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Should You Launch a Financial Podcast?

By Jim Bruene Posted on January 4, 2006
Categories: Podcasting, Public Relations, Website Usability & Design

Podcast was voted the 2005 Word of the Year by New Oxford American Dictionary. That alone is enough to make it an interesting marketing technique, even though it’s more associated with music than banking.

So far, two U.S. financial institutions have jumped on the podcasting bandwagon:

The first financial podcaster was Stockton, CA-based Financial Center Credit Union <fccuburt.org>. Its rambling, 56-minute first effort, Personal Finance Tips, from CEO Michael Duffy, was posted on Apple’s iTunes on August 30. The program is more philosophical than factual and sounds almost unscripted, as if the CEO just sat down and talked about whatever came to mind for an hour. It’s hard to imagine anyone other than his mother or marketing manager listening to the whole thing. Since then, they’ve published two more installments of the series: a 31-minute Personal Finance Tips, posted Oct 17, and a nine-minute discussion of phishing and pharming on Dec. 14. The latter program, which did NOT feature the CEO, was a more appropriate length and dealt with facts and actionable information.
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While the content is of questionable value, the website design is good, positioning the CU as hip and with it. The podcast series is entitled, Talkin’ About the Benjamins, and features a clever visual of Ben Franklin with the signature Apple earphones on his head (see inset above left). The credit union has a link on its homepage to a dedicated podcast page (click on inset above for closeup) that explains how to subscribe to the series via Apple’s iTunes site or to download directly from the CU site in MP3 format.
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The first bank to post a podcast was UMB Bank <umb.com> out of Kansas City. The first of the three planned recordings was posted Dec. 5, The Ins and Outs of 401(k) Retirement Plans. The bank also makes its podcast available for free downloading at the iTunes store or directly at the bank’s website. The recording is a question-and-answer session with UMB Portfolio Manager Casey Matthews. The UMB program is also relatively amateurish, with the participants nervously chuckling at their own jokes. At more than 24 minutes, it’s too long, but for a listener with little knowledge of retirement plans, it’s not a bad educational program.
In contrast to the marquee placement of FCCU’s podcasts, UMB bank buries the program in the middle of a long list of content within the News and Information part of the website (click on inset above for a closeup). This considerably diminishes the marketing value.

Analysis
The question isn’t really whether to podcast or not, but rather whether audio/visual content should be added to your website. The answer to the second question is a resounding YES. It’s time to leverage the high-speed Internet connections enjoyed by the majority of your customers with professional audio and video content. There are numerous programming tools that can be used; the most common is Macromedia FLASH, to develop good audio and video programming.

There isn’t really a pressing need to provide the information in the proprietary iPod format. The number of users who will want to download your sales pitch and listen to it on the train ride home can be counted on one hand. However, given the hype surrounding everything iPod, it’s not a bad idea to post your work as an iPod recording.

If you do end up with a podcast, keep these tips in mind:

Keep it short and to the point: Strive for a tight, overall length of no more than 5 to 10 minutes. If the subject matter needs more time, break the broadcast into multiple parts.
Make it professional: Listeners expect a degree of professionalism from their bank that they don’t expect from other podcasters. If you can’t afford to hire a pro to develop the program, try tapping into the eager broadcasting majors at a local university or community college. At the very least, develop a script and practice before broadcasting.
Use a Q&A format: We like UMB’s format, pairing an interviewer with a bank expert. Had they kept to the 10-minute limit, it would have been worth listening to.
Lose the humor: Banking is serious. It’s OK to use some humor in advertising and promotion, but a broadcast from the bank should not include any attempts at humor, and NO laughing at your own jokes.
Post it at iTunes: Easily explain how to find it, so that users can quickly subscribe to future broadcasts.
Most important, marry the audio broadcast with visual aids: UMB’s 24-minute podcast on retirement savings would be much more effective with supporting visuals, especially as they run through several examples of after-tax returns of various investment options. A standard webcast using PowerPoint and an audio presentation would be far more effective, although less likely to land you a write-up in the local newspaper.

