using red text that blends into the other red accents of the homepage. Compare that to the graphic above from Apple's store. Why not show one of the brighter colors to grab attention? Or use an animation to show all the colors. Yes, I know the non-silver versions have twice the capacity (4 GB instead of 2 GB) and cost $50 extra at retail, but that could be handled with an optional upgrade option, either for a nominal fee, or with additional services ala TD Canada Trust. 

Key Bank homepage with iPod offer (July 23, 2007)

Key Bank iPod offer landing page (July 23, 2007)

TD Canada Trust homepage with iPod offer (July 24, 2007)

TD Canada Trust iPod offer landing page (July 24, 2007)

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Citibank Goes Mobile in National Print Advertising

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Citibank

link to Wired magazine Even though my wife tries to throw them out at least once per year, I still have every issue of Wired Magazine in a stack in my home office. It remains my favorite magazine, although I no longer devour every issue within the first 48 hours.

I still take notice when any financial services company advertises within its pages. There aren't usually many to choose from, mostly brokerages and mutual fund conglomerates. But one retail bank has consistently advertised in Wired: Citibank, who made the Wired 40  list of leading companies in 2005 and 2006, but not 2007 (see previous coverage here).

In the August issue of Wired (pp. 31-32, see inset), Citibank has a gorgeous two-page spread, featuring, drum roll please, MOBILE BANKING (see note 1). For nearly 10 years, the gold standard of online banking image advertising was the attractive 30-something guy/gal relaxing on the beach, supposedly doing their online banking from a chair (note 2).

It looks like the mobile phone is the new laptop, at least in Madison Avenue photo shoots, especially now that the iPhone is the sexiest new technology since the Palm Pilot. So expect to see plenty of advertising — print, Internet and television — showing happy 30-somethings taking care of their banking in a few seconds on their way to the beach/theatre/dinner. Sure, it's mostly fiction in 2007, but mobile will be the "sizzle" in bank advertising for years to come.

Here's the slightly truncated version of the Wired ad (sorry my scanner is only 8.5 x 14):

Citibank mobile ad in Wired Aug 2007 p. 31-32

Notes:
1. The add also appeared across pp. 3-4 in the July issue of Wired. 

2. I go to the beach every year, and I've never seen anyone with a laptop there. Even if you forget about the possible sand and water damage, there is no way you can see the screen through the glare, without risking permanent damage to your eyes. I have a $2,000+ Thinkpad tablet, and I can barely make out the screen in the shade on my deck.   

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Are New Online Personal Finance Sites Safe?

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Personal Financial Management, Security & Privacy

A commenter yesterday asked if anyone had heard of BudgetPulse, an online personal finance site that opened its public beta site two weeks ago.

Well, we hadn't heard of it, but in this increasingly crowded space, that's no surprise. We are now tracking more than 20 online personal finance sites (previous coverage here). With low-cost server space, easier programming tools, APIs, and cheap viral marketing through blogs and social networks, the barriers to entry are a fraction of what they were just a few years ago. A good programmer could put together a simple financial tracker in their spare time.

While this will spur creativity and innovation, ultimately benefiting end-users, there is a downside. Security and privacy.

As we looked at BudgetPulse, which at first glance looks like several other Web 2.0-inspired finance sites, we couldn't help but wonder who was behind the site. There are no names, personal or company. Even the who is info for the domain is masked (domain registered in April). The only email address is disguised in spam-defeating format: "info (at) budgetpulse.com". Right now, the public portion is a two-page website with a few popup forms. The FAQs are empty. The forum is coming soon. There is a blog, but it only has three short posts. And there are misspellings in the website and blog copy. The websites entire security discussion is a single sentence:

We protect your account and data with advanced security methods.

More than likely this is simply the work of one individual who concentrated on coding the functionality first, and whose day job prevents him/her from spellchecking their HTML. But what if it's a scam? Convince a few people to use it to track their finances, then hit them with requests for their credit card numbers "to enhance the experience" or to their checking account number for payments, e.g., "Join our beta test and earn $500/mo as you test it."  

I admit that could be far-fetched, and I have absolutely zero knowledge of that happening at BudgetPulse or any other site. But it does bring up the bigger issue of consumer trust at independent, non-regulated personal finance sites (i.e., non-financial institutions). Even the well-funded personal finance sites such as Wesabe and Mint must deal with the mistrust and skepticism consumers have for new companies wanting to get involved in their lives, especially their finances. 

