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Trabian’s “Give With Us” is a Cost-effective Way to Start a Blog AND Make a Difference

By Jim Bruene Posted on February 2, 2007
Categories: Blogs, Public Relations, Trabian

When's the last time you saw a new Web app that:

Was good for your brand
Was useful for your customers/members
Gave your employees a voice
Helped your community
Had zero IT support cost
Allowed you to begin blogging with virtually none of the risks of a typical blog
Caused non-customers to bookmark your site and/or subscribe to its feed
Prompted the local press to write glowing reviews
Put your name in front of community organizations, and their well-connected board members
And was affordable?

Take a look at the Web-based volunteer clearinghouse originally conceived by CU thinktank Filene Research Institute. The application is being commercialized as Give With Us by Trabian, a Dallas-based design firm that built Filene's prototype called My Community Connection (see note 1).

You can see the original Filene version in production at SELCO Community Credit Union <selco.cugive.com>, where 77 volunteer opportunities have been posted since its launch less than six months ago (see note 2). The revamped, and much more Web 2.0-looking, version from Trabian will be housed at the cleverly named <www.givewith.us>. The online product tour is not yet available, but we have the world premier exclusive screenshot below, courtesy of Trey Reeme of Trabian.

How it works
The application is basically a blog where anyone can post volunteer opportunities. Readers can take action by clicking a button to either:

Sign up
Email a friend
Leave a comment

Unlike other community websites that are bookmarked once then forgotten, users can sign up for a feed so that new opportunities continue to flow to their feedreader or browser. Hopefully, they'll add an email subscription option for the majority of users who are not yet using feeds.

Cost
The cost is $2,500 upfront plus $1,000 annually for the license. I don't need to tell you what a bargain that is. You get state-of-the-art blog design and functionality for the price of a Yellow Pages' ad.

You will need to assign a staff member to moderate the blog, clearing postings and comments for final publication. Assuming two posts and a couple comments each week, it shouldn't take more than a few minutes a day. But it needs constant attention, you can't have the moderator on vacation for a week with no substitute.

Analysis
The biggest problem will be attention, or rather lack of it. How do you get overworked volunteers and nonprofit staffers to take time to post volunteer opportunities? Even harder, how do you get the community to remember to look at your blog when they are in a volunteering mood?

SELCO has a link on its homepage <selco.org>, but how do you reach out to the larger community to make this relevant? The SELCO website has 77 volunteer postings, but only 3 comments in the past 6 months. That suggests it's relatively lightly used by those donating their time.

But any new offering takes time to get rolling. It's not unrealistic that you could end up being THE place in your market where volunteer opportunities are publicized. But that will take more effort than just posting it on your homepage.

For example, searching for "volunteers in Eugene," SELCO's home market, doesn't bring up the CU's site until result number 160, far too low for anyone to notice (see note 2). Selco should consider using Google AdSense to get its program listed in search results. With no other bidders, it'll only take a dime or so to get the number-one listing.

Another way to receive more attention would be integrating the volunteer opportunities with fund-raising services. For example, a financial institution could create a "donate here" button for the organization's website that instantly deposits donated funds into the nonprofit's checking account.

Notes:

Trabian is a specialist in Web 2.0 design and so-called "social media." The company also built Filene's website along with several interesting credit union sites; refer to its website for a client listing. Trabian also runs the OpenSourceCU blog tracking, which tracks blogs and other social media in the credit union market.
Click on the screenshot at right to see the front page of SELCO's My Community Connection site.
The number-one result is a competing site, VolunteerMatch.org
which lists 98 opportunities in a tabular format.

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ING Direct’s Deposit and Customer Totals Decline as Direct Bank Competition Intensifies

By Jim Bruene Posted on February 1, 2007
Categories: Deposits, Checking, Savings, CDs, Direct Banking, ING Direct

For the first time in its short six-year history, ING Direct's U.S. division showed declines in both total deposits and customer accounts during third quarter, the latest data available (see the table below, originally published in our year-end industry forecast, Online Banking Report #137). Although the runoff was relatively small – $600 million in deposits, or about 1% from the peak, and 150,000 accounts, or about 4% from the peak – it's a clear indicator that the entry of Emigrant Direct, HSBC Direct, and especially Citi Direct have taken a toll on the direct banking giant.