—JB

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Know Your Banking Customers, Especially Reporters

By Jim Bruene Posted on January 2, 2006
Categories: Public Relations, Security & Privacy

Remember the old saying (usually attributed to Mark Twain), "Never pick a fight with someone who buys his ink by the barrel." An unnamed "national bank" has created an enemy of LA Times reporter Steve Lopez, who so far, has not publicly identified the bank that refused to reimburse him for the $2000 drained out of his account after an ATM-card-skimming incident. But given his location, and the hints in the article, it’s probably Wells Fargo, BofA, or WAMU. Given our personal experience with the relatively strict Wells Fargo credit card authorization guidelines, combined with the relatively small WAMU checking account base, our money is on BofA as the culprit.

In this particular case, the bank did the right thing initially, crediting the reporter’s account for the $2000. However, it reversed the amount four weeks later, sending a form letter with no explanation. In a followup call, the bank service rep told Mr. Lopez that he had not returned phone messages from bank investigators, so they concluded the disputed ATM withdrawals were "authorized and posted correctly."

Action Items
This type of bad publicity is entirely avoidable:

Prevention: Your ATM system should not allow four $500 withdrawals in three days, unless the customer has a history of large cash withdrawals.
Notification: All large ATM withdrawals should trigger alerts, first by email, then by phone if the withdrawals continue.
Communications: Make sure you communicate the results of your ongoing investigation clearly to the customer. Customers should receive a stream of emails, letters, and phone calls keeping them apprised. If possible, all emails should be posted to the customer’s online banking account to create a paper trail.
Most of the above steps are relatively expensive to implement if not supported by your current systems. So you might want to consider a fourth item:
Flag reporter accounts: Treat reporters like VIPs, making sure their accounts are flagged, and that you bend over backwards to give them the benefit of the doubt when disputes arise.

—JB

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Marketing Promotions on Your Banking Website

By Jim Bruene Posted on December 28, 2005
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Website Usability & Design

There are many ways to boost the sales effectiveness of your website, from the navigational layout to copywriting and security assurances. But one area that deserves attention is the design, layout, and placement of the homepage promotions, along with landing page displayed when clicking through for more information.

In terms of overall design, we recommend banners and links that attract attention without dominating the page. Since most visitors are at your site to find specific information, say CD rates, you don’t want a banner for auto loans dominating the page, potentially sending users to another site that’s easier to navigate.

You also need to be mindful of your image. Do you want to look like Overstock.com, pitching special offers and deals, or do you prefer a more understated tone, like a professional adviser? You want the homepage to reflect your overall marketing strategies to the online segment.

There are several approaches that have gained popularity in the past several years. Today we’ll look at one of the best approaches:

Small "postage stamp" banners in the lower portion of the screen, but above the fold (click on inset above for closeup). For example, Wells Fargo’s layout for the past three years displays square banners in the lower-right corner. Currently, two of eight possible choices are shown when the user arrives at the site (click refresh a few times to cycle through all eight).

Each banner leads to a well-crafted landing page with more information about the product or service. Not all of the banners are product pitches. For example, one describes an online feature, My Spending Report (NetBanker Feb. 17); another is service oriented, reminding users that they can access accounts 24/7 even during the holidays; while another (see Landing Page below) is designed to save the bank money by encouraging users to receive electronic statements instead of paper ones (click on the banners below for a closeup).

Gallery of Wells Fargo homepage banners displayed Dec 27, 2005

Landing Pages
It’s one thing to get your banner noticed, but then what? Users that click for more information should be led to a specific page, called a landing page, that reinforces the banner and provides more information. If the ultimate goal is a product sale, then the landing page should act as a funnel, delivering users to a single, actionable step, BUY. Extraneous navigational choices, like cracks in a plastic funnel, simply cause leakage of an extremely valuable commodity, interested prospects.

Wells Fargo has a separate landing page for each of the eight banners shown above. At left (click for closeup), you can see the one created for the "FREE online statement delivery" banner. In this case the bank is hoping to boost usage of online banking, and specifically the online statement feature, which has the potential of not only improving account retention, but also cutting printing and postage costs as users elect to turn off paper statements (required in this case).

—JB

If you’re in need of more financial interactive marketing ideas, check out the Interactive Financial Marketing Database from our sister publication, the Online Banking Report.

