The DigitalMailer Blog

February 13, 2013

Thoughts on the State of the (Credit) Union (and Bank Marketing Survey), 2013

Filed under: Banks,Credit Unions,DigitalMailer,e-Statements,email marketing,mobile technology,ROI,Special Reports,Survey,targeted marketing,Twitter,web sites — admin @ 12:23 pm

by Jimmy Marks

Last night was the State of the Union address. All the big-wigs in Washington, D.C. gathered together to applaud, not-applaud, talk, listen, and pretend to listen to a summary of how America’s doing and what the administration is likely to do in the coming year.

But nothing President Obama said was as stirring or shocking as what I read yesterday in the State of Bank & Credit Union Marketing report from the Financial Brand and Aite’s Ron Shevlin.

[Author's Note -- As this is a "State of the Union" themed post, please feel free to stand up and clap or sit and stare disapprovingly as you choose. Make a real show of it and disturb everyone in your office. That's what I'm doing.]

In the past, this report has been an eye-opener about the world of credit union and bank marketing and this year did not disappoint. Well, it sort of disappointed…because there are a lot of roadblocks for banks and credit unions (and yes, us CUSOs and vendors) to overcome this year.

(more…)

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January 16, 2013

DigitalMailer Benchmarks: How many of your consumers should be using eStatements?

Filed under: e-Statements,electronic statements,enrollment campaigns,eStrategy,One Click,One Click Campaign,technology,Uncategorized — admin @ 10:13 am

by Ron Daly

Recently, a number of clients have written us emails asking for the “industry standard” of eStatement penetration. While there are any number of results in your typical Google search, we wanted to offer our clients and, in turn, our blog readers a thoughtful answer. So we took the number of eStatement users each of our clients had, compiled our data into an Excel spreadsheet, ran some of the averages and came up with some numbers we think are quite interesting.

Yep, you’re reading that correctly – nearly 80% of online banking users have eStatements. These folks manage their money online and take advantage of eStatements. This number grew twenty percentage points in one year, leading us to believe that more and more people are making the connection between electronic documents and smart money management.

A little more than half of all the customers/members we evaluated were checking account holders. It stands to reason more checking users would be using eStatements just to avoid getting a paper statement that’s weeks behind their online banking reports, ATM receipts, or mobile alerts. Still, that number grew 19 percentage points in a year…that’s a big gain.

Even though this number grew 11 percentage points in a year, it’s still a little low for my tastes. Only 28% of members use eStatements? Why so low? Here’s why:

Most financial institutions still have eStatements inside online banking and only online banking members can get them (see the first percentage number we listed, for eStatement/OLB users? Make sense now?)
Very few financial institutions have marketing campaigns to increase adoption anymore. Those that do typically see great ROI.
Most financial institutions don’t make eStatements the default for online banking users. Reg E says you have to give your users a choice of paper or electronic…but it doesn’t say what the default option must be. Why not start those users with eStatements and make them ask for paper statements?

If only credit unions and banks would make eStatements the default. Most users would never bother to make the switch or make a stink – they’d probably never even think about it again.

Check out our one-click program and see if this simple solution is right for you.

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December 20, 2012

The Twelve Days of Electronic Marketing

by Ron Daly

If you’re waiting until the last minute to figure out that perfect gift for a special someone, might I dissuade you from looking into giving them the “Twelve Days of Christmas” gifts? Twelve drummers drumming, eleven pipers piping, and so on, will cost you quite a pretty penny. Plus, where do you put it all? I haven’t really got the room for the 364 total presents I’d be getting. Maybe we could stick the birds outside in the back yard, but all the milk maids and leaping gentlemen would be a little annoying.

I’ve decided none of you is getting all these birds, rings, busy artisans, etc. Instead, I’m giving you the twelve days of electronic marketing! Sing along, if you think you can.