The solution: Financial institutions, with their trusted brands, partnering with or acquiring online personal finance sites to bring new functions and features to their customers.       

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My BarCamp Bank Topic Wishlist

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: BarCamp Bank, Conference Calendar, Strategies

Tomorrow, the most unusual conference in the banking industry, BarCamp Bank kicks off at 9 AM in Seattle's Pioneer Square historical district. It costs approximately 1/50th of a normal conference ($35) and has no set speakers, agenda, or sales pitches. It's just an excuse for a bunch of creative types to get together and talk about the future of money and banking. I'm very much looking forward to it.

Thanks again to Jessie Robbins for organizing the event. If you can make it to Seattle tomorrow or Sunday, you can still sign up here.  

The first thing we'll do tomorrow is brainstorm topics for group discussion. Here's my short(ish) list: 

  • Outside the box: If you were to design a financial institution from scratch, disregarding all current regulatory constraints, what would it look like?  
  • Alt delivery: Is online account access already old-fashioned? Do customers really want to log in to their bank multiple times each week or is there an easier and less intrusive way to keep consumers abreast of their financial lives?
  • Social networks: Will social networks such as Facebook spawn their own virtual credit unions to serve the financial needs of members? Or will existing financial instructions step in to serve the need?
  • Mobile finance: Mobile banking and payments are on their second trip up the hype curve. Is it real this time? If so, will mobile services be extensions of existing solutions, replacements for them, or an entirely new type of service?  
  • Security: Financial security and privacy concerns remain top-of-mind with consumers. What role should financial institutions take in education, prevention, and resolution?
  • Opensource marketing: With 15,000 financial institutions in the United States alone and most of them setting up shop online, it's absurd to think that your customers aren't looking around for the best prices. Why not follow the Progressive Auto Insurance model and actually enable price searches from your site?

I'll do my best to let you know what we come up with.  

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Student Loan Marketplaces Profiled in Wall Street Journal

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Student Loans

It's alternative lending week at The Wall Street Journal. First on Wednesday, Jane Kim profiles person-to-person lenders Prosper and Lending Club (here). Supporting market forecasts came from our earlier work at Online Banking Report (see Online Banking Report #127, and note 1, 2). 

Today, Anne Marie Chaker looked at Web-based student loan marketplaces (here). Each market works differently, but the basic approach is to get detailed info from the prospective borrower, then provide the borrower with a variety of specific loan options from specific lenders. In the case of College Loan Market and Student Loan Scout, a full application, including credit check, is required. But that allows participating lenders to offer firm financing quotes, similar to LendingTree's approach in the broader loan market. Apparently, this student loan sector is seeing increased activity, and scrutiny, due to the recent conflict-of-interest scandals at a number of college financial aid departments. 

Here are the links to the student lending specialists named in the article:

Of the five, only eStudentLoan has an inviting appearance, with big orange "Web 2.0" students and parents buttons and the all-imporant name-dropping of its lenders along the bottom (see screenshot below).

Notes:

1. Our original forecast was published in OBR #127 in March 2006; the model was updated and the forecast increased by about 5% in November 2006. The updated numbers were cited in the Wall Street Journal article. We are increasingly bullish on the space and will publish updated forecasts this fall.

2. Also mentioned in the WSJ article: CircleLending, Loanio, and Zopa.

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Welcome William Azaroff, Vancity Social Media Guru, and NetBanker Guest Blogger

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Azaroff

Vancity blog Change Everything After three years of solo blogging (note 1), it's time that a new, and let's face it, younger and hipper voice, chimes in here from time to time (note 2). And we couldn't be happier that our first guest blogger is none other than William Azaroff, the man behind the curtain, at Vancity's celebrated Change Everything blog. 

William also directs numerous other marketing projects in his role as Interactive Marketing & Channel Director at Canada's Vancity, a financial institution that continues to inspire me each time I visit. Here's a few of the highlights from his impressive official bio lifted from his personal blog <azaroff.com/blog> :

William Azaroff is the Interactive Marketing & Channel Manager at Vancity where he develops interactive marketing initiatives, and pioneered ChangeEverything.ca, the groundbreaking change-themed online community. William also plans strategy for the online channel, with a view to its potential to help Vancity, its members and the community. William brings nine years of experience in Vancouver, Seattle and Los Angeles producing web projects for such clients as Honda, Disney, Intuit Canada and Nike Jordan.

His first post is here and you can always find his posts by clicking on "Azaroff" in our Topic list in the top navigation bar or by searching on "Azaroff" using the site search in the upper left.