Looking at quarterly results below, you can see that average account balances began declining in Q1 2005, as some of the hottest money, large balances held by extremely rate-conscious consumers, moved to better paying accounts; still, total deposits and customers continued to grow rapidly through 2005 and into 2006. However, in the second and third quarters, deposits began to flatten as the number of accounts grew only 230,000 compared to 560,000 in the same period a year earlier.

ING Direct appears to have deliberately slowed growth by maintaining deposit rates 50 to 100 basis points lower than the new entrants. With its marketing muscle, the bank could choose to grow deposits if it closes the rate gap. The bank's new checking account, gradually rolling out to current customers, may help stem the tide, with higher rates for larger balances (see coverage here).

Table: ING Direct Deposit and Customer Totals: 2000 to 2006 (click to enlarge)

PDF version of this table here.

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Everbank Takes on ING Direct with 6.01% Checking Account Campaign

By Jim Bruene Posted on January 31, 2007
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Deposits, Checking, Savings, CDs, Direct Banking, Everbank, ING Direct

Everbank launched its "What are you waiting for?" campaign today by giving away 2,500 free subway tickets at 6:01 AM in lower Manhattan. The time was chosen to coincide with the 6.01% APR promotional start-rate on its FreeNet checking account (see Note 1).

The campaign targets ING Direct's soon-to-be-released Electric Orange checking account, which currently pays beta users 3% on balances under $50,000 and 5.3% on balances greater than $50,000 (see Note 2).

Everbank launched a microsite called <whyruwaiting.com> with direct comparisons to ING Direct (see screenshot below).

Clicking the large Compare Banks button in the lower right leads to a comparison to ING Direct and several other major competitors (see screenshot below):

The campaign has not been extended to the Everbank website, which shows a banner for the 6.01% offer, but no mention of "Why are you waiting?" (see screenshot below).

Clicking through the banner leads to the following page:

Notes:

The 6.01% is a promotional "teaser" rate is good for three months, then resets to the "regular" rate which are currently as follows:
Under $10,000 = 3.25%
$10,000 to $25,000 = 3.30%
$25,000 to $50,000 = 3.60%
$50,000 to $100,000 = 4.00%
More than $100,000 = 4.41%
The minimum deposit is $1,500 and the maximum that earns 6.01% is $100,000.
ING Direct customers can also easily transfer funds into the companion savings account which pays 4.5%. ING's Electric Orange account began rolling out in waves to its 4 million savings account customers in December (see coverage here). Coincidently, I received my invitation yesterday (see screenshot below).

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New Twist on Financial Institutions Blogging, Messages from the Credit Union Board

By Jim Bruene Posted on January 30, 2007
Categories: Blogs, Trabian

Here's a blogging application we didn't consider in our recent report, Online Banking Report's Bank 2.0: Blogs and Feeds (here), a credit union board of directors creating a blog to communicate with the full membership.

The blog, which launched Jan 1, is called The Boardcast <boardcast.typepad.com> and is written by the board of directors at UFirst Credit Union <sunyplattsburghfcu.com>. Board VP Virginia Brady is said to be the moderator. However, most postings sound like they've been authored by someone within the credit union. That's fine, but it should be clear to readers whether a post comes from a boardmember or a credit union employee.

UFirst publicizes the blog in two places on its homepage (see screenshot below):

Analysis
Blogs are a good way for volunteer boards at non-profits to communicate with the full membership. They are inexpensive, timely, and promote two-way communication. In fact, we believe nearly every company and organization will eventually have one. However, they are not without risks and headaches; for example, here are a few issues that must be dealt with:

risk of generating pubic controversy for the board member(s) writers
the time commitment necessary to post at least weekly so the blog remains relevant
making sure the board and management are on the same page before making the post
monitoring and responding to comments
conflicts of interest with the board member's day job or business

Thanks to OpenSourceCU for the first post on this new blog (link here).

