The DigitalMailer Blog

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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July 26, 2011

Searching – How the Internet is Changing Finance’s Relationship to Consumers and vice-versa

Filed under: Credit Union News,Credit Union Tech,e-mail,email,email marketing,Marketing,targeted marketing,technology,web sites — admin @ 2:29 pm

by Greg Crandell

Research used to be a chore. If you were researching a broad topic, you had to go to your very expensive set of encyclopedias. If you wanted to know about something more modern and changing, you had to visit a library (gasp!). The Internet changed all that by making everything you could ever want to know easy to access and easy to act on, whether it’s on your computer or on your smart phone.

The more our lives are made simple by the Internet, the more we come to lean on it and the more frustrated we get when we don’t have it. While these past twenty years have seen great strides forward for the Internet, banks and credit unions stay behind the curve. Many financial institutions don’t realize how much information is out there and how far removed their websites and marketing efforts are compared to the billion dollar institutions that drown search engines in traffic and links.

As Terry Jones of Travelocity.com wrote about in a recent CU Times article:

Over 50% of U.S. retail will be affected by Internet search in just two years. And that has changed the world of marketing.

Marketing used to be a one-way street–the brand talking to you. Now marketing is a two-way street as consumers are involved and engaged with blogs, wikis, shared video and social networks. And perhaps this is why Yellow Pages sales are expected to decrease 40% during the next four years.

One of the best ways to build trust with a prospective client is to tell them what other people think. Online retailers do that with reviews. In your world, testimonials serve the same purpose. Testimonials are a very powerful way to begin to build trust.

Once a client has purchased, use email to effectively deepen your relationship. Email can cross sell, introduce new products and keep you top of mind.

Good points, all. I wrote a response to this article as a letter to the editor, an excerpt of which is below.

Today’s credit unions must keep up. That means developing a strong online presence, a personalized email messaging program, a system to offer mobile access and notifications, and an interactive, two-way marketing focus. Credit unions need to be available and make information easily accessible 24/7. It’s what today’s members expect.

We are an industry that was built on personal relationships. But even in a relationship business – and I would argue especially in a relationship business–connecting with today’s members using traditional and digital means is a smart strategy for success. The time to make a commitment to digital is now.

It’s those personal, powerful connections, combined with instant access to information and very little breakage/confusion that are going to pull the smart credit unions along while others fail. Having an online banking product, a website, and emails that stand out and make a case, not to every consumer but to the individual will mean everything.

Financial institutions also need to learn that “searching” is a two-way street. Yes, customers and members can look up information about you and your competitors all they want. Your information about them is, likewise, very powerful. Take a look at this article from Roger Ahern of Experian:

Critical decisions regarding creditworthiness, fraud prevention or lifelong customer loyalty can be made (or lost) with each transaction. Increasingly, these transactions are as anonymous as a drive-through order box. With more and more Net-savvy customers conducting business online or via mobile devices, the window for up-selling or making critical risk assessments is open very briefly.

Instant prescreening becomes even more critical when used as an upstream filter to prevent fraud, increase revenue and minimize losses on applicants with the highest risk. Using powerful decisioning capabilities, the instant prescreen process accesses current credit information in real time via a “soft” inquiry (which doesn’t impact the customer’s credit report) and calculates predictive variables as well as fraud and risk scores.

The process then provides an assessment of whether a candidate should be prequalified and, if so, which specific offer best fits the customer’s needs. These scoring values can be set to adjustable thresholds depending on the value of the offer or the acceptable risk tolerance.

In short, yes, being easy to find and easy to use is important. But it’s just as important to find all the information available to you about your consumer and market smart, not hard.

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February 7, 2011

Why would anyone go to a car dealer anymore?

Filed under: Credit Union News,Credit Unions — Tags: auction, auto loans, buying, cars, Northwest Federal Credit Union, NWFCU — admin @ 10:31 am

by Ron Daly

[This post originally ran on the CU Soapbox]

Did you hear the news that January new car sales are up 15%. And I’m happy to report that my family is one of the contributors to the rise in car sales. Yes, after two years of paying off debt and my wife driving a 2003 lease turn-in with over 100K miles, we decided the time was right to get her a new ride.

