WaMu Welcome to Online Business Banking
I recently opened a business checking account at WaMu and logged onto online banking for the first time yesterday (see note 1). The 4-step process was done completely online, which, while user friendly, may not be the best idea security-wise. Anyone with enough detail about my business would have been able to log in and abscond with my $100 opening deposit. That's a topic for another day.

I was impressed how well the process worked and that the bank sent an immediate message to my email address welcoming me to online banking. It's a good message, presenting nine bullet-pointed account benefits and encouraging me to sign up for Business Bill Pay with another four bullet points.

The only thing that could be improved is the bare-bones signature area. It would be much better if my business banker and/or branch manager signed it, with an actual signature if possible. However, I'd accept someone from the central customer service area if they used an actual name and provided contact info within the letter.

Finally, the bank is missing an opportunity here to see if my initial experience has been positive. There should be a line that says something like "Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns about your new account" (note 2). Even better would be a short survey to provide feedback on the account-opening process.

Overall, I give it an A-.

Valentine's Day from Virgin Money
While I don't think Valentine's Day represents a particularly strong marketing opportunity for banks, at least one financial services company marked the date with an email to its customers (see note 3). Virgin Money sent this simple message to its customers yesterday morning (7:01 AM Pacific).  

Notes:

1. I opened the checking account in the branch because it was a corporate account with multiple signers. The business banker offered to set up online banking for me, but I declined so that I could see how the process worked.

2. In fact, I did have trouble ordering paper checks for the new account, something the bank could easily fix if they realized they had the problem. A feedback mechanism in the welcome letter would provide plenty of good ideas from new customers, and the occasional headache, of course. 

3. I purchased a $99 loan package from Virgin Money in December (see Online Banking Report #150 for more info). Sadly, only four Valentines greetings made it through my spam filters yesterday. My wife (thanks, honey), HP Logoworks, the alumni association from Iowa State University, and Virgin Money. An interesting mix.

As promised in its teaser print buy, American Express delivered my Plum Card invitation in the wee hours Monday morning (2:06 AM Pacific time, see screenshot below). The message, with my first and last name in the salutation, was short and sweet and directed me back to the main website to apply at <plumcard.com>.

It's all first class work, but the generic call-to-action surprised me a bit since I'd put my name on the "wait list" last week (see post here). I expected a more personalized invitation and link. The website doesn't appear to recognize me either (see screenshot below).

Email Invitation (1 Nov 2007)

Plum Card homepage (5 Nov. 2007)

Personalization of the subject line is less common in financial services marketing. Although the technique doesn't guarantee a response lift, it's a good variable to test (note 1).

InsWeb encourages customers to review their insurance coverage every six months with an eight-minute survey that begins within the body of the email.

The company creates interest by claiming a $301 average savings on a six-month policy. If accurate, it's a great ROI on the eight minutes required to complete the online form. It would be interesting to see a bank or credit union use this technique to market other financial services, such as deposits or home equity loans.

Email Characteristics

Date: Mon. 8 Oct, 2007

Time: 3:02 PM Pacific

Subject: Bruene Auto Insurance Review

From: InsWeb Customer Care InsWeb@mailer.insweb.com

To: jim@netbanker.com

Personalization: Subject line

Full Message

 Landing Page 

Note:

1. See our Online Banking Report on Email Marketing.

With the personal finance news full of reports of falling deposit rates, EverBank strikes back with an eye-catching email overview of its high-yield deposit choices:

• Yield Pledge Money Market
• Yield Pledge CDs
• FreeNet Checking

The bank's yield pledge, to always offer a rate in the top 5% nationwide, helps take the customer's mind off the actual rate itself, which may not be as high as they'd like (see screenshot below). Not that EverBank isn't competitive on rates. The bank still offers 5% APY's in a number of key deposit products including its Money Market account and most CDs. And it sweetens the pot for new customers with 3-month introductory rates of 6%.

Analysis
Nicely done email with an appropriate, and eye-catching graphic, to-the-point copy, personalization, the yield pledge, and links to all the right places.  