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Citi Mobile Appears Ready to Go Live in February

By Jim Bruene Posted on January 28, 2007
Categories: Citibank, Mobile Banking

I opened my Citibank checking account statement today and out fell one of those text-only "terms and conditions" notices that are rarely read. However, the title of this one caught my attention (emphasis added):

Important Information: Introducing Citi Mobile

It's an update to the bank's terms and conditions incorporating access via web-enabled cellphone or other mobile device. The statement was mailed January 23rd and the notice carried a 2006 copyright with an "01/07" date by the item number.

There's no mention of any fees for the service, which begins in February 2007, according to the statement insert. Readers are referred to the Citibank website for a list of compatible phones, but we couldn't find anything on Citi Mobile today.

In a Google search we ran across an older Citi Wireless Services website <wireless.citi.com/wireless/homepage> with a 2001 copyright date (see screenshot below), but it discusses the previously available services such as alerts sent to mobile phones. There is no mention of the new mFoundry-powered services (see previous coverage here).

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HSBC Direct Attracts 350,000 Accounts

By Jim Bruene Posted on January 26, 2007
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Deposits, Checking, Savings, CDs, Direct Banking, HSBC Direct

In a Jan. 1 case history published in Direct Magazine (article here), HSBC Direct says it has attracted 350,000 customers since the launch of its high-yield savings account just over a year ago (Nov. 2005).

Assuming typical high-yield balance levels of $8000 to $10,000 per account (our estimate), the bank has attracted more than $3 billion in deposits. The bank has marketed its 5%+ APR account heavily, so it's not likely that the new business is making much of a profit contribution yet.

Based on the bank's reported online ad spending, its acquisition costs were $75 per account from the online spending only, not including what it spent in other media to support the direct business unit (see note 1).

The bank said it is working on new products to offer through the direct bank. This is a crucial step in the evolution. There just aren't enough customers with $10,000 savings balances to feed all the financial institutions looking for new deposits. HSBC's ability to sell other services to its 350,000 new customers will determine the long-term success of the direct banking initiative.

Thanks to former Forrester senior analyst, Ron Shevlin, now VP at Epsilon, for the link in his Marketing ROI blog.

Notes:

According to data from TNS published in American Banker here, HSBC spent $20 million online during the first three quarters of 2006. To calculate the acquisition cost we annualized the online spending and divided by 350,000. This calculation excludes the portion of non-Internet advertising that went to support the direct unit. The bank's total ad spend was $42 million during the first 3 quarters of 2006.

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Wells Fargo Extends Hours via ATM Deposit Capture

By Jim Bruene Posted on January 25, 2007
Categories: ATMs, Kiosks, Remote Deposit Capture, Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo explanation of remote ATM deposit capture No matter how comfortable and convenient your branches are, forcing customers to rush to the branch to cash a check before closing time is not helping cement the relationship. And it leaves you vulnerable to competitors with longer hours or branches that are closer to your customer. And extending hours into the evening and weekend may be great for the customer, but its tough on the bottom line.

That's what makes Wells Fargo's latest move doubly smart. Because deposit/check-capture ATMs automate the check cashing process, the main reason customers visit a branch late in the day, the machines can serve almost like a virtual branch for many users.

So Wells Fargo is leveraging its so-called "Envelope-free" ATM network to provide what amounts to extended branch hours, providing same-day credit for checks deposited in its Envelope-free ATMs to 7 PM. By adding three hours to what was a 4 PM cut-off, the bank instantly has a network of 1200 extended-hour locations (see Note 1) for a fraction of the cost of keeping branches open an extra 10 to 15 hours per week.

As remote deposit capture becomes a key selling point for banks, we expect deposit cutoff times to disappear altogether, just as many bill payment systems now allow payments to be initiated up to midnight for same-day processing.

Notes:

The bank announced Tuesday that it will be expanding its network of envelope-free check capture ATMs to 1200, from the current 400 (see press release here). The Wells Fargo Envelope-free page is here.