Any other gurus are interested in guest blogging at Netbanker? Drop me an email.

Note:

1. We started blogging here in April 2004 (first post here). At that time, the blog was a password-protected resource for our Online Banking Report subscribers. We opened the doors to all earlier this year, and couldn't be happier with the results, 16,000 visitors per month, up from a few hundred a year ago.

2. We should add that the opinions expressed here are solely those of Mr. Azaroff and should not be considered the policy or opinions of Vancity or Netbanker (but we agree with him most of the time!).

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Everbank’s Latest Multi-Currency CD: World Energy Index

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Deposits, Checking, Savings, CDs, Direct Banking, Email Marketing, Email Samples, Everbank

Some companies are so innovative, you take them for granted. Five that come to mind, in no particular order:

  • Yodlee: account aggregation, credit card-based bill payment, mobile banking
  • Vancity (Canada): microcredit, green banking, blogging, community involvement
  • Wells Fargo: simple expense tracker, blogging, Second Life
  • PayPal: email-based payments, confirmation via twin deposits, integration into eBay (before it was part of eBay)
  • Prosper: Social lending, open API to most of its aggregated data, groups, auction style, Facebook app (game)

These companies are all relatively famous, but one that doesn't get nearly as much press, but has long pushed forward on a number of fronts is Everbank. From its website design (here), product marketing (here), to its foreign-currency certificates of deposit (here), the Jacksonville, FL-based bank continues to shine in an increasingly crowded online space (all previous coverage here). 

My inspiration for this post (see note) was the bank's marketing email today announcing its World Energy Index CD, a multi-currency certificate pegged to the currency of four western countries with better-than-average energy resources: Norway, Canada, UK, and Australia. I have no idea if this CD is a good investment, but I do know that Everbank has proven that even the narrowest niches can be profitable using the reach of the Internet.

Everbank Email

Header:
   Date/Time received: July 17, 4:07 PM (Pacific)
   From: Everbank News [service@everbank.com]
   To: James [jim@netbanker.com]
   Title: A new CD with a powerful combination – energy and currencies

Customer type: Current checking account customer

Personalization: First name in salutation

Landing page: none (homepage link only) 

Other offer: Third-party investment newsletter offer (link on right-hand side goes directly to newsletter publisher, Agora Financial Publications, landing page here)

Note: I have had an account for ten years at Everbank. Therefore, I see more of their marketing material and tend to write about them more frequently.

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The Aging of Facebook Makes it a More Appealing Platform for Financial-Services Firms

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Facebook, Metrics & Market Research, MySpace, Social Networks

Facebook traffic from comScoreDue to Facebook's roots as a college-only social networking site, as recently as last year you had to use a .edu email address to gain admittance, it has remained a young person's playground much longer than MySpace. However, much to the chagrin of my college-age niece and her friends (note 1), Facebook has aged rapidly this year.

As you can see in the inset, in May, comScore reported that more than half of Facebook visitors were 25 or older (see full press release here and note 2). Using this chart, we estimate the median age of a Facebook visitor was about 23 a year ago and now it's closing in on 30 (I'd guess 27 or 28 based on the comScore data). Even more frightening for the younger set: last month there were 2.6 million more unique visitors over age 35 than in the 18-24 category. We noted this trend at MySpace last year (here).

Significance for Banks
As you consider your social networking strategy, don't think it's only for the under-25 crowd. Some of your prime customers, the 30-somethings with new families, new cars, new homes, and accelerating careers, also keep in touch with friends via social networks. Refer to Online Banking Report, Social Personal Finance, for a long-term forecast and strategic options for financial institutions. Also, see our earlier post on the Top-10 Banking & Money apps on Facebook here.

Facebook Lingo Defined
For those of you new to Facebook, Ad Age ran a sidebar off its lead article this week, This 23-Year-Old has Google Sweating, explaining a few key Facebook terms:

  • Minifeed: Like an RSS feed, that automatically updates everyone on your friends list of any changes you make to your profile, including removing items. This feature caused a bit of a revolt, due to privacy issues, when introduced last year. But now it seems to be an important part of the network. It's especially critical for the viral spread of new applications such as Lending Club or Chipin. Unless they opt out, every time a Facebook user adds an application to their account, all their friends are notified in the mini-feed.
  • Poke: The virtual equivalent of smiling at a co-worker passing in the hallway; a way to connect with someone without the more formal protocols of email, text, or voice messaging.   
  • The Wall: A place to write comments on your friends profile, or respond to comments on yours.
  • Tag: Allows users to associate names with the people in the pictures they've posted. As Ad Age says, "a college grads worst nightmare when it comes to the ever-crucial job search."