Grade: A

Email header 

Sent: Tue 9/25/2007 2:04 PM
From: EverBank News [service@everbank.com]
To: <your email address>
Subject: 3 high-yield accounts - to fit your style

Personalization: First name in salutation

Email body

Some companies are so innovative, you take them for granted. Five that come to mind, in no particular order:

• Yodlee: account aggregation, credit card-based bill payment, mobile banking
• Vancity (Canada): microcredit, green banking, blogging, community involvement
• Wells Fargo: simple expense tracker, blogging, Second Life
• PayPal: email-based payments, confirmation via twin deposits, integration into eBay (before it was part of eBay)
• Prosper: Social lending, open API to most of its aggregated data, groups, auction style, Facebook app (game)

These companies are all relatively famous, but one that doesn't get nearly as much press, but has long pushed forward on a number of fronts is Everbank. From its website design (here), product marketing (here), to its foreign-currency certificates of deposit (here), the Jacksonville, FL-based bank continues to shine in an increasingly crowded online space (all previous coverage here). 

My inspiration for this post (see note) was the bank's marketing email today announcing its World Energy Index CD, a multi-currency certificate pegged to the currency of four western countries with better-than-average energy resources: Norway, Canada, UK, and Australia. I have no idea if this CD is a good investment, but I do know that Everbank has proven that even the narrowest niches can be profitable using the reach of the Internet.

Everbank Email

Header:
   Date/Time received: July 17, 4:07 PM (Pacific)
   From: Everbank News [service@everbank.com]
   To: James [jim@netbanker.com]
   Title: A new CD with a powerful combination - energy and currencies

Customer type: Current checking account customer

Personalization: First name in salutation

Landing page: none (homepage link only) 

Other offer: Third-party investment newsletter offer (link on right-hand side goes directly to newsletter publisher, Agora Financial Publications, landing page here)

Note: I have had an account for ten years at Everbank. Therefore, I see more of their marketing material and tend to write about them more frequently.

This week, I took a two-day break from writing the next issue of Online Banking Report, an update to our popular report on Credit Bureau Monitoring and Identity Fraud Protection (2002 report here), to attend the Mobile Commerce Summit. 

Much to my surprise, an email received today nicely integrates those two topics. The offer sent was sent with the subject, "Mobile Identity Theft Protection," and it came from WireFly an online wireless reseller where I'd previously purchased a Blackberry.   

Very interested to see the mobile connection, I looked at the full message (below), a well-crafted offer for Identity Guard services from Intersections. The seemingly to-good-to-be-true offer: a full year of credit monitoring, with SMS alerts, free of charge.

Apparently, Intersections, like PayPal and SunTrust, is using free credit report monitoring as an introduction to its full-service credit report and ID theft protection services. It's an aggressive move that has repercussions for the industry. We'll look at its strategy in detail in the new report to be published in July.

Here's a timely email from Bank of America, inviting its credit card customers to start the year off with a 3.99% balance-transfer offer. But the savings won't last long, since the rate resets after August 2007.

Here are the specs:

• Subject: Use your Bank of America® credit card today.
• From: Bank of America [BankofAmerica@loyaltyemail.bankofamerica.com]
• To: jim@netbanker.com
• Product type: Credit card balance transfer
• Offer: 3.99% through August 2007 (cash advance fee NOT waived)
• Customer type: Mailed to current credit card customers
• Personalization: Full name and last 4 digits of account number

Screenshots:

Email body

Landing page

Boeing Employees Credit Union <becu.org> starts the holiday shopping season off with an email pitch for its prepaid MasterCard gift card. At $2.50 each, they are a bit less expensive than one hanging in Safeway for $4.95. However, the CU neglected to disclose dormant account fees, a significant issue with consumer advocates.

It's too bad you can't order the cards online. Ideally, members should be able to order with a single click (or two) right from within the online banking function. Maybe next year.

Screenshot (click to enlarge)

Classification

Type: Marketing email for prepaid debit
Product: Prepaid debit cash card (MasterCard)
Offer: None (cost is $2.50 plus the cash value)
Customer Type: Sent to nonmembers
Personalization: None
Links: None
Call to action: Toll-free phone, branch

Header

Date received: Tues 11/28/2006 6:08 AM
From: BECU [reply27974@enews.becu.org]
To: Jim Bruene
Subject: BECU Gift Cards Make the Perfect Holiday Gift

Comments

• Even if gift cards cannot be ordered online, the credit union should include a link or URL for more information. Since many email recipients will automatically go to BECU's website to purchase, it would be helpful to specifically mention the cards cannot be ordered online, and why.
• The opt-out and CAN-SPAM disclosures could be better designed.
• Add disclosures for any monthly fees that kick in if the value is not used by a certain date.