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Forrester Calculates the ROI for Publishing a Company Blog

By Jim Bruene Posted on January 25, 2007
Categories: Blogs, ROI

Forrester analyst, and blogger, Charlene Li announced Forrester's latest look at so-called "corporate blogging" (see post here). I haven't read the full report, but Charlene's post, and the Excel model she linked to (here), provide significant detail on the model. The full report is available to Forrester clients free of charge or to anyone else for $379 here (see also, Charlene's powerpoint presentation that accompanied her December webcast on the ROI of blogging here).

I'm sure there will be plenty of debate about the assumptions that went into the model, but here's the bottom line for one of the highest profile corporate blogs, General Motors Fastlane (see screenshot below; Forrester case study on Fastlane available for $279 here).

Blog benefits (2006): $410,000
– PR value (articles) $215,000
– Product feedback value (virtual focus group) $180,000
– Word of mouth/awareness value $15,000

Blog costs (2006): $255,000
– Producing content (mostly exec time) $155,000
– Brand monitoring service $50,000
– Blogging platform $25,000
– Review & direction $21,000
– IT support $3,000

Net value to GM (2006): $155,000
ROI: 69%

Much of the blog's value stems from the product feedback gathered and press articles written about the blog or what was mentioned in the blog's posts and/or comments. The estimated value of the word-of-mouth generated is minimal, just $15,000.

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A Year’s Worth of Fake ATM Receipts for $15

By Jim Bruene Posted on January 24, 2007
Categories: ATMs, Kiosks, Off-topic

For something completely off-topic, here's a niche service that couldn't have existed prior to the Internet.

Four-year-old Custom Receipts.com (screenshot below, link here) will create a year's worth of personalized fake ATM receipts. For $15 + $1.50 shipping, with payment via PayPal, you receive 52 ATM slips printed on thermal paper and dated every Friday for a year.

The receipt includes your name, the last four digits of your account number, a withdrawal amount and closing balance of your choosing. The example shown on its homepage shows a balance of $629,112.23 with a paltry withdrawal of $60 (see inset above). They ought to up that to at least 3 Benjamins for credibility.

At $15 per order, the site operator won't get rich, but it's a clever idea and hopefully all in good fun. In an email exchange with the owner, who prefers to remain anonymous, he said that he previously offered to produce any personalized receipt. Intended to be used as a joke, he shut down the service after receiving numerous requests for items obviously intended to defraud employers or insurance companies.

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WT Direct takes on ING Direct at Kiplinger.com

By Jim Bruene Posted on January 23, 2007
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Deposits, Checking, Savings, CDs, Direct Banking, ING Direct

Kiplinger published an article on the state of online banking (see article here). It's an interesting read, but it's the WT Direct ad in the upper-right corner that I found most interesting (see screenshot below). WT Direct is the new direct banking arm of Wilmington Trust (see coverage here).

It's a Flash animation that's part parody of the whack-a-mole banner ad and part a direct shot at ING Direct.

Viewers are directed to:

"Hit the ball and get a really great rate."

That's when the humor begins. Attempting to move the cursor over the ball causes the ball to move away. So there is no way to actually click on the ball. After a few seconds a new screen appears with two words, "Give up?" It's a not-so-subtle dig at ING Direct rates which are revealed on its homepage usually after an orange ball bounces across the screen. ING Direct is currently paying 0.75% less than WT Direct on a $10,000 balance (see note 1).

Then finally, it's revealed who is sponsoring the ad, WT Direct:

The landing page reinforces the banner ad with a direct comparison to ING Direct's payout with the animated graph in the lower-left corner (see screenshot below).

Nicely done.

Notes:

1. After the first 60 days, balances of less than $10,000 earn just 0.6% at WT Direct. ING Direct pays 4.5% on all balance levels.