Notes:

1. This summer, my niece, a college sophomore, couldn't believe that I had a Facebook account. And she was more than a bit skeptical of my claim that I was tracking the social network for my blog and newsletter. To her, it's a privileged place for her friends to communicate: uncles, aunts, and especially parents, are definitely not on the invitation list. It will be interesting to see what happens to the hip kids as the establishment invades their turf. The Wall Street Journal had a similar story this week about fellow workers and even bosses requesting to be added as friends in social networks (here).

2. comScore is reporting the demographic profile of visitors, NOT the active-user base, i.e., those that maintain profiles. Active users would undoubtedly skew younger.

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Top-10 Facebook Money & Banking Applications

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Facebook, Personal Financial Management, Social Networks

 

After six short weeks, there are 48 applications in Facebook's Money category. At Netbanker we are most interested in the 14 directly related to banking, payments, and lending. So here's the most-used list with the stock trackers, calculators, and shopper apps removed. Lending Club continues to lead the pack as it has since its May 24 launch in conjunction with the new Facebook platform. Applications are listed by number of Facebook users that have added them to their profiles.

Top 10

1. Lending Club by Lending Club >>> 11,012 users

Lending Club enables those in the Facebook community with good credit to easily borrow from each other with a trusted third party managing the process and assessing the risk. Previous coverage here.

2. Fantasy Banker by Prosper >>> 4,674 users

Prosper bills Fantasy Banker as a twist on HOT or NOT, "a fun & educational way to get acquainted with person-to-person lending by betting on whether real-life Prosper loan listings will fund or not." Previous coverage here.

3. My Bucks By Aryeh Goldsmith >>> 3,926 users

A virtual currency called the Facebuck.

4. BillMonk (Obopay) by Charles Groom and others >>> 2,793 users 

BillMonk is an expense tracker specifically designed to track debts and obligations (such as rent) between individuals. Used Facebook APIs long before the F8 platform was announced. Previous coverage here.

5. Buxfer by Shashank Pandit and Ashwin Bharambe >>> 1,482 users

Buxfer is another expense tracker specifically designed for singles sharing households expenses. Previous coverage here.

6. Pay Me by Yellow Media >>> 842 users

Pay Me was developed by a third-party developer to make it easier to initiate PayPal payments right from Facebook. Previous coverage here.

7. ChipIn by ChipIn >>> 830 users

ChipIn is a simple way to collect funds for an event, trip, or anything. Users create a clickable badge that is displayed in their profile. Other Facebook users chip in via the PayPal network. Previous coverage here.

8. PayPal by PayPal >>> 500 users

The official product from PayPal, the division of eBay. So far, merely allows you to easily request money from your Facebook friends. More functions are said to be on the way. Previous coverage here.

9. Ven by Hub Culture  >>> 154 users

Another virtual currency.

10. iSpend by Reman Child and Shawn Gupta >>> 141 users

A new financial tracking app posted last week. 

The Rest
11. Wesabe by Wesabe, Inc. 
>>> 104 users

The Wesabe Facebook app currently supports group discussions. It is not currently linked into its Web-based personal finance app. Previous coverage here. 

12. OmniSpense.com by Jonathan Kelly >>> 60 users

The newest expense tracker, appeared in the money category in the past 48 hours, but looks like it may have been posted about 2 weeks ago. 

13. BillTrack Bill Reminder by Michael Irizarry >>> 59 users

Bill Track is built specifically for tracking bills (surprised?). It was posted earlier this week. 

14. My ViCu by Myvicu Master >>> 17 users

Yet another virtual currency.

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Compete’s May Online Financial Shopping Scorecard

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Bank of America, Compete, ING Direct, Metrics & Market Research

Last month, we introduced the Financial Services Monthly Performance scorecard produced by Compete. Here's the second installment, summarizing the overall performance of 23 large U.S. financial institutions and lead-generation sites. For more information, including the detailed methodology and companies tracked, refer to that post (here).