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Desktop Financial Marketing Demand

By Jim Bruene Posted on December 27, 2005
Categories: Desktop Presence, Metrics & Market Research

In a study released by market researcher Compete, Inc. <compete.com>, online users surveyed overwhelmingly said they wanted more information from their financial service providers, and they were willing to download a special application or plug-in to facilitate the information exchange (click on inset to see closeup of Southwest Airlines DING service).

Key findings:

73% would like to be made more aware of new offerings and services
69% would download a desktop application so that they could receive useful information from their financial services provider on a regular basis
78% would do so if the program protected them from fraud
5% would be unwilling to go online to receive information from financial services

Analysis
The success of Southwest Airline’s DING service (NetBanker Dec 5), which puts Southwest right on the computer desktop, along with toolbars from eBay, Google, and most recently Bank of America (NetBanker Dec 12), have not gone unnoticed in the financial services community. Until email trust issues are solved, which may take three or four years, a direct connection to the user’s desktop makes good business sense. As Compete’s data shows, more than three-quarters of consumers said they would download a desktop application, as long as they felt it would be a security improvement to do so.

Financial institutions should try to add a "safe and secure" theme to all account management tools, from email alerts to electronic statements and more.

—JB

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Holiday Bill Pay Sweepstakes

By Jim Bruene Posted on December 26, 2005
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Epayments

To increase electronic bill payment usage, both Digital Insight and Online Resources are sponsoring holiday usage sweepstakes that client banks can offer to end-users. Modeled after similar programs at MasterCard and Visa, the promotions provide an incentive to pay bills online. By pooling the entries from all participating banks and credit unions, the prize pool is bigger than if a single financial institution sponsored it individually.

Some highlights of the two programs:

Digital Insight <www.diproductsite.com/q4_05_pay_anyone/splash/splash.html>

One single prize of $30,000 across all participating financial institutions
Three-month duration: One entry after paying 10 bills between Dec. 1 and Feb. 28
One additional entry for each payment greater than $10 (maximum 10 additional entries)
No more than one payment per payee per month counted towards total

Online Resources <www.orcc.com/sweeps/holiday05>

One grand prize of $5000, two first prizes of $250 gift cards, plus one second prize of $100 for each participating financial institution
Two-month duration: One entry for every bill paid between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, 2005

Analysis
We like the concept behind both programs. Fourth quarter usage sweepstakes and bill pay marry very well. The Online Resources program is easier to understand with virtually no fine print (click on screenshot right for a closeup); however, it featured a stingy $5500 prize pool (not including the $100 for each participating bank/credit union).

In contrast, Digital Insight offered an eye-catching $30,000 grand prize, but offered no smaller consolation prizes (click on inset left for a closeup of the contest rules). It also required 10 payments before the user was entered into the drawing, a detriment to lower-volume, casual users.

Other Bill Pay Sweeps

RBC Centura <centura.com> is offering a total prize pool valued at just under $10,000, with a grand-prize trip to the ACC basketball tournament (valued at $3500) and 100 runners-up earning $50 in ACC merchandise. Users receive one entry each day they pay a bill between Dec. 2, 2005, and Feb. 17, 2006 (click here for screenshot).
In another basketball-themed promotion, University Credit Union <ucu.org> in Southern California is giving away tickets to UCLA basketball games, and a grand prize of a John Wooden autographed ball, to members using bill pay in Oct/Nov/Dec. Users receive one entry per bill paid (click here for screenshot).
PNC Bank <pncbank.com> has been running a bill payment sweeps for its business customers since mid-year. Each month, one out of every 100 new bill pay customers receives their choice of an iPod, $300 Marriott travel card, or $300 Staples card. In addition, each month the same prize choice is awarded to one existing customer who paid a bill that month. The sweeps ran from July 1 to year-end. (click here for screenshot).

—JB

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Everbank Goes on the Offensive Against Latest Phishing Scheme

By Jim Bruene Posted on December 20, 2005
Categories: Everbank, Phishing, Security & Privacy

If you are a smaller bank or credit union and are phished for the first time, you might consider the approach Everbank took in response to a phishing incident today.

The bank took the unusual step of sending an email to its customers warning them about the fraudulent email (click on the screenshot below for a closeup). They even included a copy of the phishing message at the bottom of the warning. The bank also posted a small red-outlined box on its homepage (see inset) with a link to the same email message.