On the 12 Days of Christmas, DigitalMailer Gave to Me:

12 Months of eMailing - A monthly email newsletter doesn’t cost much to send and gives your customers an idea of what’s shaking at your business.
11 major holidays- You’ve got:
1. New Year’s
2. Valentine’s Day
3. St. Patrick’s Day
4. Easter
5. Mother’s Day
6. Father’s Day
7. 4th of July
8. “Back-to-School”
9. Halloween
10. Thanksgiving
11. Christmas/Holiday
That’s eleven easy touch-points with built-in branding to play with – get to work and make something outstanding.
10 fingers typing – Got an initiative you’re trying to get off the ground? Have a fun community outreach program? Got something really interesting to say? Start a blog! It’s never been easier.
9 referrers referring – If you’re looking into NetPromoter scoring, remember – nines and tens are your only “referrers”. Sevens and eights aren’t counted and six and below are detractors. And always ask “why?” when it comes to the score you were given.
8 hours of working – The eight hour workday is disappearing. People are working from home and on the go. Consider how much information you’re hoping they’ll retain. Make your messages clear and concise, and always lead them to an action. Be efficient, you want to be a solution, not part of a bigger problem.
7 days a week – Are certain emails more likely to work on the weekend? How will you know if you’re not split-testing? Consider a weekend email for new home buyers looking into open houses, or car shoppers who might take a Saturday afternoon to browse the lots.
6 month reviews – Check out how your efforts are doing every six months or so. Set benchmarks, evaluate, make changes, and strive for the best.
5 GOLD RINGS! (Just felt like singing that one.)
4 points-of-contact – We like to give people a few ways to get hold of us, if they need us. We welcome people to email us, call, write or tweet at us…whatever works for them, works for us.
3 calls-to-action – In a good email campaign, you’ll want to give at least three call-to-action links: one at the top, in text, for the impulsive; one that’s a big graphic for the visually minded; one toward the bottom for the thorough readers.
2 ways to view – Remember, more and more users are reading their email on a mobile device – ReturnPath estimates that more people will be reading email on a mobile device than on a computer by the end of 2012 (which, I don’t need to remind you, is less than two weeks away). We’re working on a few ways to optimize emails responsively that we’re going to share with our clients in 2013. What are you doing to prepare?
And a cartridge printer in need (of a job) – More mobile documents, fewer things to print out, more ways to save and store those documents…we’re committed to taking our clients further away from their paper needs.

Not to toot my own Christmas trumpet or anything, but that’s a much better list. Better to have good advice and food for thought than a bunch of dancers, geese and hens breaking all your furniture and getting allergy-causing down everywhere.

From all of us to all of you, MERRY CHRISTMAS and a happy, productive, lucrative new year!

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February 22, 2012

Who “Lost It” in 2011?

Filed under: Banks,Budget Stretching Ideas,Credit Union Tech,Credit Unions,DigitalMailer,e-Statements,economy,electronic statements,eStrategy,Marketing — admin @ 11:18 am

by Jimmy Marks

At the end of last year, we put the word out to our clients about a contest we were running. We called the contest “Move It and Lose It”. Not move it “OR” lose it, mind you, but “Move It AND Lose It”.

The “Move It” part of the contest was moving customers and members to electronic statements. The “Lose It” was losing costs associated with printing and mailing statements month after month. And boy, did our clients “lose it”!

In the contest period, clients added almost 40,000 new eStatement users! Assuming an average savings of $.50 per user per month for twelve months, they’re looking at just shy of a quarter of a MILLION dollars in savings, just from those new users alone! How cool is that?

You can read more about the contest and the results via our press release, and see who won the iPad (the grand prize) on the “Move It and Lose It” page.

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February 1, 2012

Knowns and Unknowns: The Troubling Numbers in a Recent Social Media Study

Filed under: Banks,Blogging,Compliance,Credit Unions,e-mail,e-Statements,email,email marketing,Facebook,smart marketing,Social media,Twitter — Tags: Bank Marketing Strategy, Jim Marous — admin @ 11:15 am

by Ron Daly

Jim Marous just did a fantastic story over on his blog, Bank Marketing Strategy. In it, he showed the results of a study he did about bank and credit union marketing strategy, conducted in conjunction with the Financial Brand‘s Jeffry Pilcher. According to their results, credit unions are heaver social media users overall whereas your “non-community banks” use progressive online media channels for advertising (banner ads, fully-online account opening, iOS apps, etc.).

