Is there a single online financial services customer that wouldn't want an iPod nano? Even if you didn't like sticking white tentacles in your ears, surely someone in the extended family would graciously accept one as a gift.

At $200 a pop, it's a pricey premium, but TD Waterhouse <tdwaterhouse.com> is using it to attract new brokerage customers. Small banners located in various spots within Yahoo Finance <finance.yahoo.com> say exhort users to, "Get an iPod nano" (see inset). The brokerage doesn't actually use the word FREE in the banner or on the landing page (click on inset for a closer look); but it's certainly implied, and in fact, it is free if you follow the rules (see below). The offer is not mentioned on the broker's main website.

Details
As an industry analyst, we love these offers; not because of the flashy premium itself, but for the mountains of fine print we get to dissect. Unlike Citi's free iPod Mini offer, which has users jumping through hoops such as making at least two bill payments per month, TD's offer is pretty straightforward:

     - Open a new account with at least $50,000
     - Keep it there for at least 6 months
     - New or existing customers qualify

The biggest exclusion: RETIREMENT accounts don't qualify, nor do corporate, custodial, partnership and 529 college savings plan. Retail value is estimated at $249 and the company warns that it may be considered taxable income.

--JB

If you'd like to some more original financial marketing ideas, check out the Interactive Financial Marketing Database from our sister publication, the Online Banking Report.

TD Bank Provides Continuous User Feedback with Novel Session Logs

TD Access: Web banking from Toronto-Dominion Bank www.tdaccess.com includes a superb feature we haven’t seen before. Session History tracks user activity and provides real-time transaction confirmations. It’s a wonderful tool for users of all abilities, but especially those new to the program. We expect the feature to quickly become state-of-the-art in the industry.

TD Bank

www.tdbank.ca

TD Bank (Toronto, Ontario, Canada; 3 million checking accounts), even as it awaits the merger with CIBC to be finalized, is on an online roll. The newest program, TD Access: Web Banking launched on May 5 with a goal of 40,000 users within six months. We spoke with interactive chief Steve Gesner recently about the new program and TD’s online initiatives in general.

We were impressed by how seriously the bank takes its online banking services. With 350,000 Web visitors per month and 400,000 unique subscribers (see table) across its banking and brokerage services, you can see why. They are a profit-oriented unit developing new features at a clip more associated with software companies than banks.

The bank’s Product of the Month winner is its novel Session History feature. Though it sounds ho-hum, it’s a missing ingredient in online banking. By providing continual feedback on banking sessions, users have the peace of mind, and a printed record if they like, that every transaction they’ve entered has been recognized by the bank. Obvious, but brillliant!
Contact: Stephen Gesner is Interactive Services Manager, (416) 982-4088, gesnes@tdbank.ca .

TD’s new Web banking program includes convenient download buttons to Money and Quicken.