Service Archives - Page 5 of 7

10 Ways for Banks to Leverage Apple iPhone Hysteria

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 7, 2007
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Cingular, Mobile Banking, Service

Apple's iPhone has garnered the kind of media hype we haven't seen since Windows 95 launched Aug. 24, 1995. I don't know if people are lined up at AT&T Wireless/Cingular stores yet, but I'm sure we'll see huge crowds mugging for the cameras at midnight, June 28.

But unlike 1995, when only Wells Fargo could brag about "Windows 95 compatibility," most banks offer services that will work on the iPhone, at least to some extent. While the phone has not been made widely available to third-party testers, the built-in Safari browser provides website designers with much of what they need to make website functions "iPhone compatible." One issue: The phone is not expected to support Java (see Design Issues below).

Product & Marketing Ideas

Here are 10 ways to jump on the iPhone bandwagon:

1. iPhone loans: It costs $500 or $600, not including the monthly AT&T fee. As a promotion, you could offer term loans, specifically designed for purchases of the iPhone (see note 1). (See our next post for more info on the Prosper loan listing to the right.)

2. iPhone rebates: Offer a $50 rebate for customers who buy an iPhone with your credit or debit card, then sign up for online banking/bill pay/estatements or whatever online service you are promoting.

3. Announce iPhone compatibility: You might want to hold off on this until you can run tests on an actual phone. But if you are compatible with Safari, you will most likely function fairly well on the iPhone.

4. Create an iPhone landing page designed specifically for the 336 x 168 screen, complete with its own URL <iphone.yourbank.com> or <yourbank.com/iphone>.

5. Advertise under "iPhone" or "iphone banking" on Google: There will be zillions of searches on this term this summer. If you had some type of iPhone-related promo this could provide significant (albeit expensive) traffic.

6. iPhone giveaways: You wont' be able to give them away for new accounts, but a sweeps with an iPhone prize would be a good attention grabber.

7. iPhone compatibility FAQs: As soon as you've tested the phone with your banking services, document it all with screen captures and post to your website. You can run a link of your homepage with an eye-catching, "see how to bank at mybank with your iphone."

8. Designate one or more customer service reps as "iPhone banking" support complete with their own Web page, email address, IM address, and mobile phone number of course.

9. Use the iPhone as an attention getter in general promotions for online banking or mobile banking: You can use the name recognition to further your mainstream marketing efforts, for example, "You don't have to have an iPhone to bank with us. Any web-enabled phone will connect with our mobile site, <m.yourbank.com>.

10. Create an iPhone banking users group, club, forum, or blog: To promote banking with you via iPhone, entice iPhone owners to register their phone with you and join the club. Club participants could get a special t-shirt and special attention from the bank such as a dedicated "iPhone banking" tech support rep (see #8) and iPhone tips and tools delivered via email/RSS.

Design Issues
From a design standpoint, the main concern is how your website, and online banking area, appear on a 168 x 336 pixel screen size (3.5 inch screen). The screen is designed to display the entire webpage with users using the touchscreen to zoom in on specific areas for better readability (see below). Apple has a good demo of how it works here.

If you have a standard 800 x 600 layout, it will be shrunk to about 50% of its normal size when viewed on an iPhone. Another design complication: user's can rotate the phone 90 degrees and instantly go to portrait mode (336 x 168) (see example screenshots an Marketing Pilgrim here).

Here's how Fandango looks in full-screen mode and then zoomed in on the box-office list:

Financial Institution Action Items
Of course, step one is convincing your boss you need an iPhone right away for research purposes. Then, at a minimum, address iPhone compatibility in your FAQs as well as briefing your service reps that deal with website access questions.

Whether you go decide to ride the wave further depends is up to you. And looking back at this list, I realize I probably should have stopped at five. But the point is, banks and credit unions can use current events to drive traffic, generate buzz in your community, and let your customers/employees know that you are "with it." And please send us picture of you with your iPhone on June 29th and we'll post it here.

P.S. For those of you who want to understand the broader mobile banking trend and how the iPhone fits into it, check out the new mobile banking report from Online Banking Report.

—

Note:

1. Alternatively, you could offer an iPhone banking package with "free" iPhone. For example, bundle an iPhone with a checking account, credit card, credit line, etc. and sell for $20/mo with 3-year commitment (and early termination fee), with the customer paying the AT&T monthly charges separately.