More than 70% of business-email users view most or all of their email messages in the preview pane.* Depending on screen size, resolution, and window sizing, the real estate available in the preview pane can be relatively small.

When designing messages, be sure to put the most important information in the upper-left corner to maximize visibility in the preview pane.

Here is a poorly designed email Chase sent to confirm posting of a credit card payment. It requires users to scroll right to view Chase's logo and log-in button. Here's how it looks on my 12-inch laptop screen running at 1024 x 768:

What not to do from Chase:

Better design from Bank of America graphics flush left:

(Note: BofA shows the last four digits of your account number; we changed them to xxxx in the screenshot above.)

Action Items
Even though it's just a routing email message, the poor layout makes it look like a phishing message. Chase could clean this up with just a few minutes of programming work. While they are at it, they should add a personal greeting and additional text disclosures to make it look less phishy. 

*For more information, read our Online Banking Report #129/139, Email Marketing for Financial Services.

How do you convince already-registered users to sign up for your latest email newsletter? One way is to offer an incentive. Earlier this week, the Seattle Supersonics offered users the chance to win a $500 shopping spree if they logged into their account and opted-in for the latest email newsletter.

An even more effective method was demonstrated by the New York Times today in the online version of its Business Section. In the upper-right corner, the user's existing email address is shown, along with a sign-up button (see screenshot below). All it takes is a single click to begin receiving the daily DealBook email.

The newspaper also provides a link to view a sample of the newsletter, a proven strategy for increasing response, and links to its Privacy Policy and back to account preferences to change the email address.

Once users click on the sign-up button, the text is changed to a thank-you message along with a link to change email preferences (see inset above).

I'm a sucker for holiday-themed messages. There's something about a big, well-timed graphic that makes an email stand out from the crowd.

Here's the latest from TrueCredit, a prolific emailer to ex-customers such as myself. I usually hear from them every week or two.

Date: Tue 24 Oct 2006 9:27 AM
From: TrueCredit [truecredit@email.truecredit.com]
Subject: Autumn Special: James's 3 credit scores

Personalization used: My first name in the subject and message body

Everbank <everbank.com> has been an active emailer, sending a newsletter every few months for the seven years I've maintained an account there. The newsletters have always been chock full of content, from general finance topics to detailed discussions revolving around the bank's unique currency- and commodity-related products.

The newsletter design has evolved with the times, from plain text in the 1990s to the well-designed HTML missive we received last night (see below). The short headlines letter encourages customers to click through and read the full document at the Everbank website (see End Notes).

Email Sample
Date/Time: Oct. 11, 2006, 8:59 PM (received 10:24 PM Pacific Time)
From: EverBank [service@everbank.com]
To: James
Title: Are commodities worthy? Find out in the latest EverBanker newsletter
Personalization: Dear <firstname>
Signature: EverBank Customer Care

Analysis
Email
There is little to criticize. The short email is direct and to the point. Its layout lends itself well to viewing within the preview pane. The small "did you know" box adds an element of interest, and the drop-shadow makes it stand out. 

With four major articles, it makes sense to send just the headlines and ask the reader to click through to the website to read the full article. However, the bank should use the standard convention of hyperlinking each article directly to the appropriate place on the website.

The bank does include two hyperlinks to the Web-based newsletter, a "click here" in the first paragraph and a "read it today" at the end. However, for even better usability, the bank should add a big shiny button that leads directly to the Web version.

Web-based Newsletter
The website demonstrates good usability in its layout and content. A synopsis of each article is provided on the main page and users click through to read the complete article. It's useful and well-written information, better than a lot of what you read in mainstream consumer-finance publications. We especially liked the "whatever happened to" look-back at some recent initiatives, such as Check 21, and the overview of consumer-protection laws.

As good as the newsletter is, we couldn't stop thinking that it would work much better as a blog. That way, readers could pursue subject threads and more easily peruse all that Everbank provides. The bank could also experiment with accepting comments to make the whole experience more interactive.

Overall grades:
Content: A+
Email design: A-
Website (newsletter) design: A

End Notes
Click on the following link to see a screenshot of the newsletter landing page.

