Case Study: A Regional Bank

Relationship banking helps client improve the customer experience.

Situation
The bank’s goals for the relationship banking program were:

• Retain high value and high risk customers
• Curtail balance erosion
• Increase product penetration
• Generate a positive ROI within the first three years
• Differentiate themselves in the growing and competitive marketplace
• Improve the overall customer experience

As with many financial services companies, the customer information and budget needed to execute a relationship banking program were caught within individual silos, each with their own profit and loss responsibilities. However, the bank was determined to improve the customer experience through a relationship banking program with a strong emphasis on strategic communication. Maritz Loyalty Marketing was asked to help because of their experience in financial services, targeted communications and customer experience management.

Solution
To address concern surrounding program expenses, strict ROI, retention and lift calculations were analyzed to decide on the appropriate approach and program launch to implement. This process led to a targeted budget for program costs that included communications, operations and rewards. A solution was then developed within the confines of this budget.

Maritz Loyalty Marketing evaluated the existing points programs, and based on customer research, designed a solution that:

• Allowed all banking products across silos to earn rewards
• Created a common “currency” for rewards (so that all rewards were of the same value)
• Aggregated rewards into one point bank
• Developed models to increase wallet share among current customers by enabling strategic point accumulation in cross-sell situations
• Enhanced reward offerings to reflect customer satisfaction research
• Created a communications campaign targeted to existing customers that would motivate them to increase their levels of profitable business at the bank