She researched models, read reviews, created our “price range” and even bravely test drove five cars without the intent of buying any of them. Her secret, telling the car salesmen that she still needed to test drive other models before deciding on the one she wanted. It only became a small white lie when she was down to the last one.

After the research, she found the exact car with all the options she wanted at a local dealer online. We went to the dealer and, after the sticker shock wore off, took the car for a spin. Now for the fun part… we made an offer on the car. As we patiently sat there playing the haggling game for about and hour and half over price and trade-in, we both decided we should just walk away and left without her dream car.

Now, we are not ones to give up easily. We called the sales guy the next day and restated our offer which was politely rejected. Being credit union folks, we decided we’d take another approach and see if our Northwest FCU car locator service could find us a similar car or get the exact car that we test drove that weekend.

Get this – by noon the CU Manager had secured the exact car she was looking for, for $3,000 less than what we had offered the dealer on Saturday and Sunday. As for the trade-in, the dealer wanted to give $6,300, CarMax offered $7,000 and the CU Car Wholesaler that came on site at NWFCU wrote us a check on the spot for $7,500. (CU savings $3,500 so far). The car was then delivered to the credit union where a salesman picked up the loan check from NWFCU and gave my wife a tour of her new dream car in the CU parking lot. This entire process was FANTASTIC!

So my questions – 1) why would anyone go to a car dealer anymore and 2) if you offer this type of service, how well do you promote it? 3) Or get members to spread the word?

Car dealers scare me and frankly, the only person I like to argue with is my wife. As Northwest FCU members we were saved money on the purchase and trade-in, got a great rate on the loan and had a hassle free experience. We are thrilled and telling everyone we know about the great service our credit union provided. Spread the word… we love our credit union!

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January 12, 2011

Social Media’s Still Around…What’re You Doing About It?

Filed under: Blogging,Credit Union News,Credit Unions,Financial News,Generation-Y Marketing,smart marketing,Social media,technology — admin @ 1:19 pm

by Jimmy Marks

Yep, I was just as surprised as you. People are still bothering with this “social media” falderal! How about that!

What’s more impressive than social networks’ popularity is the impact they have had on the finance industry. Recently, Aite Group did a study in which 90% of the respondents said they’d have a dedicated budget for social media by 2012. That’s pretty impressive, given the sheer number of people that have no clue where to begin (that same Aite Group report found that 71% of respondents considered themselves beginners and “non-experts” when it came to social media).

With that in mind, we thought we’d point you to some resources that might be helpful to you.

Credit Unions Talk About Social Media [click here to view]

This white-paper is hosted on the Kansas Credit Union Association website and has some insight from ten credit unions that are “engaged” in social media. The content and the approach to the subject is very clinical, but there is some interesting insight to be found there. Give it a read.

5 Ways Financial Institutions Can Use Social Media* [click here to view]

The asterisk is “Along with some fairly significant caveats”. Jeffry Pilcher of the Financial Brand wrote a hackles-raising article called “Why Social Media Is a Waste of Time for Most Banks & Credit Unions“. It made a lot of people happy and it made a lot of people angry. A blogger’s dream.

Around one month later, Pilcher created the article mentioned above that gives five ways financial institutions can use social networking to their advantage. It’s very matter-of-fact, but maybe that’s what some FIs need. For the most part, the article discusses the practical application of the channel and the kind of self-reflection that needs to happen before an FI gets involved. Go read it.

Here’s hoping you find something helpful in all this. DigitalMailer will happily include any links/share buttons to YOUR social media content in emails you send via the ARB. If you’re really serious about starting, we can even help you get set up! Contact your account manager or email us to talk about it.

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December 1, 2010

When Dodd-Frank Comes, Can You Comply?

Filed under: Compliance,Credit Union News — admin @ 1:07 pm

by Ron Daly

I read an interesting article on “The Works” blog regarding the Dodd-Frank Act. While the blog post gives the broad strokes of Dodd-Frank, it states very frankly the problem: nobody knows what the Act will do.

