Rubbish! Instead of sending throw-away offers, get personal

A new year brings new budgets, new plans and new opportunities. It also brings an onslaught of credit card promotions by snail mail. The recession may have caused a dip in the volume of mailed offers of late, but 2014 is predicted to be a record year for credit card direct-mail solicitations. At my house, it’s already happening.

There are endless stories of consumers’ frustration and amazement about the volumes of credit card promotions they receive. One family in Chicago actually collected a total of 445 offers weighing 23 pounds in one year.

Sure, everyone gripes about getting too many offers in the mail that they don’t want, but here’s the rub: Various surveys have found upward of 40 percent of consumers use cards they received through direct mail offers. Want a better way to keep members happy and boost your response rates? Get personal and get online.

We’ve been encouraging this approach for years, and our clients who are delivering the promotions members want to receive say it’s working. Sure, generic cash-back promos, mobile payment apps, reward cards and instant approvals might entice a recipient or two, but the outcome can be improved by customizing the offer to someone’s lifestyle and buying behavior.  Some savvy card providers now let people pick designs to match their personalities, build reward programs tied to their hobbies, or receive shopping discounts coupled with their spending patterns.

Today, all credit unions are looking for ways to generate income – and boosting your portfolios with credit card offers can help. But whether you are promoting credit cards, growing auto loans or encouraging savings programs, new technologies can make it easier for your credit union to build genuine relevance into its member communications.

To give members more useful and customized information, look into data-mining technologies to gather intelligence about online behaviors. By monitoring consumers’ activities, you can target specific messages to match apparent interests and needs, just like the credit card providers. And incorporating digital technologies – which growing numbers of consumers prefer for promotions – eliminates the significant production and postage costs of direct-mail marketing programs.

Because the digital marketing field is fast-changing, with new technologies and enhancements added frequently, many credit unions save development costs and time by relying on the expertise of third-party providers. If your credit union is in the market for a partner to assist in distributing campaigns and promotions, ask the following questions:

• Does the service provider have the background and expertise to help your program succeed?  Find out which industries it works with, ask about the experience and background of staff, and request references from clients.

• Does the firm provide list-management features? Ask about drill-down sorting capabilities, options for adding new users and the coordination of unsubscribe requests.

• What reporting methods are included and how often are reports available? You’ll want a good system for tracking open and click-through rates, as well as non-delivered messages.

• Is split-testing an option? Before you hit the send button, find out which tests you can run against your lists to help build the most-effective subject lines, content and images.

• Is it compatible with your MCIF database and CRM software? Some programs can synchronize with your existing technology, which can help manage costs and ease implementation.

At DigitalMailer, our Automatic Relationship Builder, a next-generation email engine, offers a digital marketing program designed to help credit unions deepen customer relationships online. The ARB provides consistent, managed member contact, and allows variable text and image placement based on demographics. These types of programs can help your credit union target members with customized email messages based on their in-market actions, needs or individual profiles. When it’s done right, the results “automatically” help grow business.

Given the growing number of marketing messages consumers receive each day – online, in print, on air or in the home mailbox – it’s more challenging than ever to deliver messages your members will actually read, see or hear. Personalizing your communications can go a long way in improving your response rate … and avoiding the delete button or trash can.