Since online banking is new and takes some effort to master, we think it makes sense to entice and reward new users with a usage-based sweepstakes or reward programs. Small, frequent prizes provide more opportunities to communicate with users and prospects. Case in point: SecureTax has been giving away $1,040 each Friday to a winner culled from entries received that week. Losing entrants receive an email inviting them back to enter again.

For $1,000, a bank or credit union could hold a monthly drawing for a Compaq 200 MHz PC and monitor (cost = $900), a year’s worth of free bill payments (cost = $60), and 12 movie rentals (cost = $25) to watch during their extra leisure time resulting from banking online.

Run the content for six months with contestants getting an automatic entry each time they log in to your Web for home banking (limit one entry per day) and/or each time they pay a bill. Post winners on your Web site, and email each non-winner encouraging them to try again. The emails could include brief tips to educate users on specific online banking features. For example, “Did you know that you can transfer funds as late as 7:00 p.m. for next day credit.”

Another online game appropriate for financial institutions is a “stock market contest.” The premise is simple: bankroll players with a wad of play money and let them compete with each other over a set period of time to see who can rack up the biggest gains. Players can be divided into leagues depending on age, experience, profession, bank branch, etc. Post the results on your Web with automatic daily portfolio value updates.