Sure, interchange will be affected and CUs with more than $1 Billion in assets will have to report their executive compensation. But what else do we know?

From the post:

Based on what we do and don’t know, credit unions can get a head start on planning for the future. The problem is, however, we don’t know what we don’t know! Meaning, we don’t know what the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has in store for us beyond what is explicitly detailed in the Act. The CFPB will have the ability to autonomously write rules for consumer protections governing all financial institutions, including credit unions. Does this mean the CFPB will rewrite Regulations B or Z? No one really knows.

So, we have a new act and a new bureau that no one fully understands. Our friend Anthony Demangone at the NAFCU Compliance Blog has some insight into this forthcoming year:

…I see a top compliance or regulatory issue to be staff burnout. Compliance changes have occurred continuously for the past two-plus years. I don’t see the rate declining any time soon. Elizabeth Warren just announced that credit card disclosures will be a top priority for the new agency. Financial institutions just completed a total overhaul regarding credit card disclosures. That’s just one example. On the horizon will be numerous changes to mortgage lending, a major rule on debit card interchange, a new financial regulator, as well as tougher exams from regulators. In addition, with the economy far from recovery, all this is happening in an age of tight budgets.

…I see another major issue in 2011 to be how financial institutions maintain and attract the regulatory/compliance staff needed to deal with the new reality. Regulations come fast and furious. Examiners are demanding more. Financial institutions will need the right people to manage this process. In addition, when the economy turns around, they’ll need to find ways to keep their staff from leaving to competitors.

For Reg E, our goal was to smooth the process of contacting members and getting them to opt-in to overdraft protection (courtesy pay, etc.). The key to making it work was consistent communication and ease-of-use. We offer a similar package for all your other compliance needs – and still for Reg E, if you’re looking for further opt-ins.

Click here to visit our Compliance Communication Page.

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September 27, 2010

Monthly News or Monthly Snooze? Keeping your eNewsletter from lining an eBirdcage.

Filed under: Credit Union News,e-mail,Uncategorized — Tags: Newsletters — admin @ 8:04 pm

by Ron Daly

I read a great article from CopyBlogger.com about email newsletters called “Five Reasons Why No One is Reading Your Email Newsletter”. It’s a topic that’s near and dear to my heart as both a person that helps businesses put together their newsletters and a person who’s responsible for a newsletter every month. You want to make something that people will read and not just trash the minute it comes in.

The five reasons (or “mistakes” as they’re called in the article):

1) Your newsletter isn’t helpful

I strive to include articles each month that help businesses and financial institutions manage their online information in a better way. Maybe it’s as simple as an article about improving calls-to-action in emails, maybe it’s about making better banner ads- whatever it is, it’s a little advice I’m willing to give away for free.

Sean D’Souza, author of the post, had this to add:

“You know very well that non-stop shameless self-promotion doesn’t exactly endear you to others, and of course you’d never make every single newsletter into a pitch…yet most folks can’t help themselves. They mean to write something useful, they mean to be helpful, but they end up being self-promotional because it’s easier.”

2) Your voice isn’t particularly compelling

This is a tough thing for non-writers to master. When everyone’s taught the same rules for writing in the English language, we wind up with unimaginative writing from people who never took the time to break those rules and establish a “voice” of their own. Does your writing sound like you would sound if you were sharing information with someone face-to-face?

And maybe more importantly, since I know it’s mostly finance folks reading this – is someone writing your newsletter? Is it coming from one person or a team? Is there an expert on a topic writing about their topic or is it one person covering “current events” in general? Keep that in mind.

3) You’re not telling stories

We love stories. When we sit down to put together our own newsletter month-to-month, we ask ourselves “where’s the story?” Which business benefitted from our knowledge that month, and how can we share their story with others who might be in the same situation?

Sharing the story of NWFCU’s collection program got more people interested in collection reminders via email. Telling people about Reg E successes from credit unions around the country got the attention of other folks interested in regulatory compliance packages. As D’Souza said in the same article, “…nothing gets your readers engaged like the color and drama of a good story.” The drama’s already there, because what one bank or credit union feels, the others feel…you just need the details to flesh it out.