Newsletter Landing Page (here's the link)

Last night, Citibank sent selected checking-account customers an email solicitation for its 4.75% APR e-Savings account. I live outside its branch network, so Citi may have elected not to send the message to customers serviced by traditional branches.

The message was direct and to the point (click on screenshot left). Citibank even included the impressive 4.75% interest rate in the message subject. The only distracting portion of the message was a garbled first word in the second paragraph. It was probably caused by incompatibilities in software rendering of the apostrophe in the first word, "there's." To avoid this type of error, make sure you proof your message in multiple email clients.

The bank continues to engender trust in its marketing messages by including the "email security" box in the upper-right corner which includes the customer's full name and last four digits of their ATM card. The security information is prominently displayed, in a blue shaded box to make it more prominent, even if the user has images blocked (see screenshot below).

The bank also includes short text messages that appear where the images would have been displayed (alt-text tags) making the message relatively readable even for users that never download the images.

Surprisingly, the landing page for the offer was a generic product page. The campaign would be much more effective if the bank had reinforced the e-Savings benefits on the landing page like it does when it advertises online (see NB March 29). Click on the following link to see a screenshot of the landing page. --JB

Appendix

Landing page
(displayed when clicking on the "signup" button in the email).

Note: I tested the link on my laptop where I am not recognized as a customer and on my desktop that saves my username in a cookie. Both times I was served the same landing page (below).

Every month we receive dozens of emails from the many financial institutions where we have accounts and also, increasingly, from non-customer mailing lists at others. As part of our expanded coverage of email marketing, we plan to post many of them here. You will be able to access the entire sample collection by clicking on the "Email Archives" subject on the right-hand navigation. Alternatively, individual emails will also be filed within their pertinent product areas, in this example, "Loans & Credit" and "Personal Financial Management."

Today's message is from US Bank <usbank.com>, which sent the following solid, but fairly boring financial organization email to current customers.   

Here's a screenshot of what appeared in my inbox. You can also view the clickable version by following this link: 

On the landing page for the "Credit Card Clean Up" link in the blue-shaded area on the right, US Bank offers a useful calculator to determine the benefit of reducing credit card debt (see below).

If you'd like to learn more about the financial email marketing, check out Email Marketing in Financial Services: Leveraging the Inbox from our sister publication, the Online Banking Report.

When your customer makes a significant purchase or signs up for online banking, make sure you take the time to send a well-designed welcome/thank-you email message. It not only helps make a good impression with your new customer, but also can pay for itself by decreasing telephone inquiries about the status of the new account. The message can also be used for SUBTLE upselling, such as a balance transfer offer for new credit card accounts.

Dell's Welcome Message

Today we received this message from Dell thanking us for purchasing a new PC. Even though we've been frequent Dell buyers for years, they are not taking us for granted. The welcome message includes friendly graphics and a short welcome message with an embedded link to the "order status" page (click on inset left for a closeup).

The bottom of the message, which requires scrolling for most users, contains key information for future use such as serial number, customer number, support numbers, rebate info and so on. There is also a link to purchase add-ons (click on inset right for a closeup).

Click here to download the entire email message on one screenshot.

--JB

It appears the pay-for-delivery email model could be gaining traction with announcements by Yahoo and AOL that they plan to start levying fees of $2.50 to $10 per thousand for guaranteed delivery. According to emarketing guru Anne Holland, who believes that these fees are inevitable, the cost to send email will roughly double for most large mailers.

Her advice:

• Make sure email addresses are accurate
• Prune inactive addresses from your list
• Segment your list into finer increments
• Look into RSS feeds for some of your messaging

We'd add:

• If you allow users to designate more than one email address, consider a nominal annual fee for the extra messages
• Along the same lines, you may want to reconsider the policy of unlimited free email alerts; changing it to a two-tiered approach with a couple free each month or unlimited for $3-$5/month

More information:

• Postage is Due for Companies Sending E-Mail, by Saul Hansell, New York Times, Feb. 5, 2006
• Report on Alerts and Emessaging (Online Banking Report #93/94)
• Report on Pricing (Online Banking Report #109)

--JB

ING Direct <ingdirect.com> is the latest bank to move to greater personalization in order to distinguish its messages from phony phishing attempts. The bank has added the customer's first name and masked all but the last three digits of the customer's number (click on inset for a closer look).

The message at left was sent to customers to market ING's latest deposit promotion: 4.75 percent APR for new money.