But when I read the social media report, I almost fell out of my chair. Not because of the number of channels the respondents said they were using, not because of the high number of people who said they were “planning to use” social media. It was because of the number of respondents that say they were “not sure” about which social media platforms they were using.

You’re not sure? You don’t know?

How is that possible? And what’s worse, according to the post, 82% of respondents work in the marketing department of their financial institution. Of everyone in those banks or credit unions, a marketing person SHOULD know.

I know, it’s a minor quibble – there aren’t many respondents saying they’re “not sure”. But six out of forty-six bank respondents not knowing whether or not their company has a blog? A blog typically sits on the website. That’s something anyone who knows your web address should know. Shameful.

Why am I getting worked up about this? Because it’s foolish. Not knowing whether or not you’re using a particular social network? That’s a problem. Because if you’re not sure, then you’re ALSO not sure that someone ELSE isn’t MISrepresenting you in that space. And you’re ALSO not sure that there’s not a “[Your FI's Name Here] Sucks” page out there. And you’re ALSO not sure that an employee is or isn’t following guidelines.

If Jim Marous and Jeffry Pilcher decide to do this study again next year (and I hope they do, because this is some great info), I hope there’s a big fat zero next to every “not sure” on that chart. Because when it comes to your financial institution’s reputation and customer/member relationships, you can’t afford to be ignorant.

[Click here to learn more about DigitalMailer's new Social Monitoring tool, SocialSentry.]

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January 4, 2012

DigitalMailer is back! And so is Winter…

Filed under: DigitalMailer,e-mail,e-Statements,electronic statements,email marketing,Marketing — admin @ 10:22 am

by Ron Daly

Brrrrr! It’s freezing out there!

We got through November and December of 2011 without a lot of scary Winter weather. Christmas was a cool-but-manageable 57º Fahrenheit here in town and everyone had a lovely holiday. But the first week of 2012 has seen a big shift. It was 19º on my drive in and won’t get much higher than that today. Yesterday, it blew down a blizzard for a few fleeting moments – not enough to stop traffic, but enough to get the attention of everyone here at DMI world headquarters.

But worry not, o faithful reader! We’re not letting Old Man Winter get the best of us. We’ve got plenty of hot coffee and a spiffy new set of offices that are temperature controlled to ensure you get all your problems solved, your statements loaded and your emails delivered.

We’re going to be making some additions to our site that will make it easier to spread the word about our company, our mission, and our passion for helping our clients. So please, tell a friend or a colleague about us. Tell them to sign up for our newsletter, a once-per-month collection of stories and talking points that goes straight to your email inbox. Tell them to check out the rest of our site, as well as our Facebook page and Twitter feed for more info.

Whatever you do, be sure to keep coming back to the DigitalMailer blog every week. Because no matter how cold it is outside, we’re determined to make 2012 our hottest year ever!

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November 10, 2011

The Losing Team

Filed under: Banks,Credit Unions,e-Statements,electronic statements,enrollment campaigns,eStrategy,smart marketing,technology,web sites — admin @ 11:15 am

by Jimmy Marks

I had to learn how to be a good sport. It took a lot of time and I still don’t love a loss, but for the most part, I remember when I’m dealing with a game.

My nephew was recently in the championship game for youth flag football. He and his team played a team much bigger than themselves and they held them through the scoreless first half, but were eventually outgunned. They lost. And my nephew did something really surprising…

He high-fived the other team, sat down for his chat with the coach, and then went on his merry way. He wasn’t upset, he didn’t cry or get angry, he was just fine. He’s a good kid, and he’s no sore loser. It was inspiring.

Sometimes, it’s okay to be on the losing team. I guess it all depends what you’re losing.

Which is why DigitalMailer clients across the country are joining us in our quest to “Move It & Lose It”. And I’m joining the losing team for a goal of my own.

See, from now through January 31, 2012, our eStatement clients are going to be creating and running campaigns and changing their eStatement enrollment strategies to try and have the highest amount of enrollments. The winners will be getting an iPad 2 to either give away or use at their branch (for whatever reasons they choose…the SMART folks know they’re great for chatting with branch visitors and showing them important info that just won’t translate to paper).