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Preparing for the Mobile Future: Adding Fields to your Customer Information System

By Jim Bruene Posted on March 19, 2007
Categories: Mobile Banking, Service

Looking through my notes from the Mobile Payments Forum last week (post here), I came across this tidbit mentioned by several speakers:

One thing you should do right away is capture mobile phone number(s) in your customer information system.

Not only does this provide a marketing database for people to contact when you introduce mobile services (note 1), it provides an alternative number for account problems now.

You should add the fields to your online banking My Account area and also begin asking for it on account signup forms and loan applications. While you are at it, seek permission to send a text message(s) when new mobile services are launched.

Note:

1. We are not suggesting you telemarket to the mobile numbers; that's a bad idea. But you should contact these customers through normal channels (email, mail) when mobile options become available. Also, seek permission to send a text message(s) to inform users of new mobile options.

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Washington State Employees Credit Union (WSECU) Offers RSS Feeds from its Info Center (FAQs)

By Jim Bruene Posted on February 15, 2007
Categories: RSS, Service, WSECU

Every financial institution should offer feeds to its contents. It's an extremely low-cost way to reach out to the growing body of customers using feeds to track their favorite information sources (see previous NetBanker coverage here; for a detailed analysis and forecast, refer to our sister publication, Online Banking Report, Web 2.0, Feeds and Blogs for Financial Institutions #135/136).

One new approach is making your FAQs, knowledge base, or other self-service areas available via RSS feed. That way, customers interested in certain topic, say, "student loans," can stay abreast of any new information that becomes available.

One self-service solutions provider, Seattle-based Fuze Digital Solutions <fuzeds.com> has imbedded RSS feeds into its platform allowing its credit union clients to make feeds available for specific topical areas such as credit cards or online services.

You can see how it works at Washington State Employees Credit Union's <wsecu.org> Info Center, the first Fuze client to use the RSS option. Browsing the list of available topics, users are alerted to the feed option by the orange RSS button (see screenshot below). Clicking the button displays the feed URL that can be imported into a newsreader.

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New Instant Voice Messaging Service Combines Voice/Text Messages

By Jim Bruene Posted on October 3, 2006
Categories: Alerts & Messaging, Service

Startup Pinger <pinger.com> launched a service last month that makes it easy to send voice messages to mobile phones or computers along with an email or SMS alert.

It combines the immediacy of instant messaging, the functionality of email, and the more personal nature of a voice message. And it's free.

To use the service, which is currently in public beta, users upload recipient email addresses to the Pinger server where communication preferences are stored. Voice messages are created using any phone or a PC microphone.

The San Jose, CA-based firm received $3 million in funding from A-list VC Kleiner Perkins in Nov. 2005.

How it Works
To send a message from a phone, you simply call the service, say the name of the recipient, record the message, and hang up.

To send a message from a PC, you select the recipient from your address book, record the message on your PC microphone, and send.

Either way, the recipient is notified via SMS and/or email. If on a mobile phone, they dial the number in the SMS message and listen. If at a PC, they can click on the link and listen to the message on their PC speakers.

The recipient can sort, replay, forward, store, and even reply via voice to the messages, which makes them as functional as email.

Pinger demonstrated the service last week at Demo's fall conference (see the demo here).

Financial institution opportunities
With believability of financial emails at an all-time low, short voice messages could be more effective for complex information, such as explaining options to someone late with a loan payment, or who has just been given a credit line increase.

And since many banks have stopped using links in their emails due to phishing concerns, voice messages could be used to say, "See us on the Web at www.yourbank.com/loans" or "Log in to your account and go to the Your Loans tab."

The novelty of the voice message will also provide a boost to marketing efforts, at least temporarily. The first few messages are likely to generate quite a bit of interest, until users learn to ignore them like other marketing messages.

Voice messaging isn't for everything. Routine information, such as balance alerts and deposit confirmation, should continue to be sent via text only.

It's yet to be seen whether Pinger takes off. But it's a safe bet that something similar will soon enter the lexicon along with Googling, IMing, and texting. With dozens of voice-over-Internet-protocol (VOIP) startups challenging the bigger players, such as Vonage and eBay's Skype, we are sure to see interesting, cost-effective new ways to reach customers.