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Key Bank Uses TV Advertising to Promote Deposits in its Saveday Promotion

By Jim Bruene Posted on January 22, 2007
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Deposits, Checking, Savings, CDs, Key Bank

Thursday night, as my son was Tivoing his way through the commercial breaks on The Office, I noticed a Key Bank logo at the end of the commercial break. I had him go back and play the 5-second spot which was teaser style with a brief voiceover, logo, and the URL:

KeyBank.com/saveday

Expecting to see an interesting web-based savings account marketing effort, I typed "key bank save" into Google and came up empty handed (see note 1). The first link was to a Key Bank loan application, and there were no sponsored results.

Next, I tried connecting directly to the bank using what I remembered of the URL show in the TV spot, <keybank.com/save>. I realized that was the wrong address when all I saw was an error page, which unfortunately contained no guidance on what to do next (see inset). Finally, I went to the Key Bank homepage and found a large banner announcing the program aimed at encouraging users to curtail their discretionary spending on a designated day (your "Save day") each week (see second screenshot below).

Analysis
I'm like the idea of creating an interesting program to spur savings. For example, even though I didn't much like it initially (see post here), Bank of America's Save the Change does have a certain amount of appeal, at least from a marketing standpoint (see note #2).

And Centra Credit Union's <centra.org> new prize-based savings plan deserves a second look (thanks Doug True for the original post on this, here; see screenshot in note #3 below).

However, there isn't much to like about Key Bank's Saveday effort. The television spots may work as image advertising, but the website execution left a lot to be desired. Not only did the bank fail to support its television buy with search advertising, the landing page has little of interest besides the standard suite of savings calculators (see screenshot in note #4 below). There are no incentives, contests, or benefits to motivate a consumer to do something as unpleasant as giving up their daily latte.

While the bank does offer a handy PDF worksheet that can be printed out to calculate a monthly budget, there are no links or discussions of automated savings plan. Putting savings on auto-pilot is a much more powerful saving system than trying to get customers to sacrifice their caffeine one day per week.

There's also no interactive elements that might help get someone started. For example, why not send customers a text message to their phone or email each Saveday to encourage them to save.

However, the biggest blunder, is calling attention to the bank's incredibly low savings rates. For example, for a $10,000 saving balance, a typical amount in high-yield savings accounts, Key's three options paid a paltry 0.10%, 0.20% and 1.24% (see note #5). And no, those are not typos, that's two-tenths of a percent, in the KeySaver account, or a grand total of $1.66 per month, before tax. Not even enough to buy that cup of coffee the bank wants you to forego on your Saveday.

It takes a $25,000 balance to get above 1.24% in any of Key's savings accounts (note #6). And anyone who's managed to stash away that much in liquid savings probably doesn't need a Saveday.

Notes:

1. Later we tried, "key bank saveday" and the first link was a press release on the promotion, but it was at a csrwire.com URL (see release here). Searching from a Seattle WiFi IP address in Seattle.

2. Bank of America has recently been touting the Save the Change debit card benefit in its usual excellent television ads.

3. Centra Credit Union Super Savings page

4. Key Bank Saveday landing page

5. Rates quoted on Keybank.com for zip code 98115 on 22 Jan 2007

6. Update Jan 30: According to a bank employee, a $25,000 deposit now pays 3% in Key Ultra Money Market which I confirmed online. And in markets where Key Bank doesn't have a branch presence, the rate is as much as 5.25% through Key Direct (see screenshot below).

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Wells Fargo Adds "Comment Box" to Student LoanDown Blog

By Jim Bruene Posted on January 19, 2007
Categories: Blogs, Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo has tweaked the design of its Student LoanDown blog by adding a comment input box for the most-recent blog post (see inset). The bank uses this a similar technique at its first blog, Guided by History.

This should spur more comments, especially with the call to action at the bottom, "send a comment to Barbara." Users preview their comment, and read an onerous Wells Fargo disclaimer (see second screenshot below), on a separate page before submitting.

The comment input box is only used on the first blog entry on the main page. Late entries revert to typical blog format, with the comment function at the bottom of the post.

The main downside to this layout is that it's a bit distracting (see screenshot below), but that's probably a good trade-off if it helps drive more comment activity.

Comment Preview

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