| By Jim Bruene on January 4, 2012 11:55 AM | Comments (4) |
I glanced at my ING Direct eStatement alert today (screenshot below) to see what they had to say in the new year. The soon-to-be-Capital-One direct bank is usually pretty creative in its copywriting. And I was not disappointed today. Here's the pitch inside the alert:
I love the idea of a "Social Network...of Savers," a Facebook-like place where friends help each other keep spending in check and achieve politically correct savings goals such as the down payment on a home, the college fund, or a rainy day reserve.
But I don't think the Facebook model works in the real world (note 1). Even though it might be interesting to follow your friends' drunk spending (note 2), most users want this info to be kept VERY private (note 3). And in most circles, money accumulation is never openly discussed. Who wants to read about someone's "trip to Tahiti" savings goal when you are trying to get off unemployment?
In its recent email, ING Direct is NOT looking to create the Facebook of savings in any way. While the bank celebrates savings throughout its marketing (e.g., Wethesavers.com), this email offer isn't about sharing with your network, it's about selling to your network to earn a $10 referral fee per new account, up to $500. And that's OK, because everyone loves to share "found money."
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ING Direct email (4 Jan 2012, 9 AM Pacific)
Referral landing page (link)
Note: There's even a Flash demo of the referral split for the math challenged.
Notes:
1. I'm not saying that all sharing is a dead end. For example, sharing savings/spending goals can work very well within tight-knit groups such as extended families. And compiled/masked data about peer spending/savings is very promising (see Citi's Bundle joint venture). Finally, there are numerous opportunities for "social investing" (our 2008 Online Banking Report on the subject), because it's much more complicated and often openly discussed.
2. There is room for "social savings" in the context of sharing discounts, money-savings tips, and so on. But that's not what ING Direct is talking about in this message.
3. Hence the pivots by the two "class of 2010" startups, Blippy and Swipely, which were founded on a "transaction-sharing" model.
4. And the bank makes its win-win. The new customer gets the biggest share, $25 for a savings account, a 70/30 split of the $35 up for grabs. New checking customers get $50, from an 85/15 split of $60.
5. For info on family banking, deposit gathering, transaction sharing, social investing, and much more, see our subscription newsletter, Online Banking Report.
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Many credit unions in shared branching have a program that is already in place like this. It is great for young families.
It is called PiggyBanc.
www.piggybanc.com
This marketing strategy is precisely why I opened my ING account years ago. It was the same offer (free money for me and the friend who invited me), but the messaging was different. I like the ING approach given in this example, current and progressive much like its company brand. This "refer-a-friend" model has been successful in other channels (Dropbox is the first that comes to mind), so it will be interesting to see how it plays out for banks. Financial "sharing" may not take off, but just like Facebook people vary when it comes to sharing personal information. Some will be more inclined to embrace this type of network than others.
I think that you can create a social site of anything nowadays and that's including Savings Accounts. I believe that the concept of having a social network of savers is cool.
I can really see hundreds of individuals joining a network simply because they want to share information about how their saving plans are working.
I communicate with people often about their savings and I tell them about mine.
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