Analysis
Although it may seem futile to send an email warning about a fake email, we think it’s a good idea if the phishing episodes are infrequent. The big targets such as Citibank or PayPal can’t do this, not with dozens of attacks every month; however, smaller companies should consider proactive email communications, but no more than a few times per year, otherwise customers won’t pay any attention.

Most users will realize the Everbank response is genuine, because it doesn’t ask for any customer information, especially when they compare it to the fake message at the bottom of the screen.

Yes, some customers will be even more confused. But hopefully their calls to customer service will provide you with a chance to put them at ease. There are costs associated with these anti-fraud efforts, but that’s part of the trust involved in being in the banking business.

—JB

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Unique Identity for Business Banking

By Jim Bruene Posted on December 19, 2005
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Small Business

There are several ways to make it easier for business banking customers to find the right area of your website:

Complete unique URL such as Abbey National’s <anbusiness.com>
Business/biz appended to the URL such as Vancity’s <vancity.com/MyBusiness>
Business added within the URL such as Barclay’s <www.business.barclays.co.uk> or LaSalle Bank’s <vip.lasallebank.com> for its private banking area
Use cookies to automatically display the business area when users type your normal URL. Wells Fargo uses this technique. When homepage visitors choose the Small Business area, a small text link asks, Make this the first link you see on wellsfargo.com (click on inset for a closeup) which sets a cookie to redirect users to the Small Business area each time they go to the main bank site.

Analysis
All of these techniques are trivial to program and can help differentiate your business offerings from your personal product line. We especially like Abbey National’s unique business URL that can be a memorable device in print ads and direct mail. Also, anyone with a separate business offering should consider the optional user-set cookie approach of Wells Fargo.

—JB

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ING Direct Savings Account Demo

By Jim Bruene Posted on December 15, 2005
Categories: Deposits, Checking, Savings, CDs, ING Direct

ING Direct US <ingdirect.com> has added an online demo, perhaps the only pure savings account demo online: a good idea, if you are serious about the high-rate deposit business. Users need reassurances you are trustworthy and competent. A good online demo helps on both counts (click on inset for closeup). To view the demo yourself, click here.

—JB

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Platinum Upgrade from American Express

By Jim Bruene Posted on December 13, 2005
Categories: American Express, Credit/Debit Cards, Premium-level Products, Service

Despite intense competition from MasterCard and Visa issuers, American Express has been able to maintain a substantial share of the high-end market for credit/charge cards. For the twenty years we’ve followed the company, its marketing has consistently conveyed an upscale image.

Case in point: The email we received today asking us to upgrade from our existing Gold Card to an American Express Platinum (click on inset for a closeup look).

The subject line said it all:

Upgrade to a card with premium service

The benefits cited included:
* Complimentary airline ticket on any of the 18 participating airline partners
* Airport club access (Continental, Delta, Northwest Airlines)
* Hotels & resort special privileges
* Free Membership Rewards program
* By Invitation Only (privileged access and tickets to events that, in many cases, can’t be purchased through any other source)

Analysis
The American Express solicitation is heavily oriented towards travel and entertainment benefits which plays to the company’s strengths. A bank could do the same by concentrating more on the "premium service" aspect. For example:

Front-of-the-line service: Your service request, whether by email or phone, always goes to the front of the queue
Branch manager access: If you ever need to go direct to the top for any reason, just call (212) 555-1212 or email branchmanager@yourbank.com
Preferred access to product specialists: If you ever have an unusual problem, whether it be accessing your online banking account from your laptop, or how to fund your Roth IRA, we will connect you with a specialist with state-of-the-art knowledge in that area
Ft. Knox security: You need not worry about the safety and security of your bank accounts with our upgraded security and authentication algorithms

For more ideas, see "E-Service 2.0" (OBR 105/106).

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Bank of America’s New Security Toolbar

By Jim Bruene Posted on December 12, 2005
Categories: Bank of America, Desktop Presence, Security & Privacy

Bank of America launched a co-branded version of Earthlink’s toolbar designed to prevent users from surfing to fraudulent websites. Of note is its official name, Bank of America Toolbar Powered by Earthlink. It’s highly unusual for a bank, especially the largest consumer bank in the country, to give a partner such high billing. Our guess, although unconfirmed, is that Earthlink is paying the bank for the product placement.