For more information:

TechCrunch article on new VOIP providers here
Coverage at Under the Radar blog here
Short article in New York Times Sep. 27 here

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Amazon.com Uses Feedback Link to Measure Effectiveness of Customer Service Responses

By Jim Bruene Posted on September 30, 2006
Categories: Alerts & Messaging, Service

Hoping to download a movie to watch on the long Seattle-NYC flight, I sent Amazon an email with a question about its new Unbox video service. Not only did they answer within the hour, they also included a link to indicate whether the answer solved my question or not.

Choosing the "yes" option, I was delivered to a "Thanks for your feedback!" message, which not coincidently put me back onto the Amazon site. The thank-you also contained a link to provide additional feedback.

Following that link leads you to a page to provide detailed comments:

If you responded "no" to the original question, you are taken to a similar page to rephrase the question (see below).

Analysis
This simple feedback mechanism provides five important benefits:

Demonstrates you actually care whether the user's problem is resolved satisfactorily
Allows customer to easily submit another question if not satisfactorily resolved
Allows you to quantify the performance of the service department
Identifies areas where better answers are needed
Helps identify tricky problems that can be corrected

All financial institutions should consider similar techniques for improving electronic customer service.

Now, if only the Amazon video-download service were as efficient as its service reps. First, it took two tries to get the player downloaded. Then the 90-minute, 1.7 GB movie took nearly eight hours to download via my Wi-Fi connection to our Comcast cable modem, never going much faster than 80k per second. Bottom line: For $2.99, it's still worth doing, provided you plan far enough in advance.

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Getting Even with the Citibank Call Center

By Jim Bruene Posted on July 11, 2006
Categories: Citibank, Credit/Debit Cards, Service

Score:
Tom Brown — 1
Citibank — 0

How many times have you been frustrated by your experience at a call center? Well, if you were a multi-millionaire hedge fund manager with his own blog, you could get back at the company, and then some.

Read today's extremely thorough account (transcribed verbatim from a tape recording) of Second Curve's Tom Brown as he attempts to add a PayPass contactless debit card to his Citibank account <bankstocks.com>.

A couple lessons here:

1. Flag Tom Brown, and other influential VIPs, in your customer database so they get topnotch phone service
2. Be careful with geographic-based product rollouts to avoid irritating customers
3. Simplify call center scripts

—JB

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Live Chat in Online Banking Grabs Some Ink

By Jim Bruene Posted on July 6, 2006
Categories: Loans & Credit, Public Relations, Service

Although our readers won't find much new information in today's Wall Street Journal article, Online Banking Strives for the Human Touch, it's significant for two reasons:

Another example of a leading personal finance writer looking for "the next big thing" in online banking (see also NetBanker June 28); expect a wave of these stories through year-end
The article included a full-text screenshot of a banking chat session with SunTrust. You might circulate this among your reps so they understand that what they write in a chat session potentially becomes part of the "public record" (by the way, the SunTrust rep, and/or the marketing guru who scripted the canned responses, deserve a raise for their sales technique).

If you make it to the end, you'll find a couple interesting online lending factoids:

Bank of America claims an 8-fold increase in online-mortgage sales in Q1 2006 compared to the year earlier quarter, with live-chat part of the reason; it also said home-equity loan volume doubled
Citbank says 90% of its live-chat users complete a home-equity application, presumably at its <myhomeequity.com> site mentioned earlier in the story (see screenshot above); the bank also said it expects to originate $2 billion in home equity loans online in 2006, double that in 2005

—JB

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Improving Your Website’s Welcome Message

By Jim Bruene Posted on March 9, 2006
Categories: Email Marketing, Service

When your customer makes a significant purchase or signs up for online banking, make sure you take the time to send a well-designed welcome/thank-you email message. It not only helps make a good impression with your new customer, but also can pay for itself by decreasing telephone inquiries about the status of the new account. The message can also be used for SUBTLE upselling, such as a balance transfer offer for new credit card accounts.

Dell’s Welcome Message

Today we received this message from Dell thanking us for purchasing a new PC. Even though we’ve been frequent Dell buyers for years, they are not taking us for granted. The welcome message includes friendly graphics and a short welcome message with an embedded link to the "order status" page (click on inset left for a closeup).

The bottom of the message, which requires scrolling for most users, contains key information for future use such as serial number, customer number, support numbers, rebate info and so on. There is also a link to purchase add-ons (click on inset right for a closeup).

Click here to download the entire email message on one screenshot.