To show that we’ve got something at stake ourselves, I’ve decided to try and lose twenty pounds by January 31. I’ve gotten off to a rocky start – it’s tough to will myself onto a treadmill, but I’ve cut a lot of sugar and fat out of my diet. I’m hoping to get a little better every week, just as our clients are trying to add more eStatement users day by day.

What are the clients “losing”?

Costs. Specifically, printing and postage costs. It takes a lot of money to mail statements every month and a simple switch can make a world of difference. Electronic statements are easy-to-use, compliant, and best of all, cost-effective. There’s just no reason not to encourage your customers/members/users to switch. It saves you money, it saves them time (and storage space) and it makes the whole world a little simpler and a little greener.

We’d love it if you’d come join us…on the “losing” team.

If you’re a client and you’d like to get in on the fun, click here.

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October 19, 2011

Waking up to Mobile Marketing…

Filed under: DigitalMailer,e-mail,e-Statements,email marketing,enrollment campaigns,eStrategy,On-Boarding,targeted marketing,technology — admin @ 9:49 am

by Greg Crandell

I recently attended a breakfast panel program hosted by our local metro area’s business and technology publication. On the panel were folks intimately involved in mobile marketing, either as advertising and consulting services providers or as leaders in B-2-C companies. They were asked a number of questions by the moderator regarding the current state of mobile marketing, and its impact on traditional marketing. They were also asked to comment on some current trends in mobile marketing. Their answers, and their observations, were well worth getting up early to hear.

When commenting on the current state of mobile marketing, the panelists spoke of the “always mobile, always on” state of today’s consumers. They pointed out that up to 40% of mobile users are online, and mobile, while at home. The mobile platform has indeed taken its place next to the landlocked Internet device, and may be on its way to supplanting it.

Panelists also felt that “automated marketing”, stuff that is done automatically based on the mobile users’ known attributes or device channel, was likely to be the most important activity marketers could engage in to keep marketing in the mobile mix. More on automated marketing later, but what did the panelists mean when talking about keeping marketing in the mobile mix?

For these people, traditional marketing is a wounded activity. They see consumer brands driven, not by traditional marketing methods, but by consumer endorsements. And that means you can’t correct for a poor product or service by traditional branding exercises. No amount of time and money can overcome a consumer groundswell of negative feedback online. So efforts focused on convincing consumers are wasted in a world where consumers look to each other for ratings and advice.

But, even in a world moving toward brands driven by consumer endorsements, there is room to deploy traditional marketing tools such as email and direct mail. There is evidence, according to the panelists, that younger consumers (millienials) see direct mail as valid when they can tie the company and product to favorable impressions gleaned online. In other words, younger consumers react favorably to direct mail marketing that complements the work being done online, and in the mobile space, to promote endorsement and to drive interest.

The panelists said much the same thing about email marketing. They perceive it as a way to reinforce beliefs and to promote already achieved endorsements. For them, email is both a way to complement the “conversational layer” found online, and to bring “automated marketing” to the email inbox.

There is that term again – automated marketing. Just what does it mean? Well, for the panelists, and for us at DigitalMailer, it is a term that refers to all marketing efforts that use data to develop messages and uses automation to deliver them. For us at DigitalMailer, automating onboarding campaigns for new members creates easy low cost means to deliver complementary messages to folks who have chosen to do business with you. In the same way, emails that automatically operate within lending or new account platforms create the same easy to deploy and maintain marketing opportunities that once had to be scheduled and performed in ad hoc fashion year after year.

Online and mobile channels are the perfect place to automate your marketing, whether it’s messaging or surveying to learn how to serve better or to learn the messages needed to win endorsements for your worthy services. And it is automated marketing that will keep marketers “in the mix” as word-of-mouth continues to grow its brand building presence.

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April 21, 2011

Why You Should Sign Up More Users for eDocuments

Filed under: Credit Unions,DigitalMailer,e-Statements,electronic statements,green,green technology — admin @ 11:26 am

by Jimmy Marks

Tomorrow’s Earth Day – How many trees are your eStatements saving? Better yet, how much “green”?