In a similar manner to eBay’s toolbar released in 2002, the BofA/Earthlink version uses red, green, and yellow lights to indicate whether a website is known to be safe (green), known to be fraudulent (red), or unknown (yellow). A popup blocker is also included. The toolbar is free and can be downloaded by any Internet Explorer for Windows user, you do not have to be a customer of the bank or Earthlink. According to Earthlink, a Mac version will be available soon. The toolbar does not work in other browsers.

The toolbar was announced in a press release today, and is accessible from a small link on the right of the homepage (click on inset for a closeup).

Analysis
Bank of America’s toolbar is the first of what we expect to be a major source of differentiation during the next five years: the branded desktop presence (see OBR 85, for more information). The Scamblocker toolbar is a relatively low-tech entry into the space. More sophisticated offerings, such as Southwest Airlines Ding (NetBanker, 5 Dec), are on the way later this year, if not at BofA, then at its U.S. competitors.

—JB

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Online Balance Poaching: E*Trade’s Mileage Maximizer

By Jim Bruene Posted on December 7, 2005
Categories: Best of the Web, Credit/Debit Cards, E*Trade, Loans & Credit

Credit card companies have been poaching revolving balances from each other for years primarily through direct mail. It helped boost the share of early movers, such as Capital One. But once the tactic was widely copied, it dragged margins down for all.

The same technique has been used online with dedicated balance-transfer microsites posted by Bank of America and others beginning in 2003. The online balance transfer is better than paper because it can be interactive, prompting the user to make additional transfers, or to correct errors in the information input. However, it still requires the user to make a trip to the website to make the transfer.

Enter E*Trade’s new Mileage Maximizer program, launched with a page-dominating color ad in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal. With the Mileage Maximizer, the bank encourages users to make purchases on their existing non-E*Trade rewards card, then have the balances AUTOMATICALLY swept to an E*Trade 8.9% APR line of credit each month. The bank’s website is used to initiate and maintain the transfer process. But like recurring bill payments, once the sweep is established, it will occur each month with no interaction by the user.

E*Trade may well be the most innovative online financial services company. Here are some of the industry firsts they’ve logged over the years:

2001: MyLoanTeam from E*Trade Mortgage (OBR 73)
2003: Real-time funds transfers (OBR 96/97)
2005: 7-year online transacation archives (OBR 118)
2005 (March): First U.S. bank offering security tokens for online access (NetBanker 2 March 2005)
2005 (December): First virtual rewards card, Mileage Maximizer

—JB

Editor’s Note: Mileage Mazimizer was awarded an "OBR Best of the Web" in our report on online lending published Jan. 31, 2006 (OBR 126).

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Southwest’s DING Widget Marketing Growth

By Jim Bruene Posted on December 5, 2005
Categories: Desktop Presence

Online marketing consultancy Compete <compete.com> released interesting results today about the popularity and effectiveness of the DING!, the innovative desktop application that Southwest Airlines released earlier this year (see NetBanker 4 March 2005).

According to the Boston-based firm, the Southwest application has been downloaded almost 1 million times this year (click on inset for closer view). More importantly, DING! users are 45% more likely to book through Southwest than non-DING users leading to more than $60 million in incremental bookings this year.

These 1 million DING users join the nearly 20 million using similar toolbar-based programs from Google, Ebay, and many others.

In related research, Compete’s recent study of online banking users found widespread interest among consumers in receiving MORE information from their financial services providers:

73% indicated a desire for more information on new offerings and services
69% would download a desktop app (such as DING!) to receive useful info on a regular basis; 78% would do so if the application helped protect against fraud
Only 5% indicated an unwillingness to use the online channel for information

Analysis
The next two years are an ideal window to launch a direct-to-the-desktop application like DING or a toolbar-based interface such as Google Toolbar or Billeo. A significant number of users have grown accustomed to the technology, while at the same time, due to widespread phishing and spam, email has become less effective for online marketing.

Going direct to the desktop provides a secure, trusted pipe directly to the user where you can deliver account-related info, triggered messaging, service announcements, and the occasional sales message.

For more information, see Online Banking Report #85, Grabbing Desktop Mindshare, published in 2002.

—JB

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