—JB

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Voice Mail Option for Customers on Hold

By Jim Bruene Posted on January 11, 2006
Categories: Service

For only the second time in the 5.5 years since I became one of the first customers of online home-equity pioneer DeepGreen Financial <deepgreenfinancial.com>, I had occasion to contact customer service over an error on their end. Normally, I would use email, but this was one of those times when you need to speak to a human.

After navigating a relatively sparse phone menu, I pressed zero and found myself on hold; nothing unusual about that. After about a minute the recorded voice came on with the usual yada-yada about the importance of my call. But then I was surprised to hear the computer offer the choice of staying on the line, or leaving a voice message for a return call.

I chose to hold and my call was answered a few minutes later by a helpful service rep. Overall, I left this interaction thinking more highly of the bank, even though their error had forced me to call and spend four minutes on hold. It’s all about exceeding expectations. And it doesn’t take much to do that when it comes to banking customer service, or really any toll-free support line. So keep working on those incremental improvements, as they can pay off immeasurably in the long run.

What would be even better, given the bank’s customer base of experienced online consumers, is to also offer a special email address such as urgent@deepgreenbank.com with a guaranteed 30-minute response time. That would really leave a great impression with Internet-savvy callers (see OBR 106/106 for hundreds of more ideas to make your E-service shine).

—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 Websites Should Provide Secure Connections to Legitimate Fund-Raising Sites

By Jim Bruene Posted on September 1, 2005
Categories: Chase Bank, Public Relations, Service, Wachovia, Washington Mutual

When natural disasters strike, such as the Southeast Asia tsunamis or Monday’s Hurricane Katrina destruction in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, banks should use their considerable web reach to help their customers make safe and secure donations to sanctioned relief agencies such as the Red Cross.

With all the concern about online phishing and fraud, consumers need a trusted conduit to make donations. And the sooner the link is posted, the better. As bad as it is, for much of the country, it will no longer be top-of-mind in a few days or weeks.

Major banks fail to respond thus far
Granted its only been three days, but we were surprised to find that of the largest 50 U.S financial institutions only three, Chase (Chase.com and BankOne.com), Wachovia (Wachovia.com and Suntrust.com), and Washington Mutual (wamu.com), have posted links to the Red Cross to make online donations (see Wachovia banner above).

Seven others had hurricane-related information, but no links for donations:
– Regions, AmSouth, Navy FCU, Compass Bank, and of course New Orleans-based Hibernia all had information on branch closings
– USAA posted tips for dealing with the aftermath of a hurricane
– Commerce Bank (NJ) ran a headline ticker on the top of the homepage offering to match donations up to a total of $50,000 (which strikes us as bit stingy if you are going to blast it across your homepage)

Action Items
The best response, from a customer service and PR perspective, is to announce a corporate contribution and provide secure links to the Red Cross and other relief agencies. Contributions should also be accepted via mail or in-branch.

Wachovia does it right, with a small, but highly visible homepage link explaining its efforts and providing the important message, You Can Too (see inset above). Clicking on the link leads users to a landing page that explains Wachovia’s $250,000 corporate commitment along with two important links (click on inset for a closeup look):
1. Donate Now link to a Red Cross store established on Yahoo handle Katrina donations
2. Email this page to spread the word

Even if your bank is not prepared to make a corporate contribution, it can still support fund-raising efforts with a link to the official donation site.

—JB

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New Debit and Credit Card Activation

By Jim Bruene Posted on July 5, 2005
Categories: Credit/Debit Cards, Service, US Bank

Our new Visa debit card arrived today from U.S. Bancorp. As we were reaching for the phone to activate it, we noticed a new URL on the holder <usbank.com/activate>.

Curious as to how the bank handled security on the process, we went online for activation. It turns out you must be enrolled for online banking. If so, you simply login, navigate to customer service, choose ATM/debit card options, type in your card number, security code on back, and expiration date (click on the inset to see the full screenshot). .

Analysis
This feature certainly falls into the "nice to have" category rather than "must have." The two-minutes it takes to phone in for ATM card activation once every two years is not on anyone’s pet-peeve list. And doing it online doesn’t even save much time, if any.

But, the bigger issue is making sure that all the routine customer service issues can be handled online, so customers think to go there first to manage their account. Overall, that behavior will save the bank money and if implemented well, improve customer satisfaction.

—JB

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