I remember when I opened my first checking account, I was excited to get my statement in the mail. It meant I was a grown-up, finally, and I got some mail that mattered. I kept all my statements in a three-ring binder, chronologically, and I kept careful watch on my money. I didn’t have online banking for my first checking account (true story), and I didn’t get a Debit Card for months (also true…community bank and all that). My statements were my lifeline to my account. I had a checkbook with which I regularly wrote checks. I was a money guy at last.

One day, after many years of use, I simply stopped using my account. I withdrew the $92 left in it and closed it for good.

My binder was filled to overflowing with paper that no longer mattered.

Too much stuff, not enough space!

You’ve all seen those infomercials, the ones for the vacuum bags that you keep your winter clothes in during summer months. Well, flatten two hundred sheets of paper and you get…the same sized stack of paper. Suck out all the air you want, you’re not going to get it much flatter.

Paper statements, invoices, bills – they all suffer from displacement. Your paper documents will take up space in your life. That might not seem significant, but they all had to come from somewhere. A tree got knocked down, chopped, pulped, bleached, smoothed, cut, boxed, watermarked, printed on, and then shipped. To you. You’re part of that cycle.

What’s the difference? None, really…

Online documents have all the same content, they’re delivered in the same time frame, they don’t require postage or printing…you’re not losing anything but cost. CUNA recently did a story about “going green” in which they talk about the sometimes-higher costs of trying to eat organic, use alternative energy, and minimize carbon footprint with alternative appliances. The amount of money and effort that goes into gaining new users can be easily offset by the savings you’ll get bringing them to online statements instead of mailing them a big package of papers every month.

More users, more savings. Simple, right?

Our Green Check-Up page is still up and running. Go enter your numbers, see how much you’re saving and how much you COULD be saving. See how many trees your efforts are saving, too. Twitter and Facebook about it. Go nuts, it’s free.

Click here to go over to the Green Check-Up page.

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April 7, 2011

Postage is rising…are your costs?

Filed under: Budget Stretching Ideas,e-Statements,One Click,One Click Campaign,technology — Tags: e-statement, enrollment, increase, One Click, postage — admin @ 12:00 pm

by Ron Daly

I got an email today reminding me that postage is going up on letters that weigh more than one ounce on April 17 of this year. Great, MORE costs for postage and printing. Maybe on April 15 (after your taxes are mailed off, of course) you should have a meeting about your direct mail and statement costs.

“But we’ve tried!” you say. “Everyone’s already signed up for eStatements that wants them! We can’t do more!”

Plenty of folks have said that. Our One-Click enrollment program makes it easy to get paper statement users to opt-in to estatements. Take it from Scott Van Vorst from Jersey Shore Federal Credit Union:

“Our credit union management was looking to reduce mailed statement costs. “Going Green” campaign inserts and website encouraged members to enroll for our e-Statements and other electronic services. When DigitalMailer heard of our project, they offered an affordable time- and money-saving email service to help with a one-click e-Statements enrollment process.After the first mailing, our e-Statements enrollments increased 470% from the first month of the campaign with non-home banking members making up 18% of those enrollments. With such proactive and effective service, DigitalMailer continues to be a value-added business partner of Jersey Shore Federal Credit Union.”

Pretty impressive, huh? You can do it, too. Visit our one-click enrollment page to learn more.

Want to find out how much you’re saving with your eStatement users? Use our green calculator to find out! Enter your total members, eStatement users, online banking users and general email address numbers and hit “Diagnosis”. You’ll see how many trees you’re saving, the estimated cost savings with eStatements, and more.

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Categories

The DigitalMailer Blog

Thoughts on the State of the (Credit) Union (and Bank Marketing Survey), 2013

DigitalMailer Benchmarks: How many of your consumers should be using eStatements?

Who “Lost It” in 2011?

DigitalMailer is back! And so is Winter…

The Losing Team

Waking up to Mobile Marketing…

Why You Should Sign Up More Users for eDocuments

Click here to go over to the Green Check-Up page.

Postage is rising…are your costs?

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