4 banking applications for triggered emails
It’s becoming more and more challenging to get banking customers’ attention. Breaking through is getting tougher with customers having multiple banking relationships, and marketers inundating consumers with messages.
Behavioral marketing focuses on targeting audiences based on their past and present online interactions with the company. Through accurately segmenting customers, you can increase relevancy based on a customer’s current mindset.
Triggered emails are an effective way to reach consumers when they have a greater likelihood of being open to your message. Open rates for triggered emails hit 49.8% in Q212, almost 95% higher than mass emails.1 Furthermore, the average click-through rate for triggered emails is more than double the rate for mass emails.2
Marrying triggered emails with behavioral marketing can be a powerful combination for financial institutions, and in particular for increasing penetration of services such as online and mobile banking.
Triggered email programs begin with identification of all key trigger points across the entire customer experience. Inventory customers’ interaction points with your financial institution. This includes enrollment/sign-up forms, landing pages, email and other sign-up processes within your website. The goal is to identify every possible decision and interaction point with customers.
Here are four specific applications that banks and financial institutions can consider for using triggered emails:
1. Target abandoners
Only a small percentage of prospects are ready to buy the first time they are exposed to an offer. That means the majority of users are abandoning, whether from a web page, landing page, enrollment form, or even email. These hand-raisers have indicated an interest, probably the warmest leads in the pipeline for new services. Converting these folks should be a high priority.
Consider all points of abandon, including enrollment processes for online banking, electronic statements, online bill pay, mobile banking, mobile bill pay, as well as ancillary banking services.
2. Welcome new services and new accounts
The initial 60 to 90 days have proven to be critical in helping new banking customers become adopters of a product or service. Often enrolling or purchasing is only the first step, but adoption is the critical step that converts a one-time customer into a long-term customer.
Deliver trigger emails during critical phases of the welcome stage of any new service and new account. Be sure to answer frequently asked questions, and proactively direct customers to where they can find the answers they seek. For services such as online bill pay, provide information such as how to set up a payee, and other basic user information.
3. Provide reminders on usage of products or features
Growing adoption as well as deepening the customer relationship and value through additional services can ultimately lead to increased customer retention. Analyzing behavior is the key to unlocking opportunities for enhancing customer utilization of products or features as well as cross-selling.
An example of this is analyzing aspects of online banking that are being utilized, versus what features might require additional education. Deliver additional information on features that might help deepen a customer’s use of online banking. Additionally, you should analyze the path and relationship between services to determine how to leverage trigger emails for cross-selling and increased product penetration.
4. Converting users to super users
We all know that retaining and growing customers are key priorities, and that most customers have many banking relationships. Banking marketers are constantly fighting for share of wallet, as well as looking for ways to drive transactions and create stickiness. Promoting additional features and applications can help users envision new ways to use products and services.
Regardless of what behavior you leverage, be sure to follow best practices of triggered emails. Use personalization to increase relevancy and response. Personalization leads to increased relevancy, which leads to better response. Determine relevant messages for different groups, and then consider opportunities to increase relevancy through personalization. This includes having the right content, at the right time, in the right place, and leveraging the right tools for implementation.
Trigger programs are gaining momentum with performance exceeding mass emails. More and more marketers are turning to trigger programs to help deliver revenue and value to the marketing equation. Marketing automation is enabling triggered email programs to come to life in a cost-efficient method.
1. Source: 2012 HubSpot blog
2. Source: 2012 MarketingSherpa Email Marketing Benchmark Report