The same technique is also used for routine account alerts (see inset right).

Note: The high-impact sales pitch for its 4.75 percent deposit promotion.

Analysis
While it doesn't prevent phishers from attempting to recreate the same look (see footnote), it's an effective first line of defense. Besides, the personalized greeting is a friendler way to communicate with customers. Citibank has been using a similar approach for more than a year (NetBanker, May 30, 2005).

Footnote: Yesterday, we received a fake email that recreated the Citibank personalized area in the upper-right corner. The crooks just left blank the Email Security Zone in the upper-right corner, figuring many users won't look that closely at the box (click on inset for a closer look).

--JB

There is nothing like a long run of rate increases to make your deposit customers happier. You might as well take some credit; it probably won't be long before they move in the other direction.

So every time you raise rates, make sure to let customers know with an email message. Of course, this assumes competitive rates. If you are increasing from 0.45 percent to 0.65 percent, you probably want to keep that to yourself.

EverBank raised checking account rates Jan. 1 from 3 percent to 3.5 percent depending on balance levels. On Jan. 3, it sent an email with the subject (click on inset for closeup view):

You're earning more with EverBank - interest rates rise again!

Analysis
EverBank's message is straightforward. Here's what they did right:

• Included security graphic/link in upper-right corner
• Kept copy concise and to the point
• Included a chart showing rate by balance level; subtle encouragement to add funds
• Reinforced free online banking and bill pay (underneath chart)
• Cross-sold its Yield Pledge Money Market and CD for those looking for better rates; Yield Pledge products are guaranteed to offer a rate in the top 5 percent at BankRate.com
• Included toll-free phone number
• Signed by real person with real signature; in this case, Frank Trotter, president

And a shorter list of improvements:

• Personalization helps make a message look genuine, but there's no personalization in the salutation: "Greetings EverBanker!"
• Clicking through the security graphic leads to a generic page full of links to terms and conditions; the bank should create a page that specifically addresses users' security concerns, especially regarding phishing emails
• The bank should improve its unsubscribe function; currently, it's an all-or-nothing choice triggered by sending a blank email with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line; that's easy for users, but the bank's just lost an opportunity to query the customer in more detail about what they do and don't want to receive via email
• Weak P.S.: "The FreeNet Checking Account gives you the yields and the service you deserve. Bank on it!"

Grade
Overall, we'll give it an A-

--JB

Everbank <everbank.com> dropped an email solicitation (click on inset for closeup) to the registered users of SmartMoney.com. The message featured the bank's newest specialty CD, the Asian Advantage which rewards depositors with above-market returns IF the dollar falls against a bucket of Asian currencies.

Last week, the Internet-only bank dropped an 8.5 x 5.5 inch postcard mailer with a similar theme. Recipients could respond by calling toll-free 800.926.4922 or going online to www.everbank.com/asiancd.

Analysis
This is a great example of deposit product email marketing.

• Focuses on the unique selling benefits
• Good graphics and copy
• Landing page with a minimum of distracting navigation choices
• Visible call-to-action with Apply Now! button

We like the opening sentence in the postcard better than the email (see below). With an advanced investing strategy, the direct statement of how the user will earn a profit is more understandable. However, without the results of the bank's testing, it's difficult to know which pulls a better response.

   Email: "There's a great new way to invest in the active and healthy Pan-Asia currency market."
   Postcard: "Do you want to profit if Asian currencies gain on the U.S. dollar?"

Screenshots (links will not work):

1. Everbank's Asian CD full email
2. Everbank Asian CD landing page
3. Previous article on Everbank foreign-currency deposits

--JB

You may have noticed the new Chrysler ads using former CEO Lee Iacocca. The company revived the 1980s ad campaign because it was so effective at the time. However, it takes an especially charismatic company leader to make a television pitch pay off. However, through email, all it takes is a good copywriter, a striking graphic or two, and an interesting message.

You have to be careful not to overuse this technique, but once a year or so, an email from the CEO/President could be an effective relationship-builder and marketing technique.

For example, today we received a message from the CEO of Network Solutions, the original domain-name registrar (click on the inset for a closeup). We've received hundreds of message from the company over the years, but don't recall one from the CEO before. It got our attention and we looked at it long enough to determine it was selling services we weren't interested in.

But the first goal of direct marketing is to gain attention, and this technique is a sure-fire method to do that.

--JB