4) You have a half-hearted call to action

D’Souza makes it seem pretty simple. His theory: you have to walk readers through their next steps with your calls to action. Want them to comment on a blog post? Ask them to do so. Want them to buy something? Tell them that’s what you want.

5) You don’t have a specific frequency

Going back and forth with content is easy to do online – you’re not pegged to deadlines as you would be in print. Making sure you send your newsletter around the same time each month and sticking to it will create a schedule in the mind of your reader and they might even start to look forward to it. Too frequently or sent at varying times might mean readers become detached and dislike your newsletter.

Treat it like any other monthly task – take the time to do it and do it well.

Hopefully, you’ve taken a look at your newsletter and have decided to make a few changes. If you want to start evaluating your ROI and your newsletter penetration, the Automatic Relationship Builder can help. Go to our ARB page to learn more.

Our newsletter is monthly, handy and free! Click here to sign up.

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June 3, 2010

When does nine equal eighty?

Filed under: Credit Union News,e-mail,email,email marketing,Reg E,targeted marketing — Tags: August 15, email marketing, out-bound calling, Reg E, Regulation E — admin @ 3:28 pm

by Ron Daly

Two plus two equals four. A negative times a positive equals a negative. Nine is equal to…eighty?

I found that hard to believe, too. But it’s all right here in this month’s Transaction News. According to the article, titled “What Banks Should Know About Consumer’s Thoughts on Reg E” (click here to read the article), only nine percent of bank customers contribute eighty percent of NSF fees.

I’ve been extolling the virtues of targeted marketing for years now. Why bother blasting? If there’s a target that’s clearly defined, aim for it. This is the perfect example of a market that’s easy for you to see and reach out to via email and calls.

17% of all households are listed as “very likely” or “extremely likely” to opt in to overdraft protection, whereas 51% of households have NO intention of opting in because they have never had overdrafts on their accounts and don’t intend to do so.

So, it seems to me there’s a little math to be done at your credit union or bank. You find out what percentage of your members has had overdrafts on their accounts. You find out which percentage had more than one. As the article says, 29% of users with previous overdrafts are likely to opt in. So that’s 29% out of that 49% you’re chasing – what about the other twenty?

(more…)

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May 27, 2010

Waiting It Out, or Just Not Getting On Board?

Filed under: Credit Union News,Credit Unions,On-Boarding — Tags: Deadline, Opt-In, Reg E — admin @ 5:47 pm

by Ron Daly

[This article originally ran on CUSoapbox.com]

There’s an old joke about a guy who lives at the foot of a volcano. The volcano erupts, spilling lava toward his home and his village. His neighbors hop in their car and say “Our car is fast, we can get away in time. Come with us.”

“No,” says the man, “God will come for me and save me from the lava.”

Later on, the lava has reached his porch and burned off the front steps and the siding. The man climbs to the second floor of his house and a military tank full of survivors rolls by and says “Sir, jump onto the tank. We can’t get burned and we’ll keep you safe.”

“No,” says the man, “God will come for me and save me from the lava.”

The lava gets deeper, and the house starts to dissolve. The man must climb up to his roof. A helicopter drops him a rope ladder, saying “Climb up! Climb up!”

“No,” says the man, “God will come for me and save me from the lava.”

The man gets swallowed by the lava, and is reduced to ash.

He gets to Heaven and talks to God. ”I thought you’d save me!” the man said to the Almighty.

God looked confused. “I sent a car, a tank, and then a helicopter – what more do you WANT from me?!?”

Which reminds me – Reg E is still an issue.

(more…)

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April 12, 2010

Measuring Emotional Unsubscribers

Filed under: Credit Union News,e-mail,email marketing,Marketing,member enrollment — admin @ 2:01 pm

by Ron Daly

[Note - This story originally appeared in the DigitalMailer monthly newsletter. Email us today to get signed up and learn all about what DMI has to offer.]

