Six Tips to Maximize Existing Customers

A recent Gallop poll study revealed that consumer confidence in banks has hit an all-time low. Only 5% of the population has a “great deal” of confidence in banks, and only 13% has “quite a lot.” However, the same study showed that, while overall consumer confidence is low for banks in general, the average American has more confidence in their main bank. In fact, 25% say they have a “great deal” of confidence, and another 33% say they have “quite a lot” of confidence in the bank where they do most of their banking.

So what does this mean for our banks? Well, the same study showed that 29% of Americans planned on increasing the money they have with their own bank, while only 7% interviewed said they are likely to switch banks at this time. Therefore, the greatest opportunity for banks today is with their existing customers.

True, the current environment is reshaping customers’ financial patterns in new ways we’re unaccustomed to, but banks stand to benefit if they go digging for some areas that might provide opportunities for the bank to thrive. For example, today, there is a heightened opportunity for increasing deposits through additional savings products. (The savings rate in America has skyrocketed from .05% to 5% over the past six months.) There is opportunity for increasing fee income through mortgage origination, nontraditional financial services and upgrades to DDAs. And there is opportunity to reduce operational expenses through the promotion of e-services such as direct deposit, Internet banking, bill pay and e-statements. All of these opportunities exist without having to pay the cost of acquiring a new customer. Therefore, banks should be investing more marketing dollars into their own existing customer base for the greater return on investment.

Innovation can occur during what looks like a prolonged crisis. What are you doing to reach your existing customers? What strategies have you put in place to increase products and services tapped by your own customer base? Following are six keys to maximizing the marketing opportunities with your existing customers:

1. Product and Sales Training: The first place to begin gaining ground is with your own employee base. This is the time for your people to truly understand the products and services that the bank has to offer and recognize how they can better meet the needs of the customer during this stressful time. According to a one study, CSRs only knew 39% of the bank’s products and services while the customer walking in the door already knew 36%! Product knowledge and training increases confidence among your employees, empowering them to ask the right questions and probe to meet the customers’ needs.


2. Retail Merchandising: It is important to create a retail atmosphere within your bank (according to the framework and guidelines of your brand)—an environment that invites conversations and service opportunities. Evaluate your lobby and drive-thru facilities for placement of posters, banners and brochures. You want to be able to suggest to the customer other products and services that might meet his or her needs. These messages should be timely and creatively presented. Also, make sure your placement of these messages is most visible after a customer has completed their transaction. A recent study out of Britain showed that the average customer is mentally preoccupied before making a transaction, but not so after the transaction.


3. Web site: Your Web site is the premier, 24-hour point of contact for all of your customers. Use the opportunity to feature rotating flash messages/banners on your site that are timely and allow the customer to engage and interact with your brand, clicking through for more information. Also, it is critical that you provide the customer with the opportunity to respond and act at the “moment of relevance.” If they are interested, then you need to give them the ability to fulfill that impulse and desire immediately. People need to be able to go to your Web site and easily sign up for Internet banking, sign up for e-statements, open a new checking account, fill out an application for a mortgage and make contact with a banker. Your Web site is a touch point for your brand and a round-the-clock branch; use it to enable your audience to “pull” information they want and need toward them.


4. Direct Mail: From the many focus groups we hold with customers across the country, we consistently hear that they wish their bank communicated with them more frequently about special offers or products and services that could help them! Don’t miss this easy opportunity. You should be able to capture data on your existing customer base and build a “most-likely next product” profile for direct mail. Existing customers should be receiving timely and regular messages from their banks. These offers should give the customer the opportunity to respond 24-hours a day through an online resource. You can also take advantage of existing postage by inserting stuffers into outgoing statements. Yes, many people will throw them away, but it is still one of the most practical and cost-efficient mediums to reach your existing customer base. You may want to even include a landing page on your direct mail pieces to better track your efforts.


5. Interactive Media: There are tremendous opportunities to reach your customers through e-mail. Make sure that your CSRs are capturing e-mail addresses at the time of an account opening (permission based), and then use those e-mail addresses to build e-mail campaigns with specific landing pages. These landing pages can provide both information and application capability. Also, the real advantage to e-mail marketing is the capacity to monitor activity in real time and know exactly who has clicked through on what promotion. This allows the marketing department to respond within 24-hours to all those who have shown interest but may not have acted upon it yet. You might also consider building social media pages so that your customer base can communicate with you. Social media allows you to hear more honest thoughts from the customer and gives you the capacity to adjust accordingly.


6. Calling Programs: This is a little more old-fashioned, but always effective. Your commercial and business calling officers should always have a “top 50” list of customers (existing and potential) that they are working. There should be a calling program that combines letters, phone calls, personal visits, leave-behinds and follow-up letters. According to our focus group studies with business customers around the country, business owners want more visits from their banker, and they are more responsive to giving the bank additional business when they are visited. Get out of the bank, and good things can happen.

Banks all around the country are asking, “Where are the opportunities?” The greatest opportunity for your bank is already in the bank. Your existing customers can provide the steady deposits you are looking for, greater fee income and lower operational expenses through the adoption of e-services. Adjust your marketing strategy to more aggressively take advantage of this opportunity.

> Learn more about how Financial Marketing Solutions can help discover your bank's opportunities.