The highlights:

  • Financial shopping was down or flat in most categories, especially savings accounts; not surprising given the typical tax-time spike in April.
  • The main exception to the trend was checking, which grew a phenomenal 31% in May compared to April. 
  • The main drivers of checking account growth: Bank of America's promotion of free MyAccess Checking (see coverage here) and, to a lesser extent, Wachovia, whose Google/MSN marketing caused a major spike in traffic
  • But it wasn't all rosy in checking accounts: While BofA was experiencing 25% growth in applications, ING Direct went through a typical post-launch downturn with a 50% decline in application volume
  • Credit card conversions were up dramatically, with a 5% increase in application volume despite a 6% drop in shoppers, resulting in a 22% conversion ratio (see note 1) 

Note:

1. Compete revised its card applications show in the previous report. The revised number of card applications:
     March 2007: 1.57 million instead of 1.71 million
     April: 1.70 million instead of 1.88 million with 8% growth instead of 9% 

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Who Wants to Go to Banking Camp in Seattle?

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: BarCamp Bank, Conference Calendar

Being somewhat older than the 20-something coders the frequent the Silicon Valley/Toronto/Paris/Austin BarCamp scene (Wikipedia definition, website), I'm not quite sure what to expect when the banking version, BarCamp Bank, comes to Seattle next weekend (July 21/22).

But simply knowing that the Trabian gurus, Brent Dixon and Trey Reeme, will be in attendance assures that it will be eye-opening and fun. There's also the king of banking social media, Ed Terpening of Wells Fargo as well as William Azaroff, Pierre Burns, and Monica Mashal from pioneering Vancity and Ben Morales the creative thinker behind many cool initiatives at Washington State Employees Credit Union. And so far, just one representative from the hot personal finance space, Marc Hedlund from Wesabe (here's the full registration list so far).

The idea is to gather a bunch of innovative thinkers in one spot, drink coffee, eat pizza and try to change the world, one payment at a time. All in one weekend.

It's beautiful in Seattle this time of year, if you can make it, drop your $35 into this form ASAP and I'll see you next week. Otherwise, we'll be writing about it of course.

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Mobile Alerts Can Help Stem the Tide of Overdraft Fee Disclosure Regulation

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: US Bank

MarketWatch article It looks like overdraft fees will be a popular target this election cycle (see inset). It's an absolutely predictable, and avoidable outcome, had banks done a better job of helping customers avoid debit card-induced fees (see previous coverage here).

But the genie is out of the bottle now, and the goose that laid the golden egg may soon be dead, or at least restricted to quarters (how's that for a mashup of metaphors in one sentence..sorry, sometimes you just need to get them out of your system).

The most onerous of current proposals making the rounds on Capital Hill calls for real-time notification of pending overdrafts at the ATM and point-of-sale. While that's probably not technically feasible in the short-term, it demonstrates just how expensive the remedies could be.   

Today's Center for Responsible Lending press conference announcing its finding that in 2005 banks levied $17 billion in overdraft fees plus $8 billion in NSF fees (see note 1), is sure to receive plenty of press for the next 15 months or longer. For example, the headline that made it into Dow Jones's MarketWatch today (see above) includes both "gouged" and "abusive," both dreaded terms in banking circles. 

So it's time to be proactive in education about overdraft-protection options. That includes aggressive marketing of systematic protections, such as automatic transfers to cover shortages and early-warning options such as email alerts (see note 2).

Mobile Banking to the Rescue
From a consumer-advocacy standpoint, the weakness of email alerts is that they are either overlooked or are too late to prevent a negative-balance situation. Mobile alerts, on the other hand, are much likelier to be read within minutes of being sent, providing crucial extra hours or even days of warning before balances fall below zero. And with mobile phone usage crossing most demographic and income lines, text messages can potentially reach farther into the lower-income segment of your customer base.  Widespread deployment of mobile alerts could help soothe consumer advocates and lawmakers.

So if you have had trouble getting senior management buyoff on your mobile banking ideas, clip yesterday's American Banker article about the new legislation (here).  Add this post to your business plan and run it up the flagpole (end of tired cliches… promise!).

Notes:

(1) Download the CRL white paper now (here). It's well written, thoroughly footnoted, and will be read by every personal finance and banking columnist in the country. You will want to have every bank exec that speaks to the press become familiar with the arguments. In my view, there are several assumptions that may inflate the industry OD/NSF estimates slightly, but the $124/yr in OD/NSF income per account, in their pool of 4,036 checking accounts, seems solid. And whether the "real" number is $25 billion or $15 billion, it doesn't materially affect their argument.  

(2) And if I were a bank, I'd look very hard at reverting back to FIFO check-clearing so I didn't end up like U.S. Bank, the example exposed in the CRL paper.

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