You’ve done a good job of developing and managing a solid list of opt-in email subscribers at your organization, creating a valuable email database. But what do your subscribers do when they receive your messages?

Too often, email marketers review the number of unsubscribes to determine how many customers are disengaging from their messages. But this strategy overlooks the “emotional unsubscribers” – those who don’t hit “unsubscribe” or report your message as spam.

Some consumers report they set up multiple email accounts to help them organize the messages they receive from various companies, using one for those they want to keep and another for those they want to ignore. Others use a message’s sender name and the subject field to determine if they want to read it when it’s received. If not, they may delete it, ignore it, or move it to a folder of unwanted emails – actions more difficult to track.

To help measure your emotional unsubscribers, watch their “open and click” behaviors: Did they open the message? Did they click on a link or visit a website mentioned in it? Have they opened any of your messages in the last three or four months? If any of your subscribers fall in these categories, they’re probably disengaged.

It’s important to regularly analyze the messages you send. Some customers are turned off by messages that are overly familiar if they don’t know you. Some that assert they are informational are really thinly disguised sales pitches. And some are irrelevant to your customers. Look for trends or patterns along these lines to see if customers may be disengaging from them.

Building a meaningful list of opt-in email subscribers takes time and effort. Protect your investment by not only monitoring their unsubscribe levels, but by carefully evaluating how they respond. For help in planning your email marketing strategy or for more information on DigitalMailer’s certified email system, visit www.digitalmailer.com/arb.html or call (866) 994-4900.

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March 29, 2010

Back to the Well

Filed under: Credit Union News,Credit Unions,Marketing,marketing on a budget,smart marketing — admin @ 1:30 pm

by Greg Crandell

[Editor's Note -- Ron Daly is away this week, so Greg Crandell, DigitalMailer's Executive Vice President, will be sharing some insights on our family of blogs.]

This great article from BAI.org came across my desk the other day. Titled “Making the Cross-Sale in Difficult Times” by Katie Kuehner-Hebert [click here to read], it outlines the benefits of cross-selling for financial institutions that need more income and a deeper relationship with their members.

Some key takeaways from their article:

• Two things to overcome – product cannibalization and silo mentality. Just moving money from one account to another isn’t cross-selling. Encourage the various departments in your organization to know a little about another department and make smart, helpful referrals to members/customers.

• Get a taste for the term “needs based” – don’t waste time and effort chasing a consumer who’s not interested.

• Are you offering something that’s useful to consumers? Read the article to find more about Fifth Third Bancorp and their “Goal Setter” accounts.

• Regulation changes [like Reg E] are a hindrance to “big tent” marketing. Some target marketing isn’t just more practical, it’s essential, because certain consumers can’t/won’t qualify for every product.

• Objective Business Services, Inc recommends measuring the amount of money a consumer brings in, not just the number of products they use. A member with five accounts might be more profitable than a member with ten – it all depends which services they’re using and which they’re in the market for later on.

The article really is worth a read, and reemphasizes what we try to tell new email marketing clients and potential clients every day – target smart. Don’t be afraid to market to people who already know your value and are willing to buy. Go back to the well, there’s still plenty of water.

“What about new members?” you ask. Yes, recruiting new members should still be a focus for you, but don’t hesitate to bring new members in with a bang – look to onboarding campaigns to help you fill in the gaps in their financial picture. Maybe they just came in for a cheaper loan or a balance transfer to your credit card. What’s stopping them from switching other services to you? Talk to them and find out. Making each member a repeat consumer is vital to credit unions’ survival.

We can walk you through some of the finer points of email cross-selling. Join us for “Do You Want Fries with That?”, our free webinar. Click here to see our events list and sign up.

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The DigitalMailer Blog

Searching – How the Internet is Changing Finance’s Relationship to Consumers and vice-versa

Why would anyone go to a car dealer anymore?

When Dodd-Frank Comes, Can You Comply?

Monthly News or Monthly Snooze? Keeping your eNewsletter from lining an eBirdcage.

When does nine equal eighty?

Waiting It Out, or Just Not Getting On Board?

Measuring Emotional Unsubscribers

Back to the Well

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