StrateScapes - Build Attraction


		Excerpted from StrateScapes - Volume 6, Number 1

Build Attraction
Staying close to your new, fresh faces during their first year with you is vital to building those loyal, long-term relationships.

But communicating with first-year customers is a little different than talking to customers you’ve known for years. For one thing, you simply haven’t yet accumulated much useful data on their behaviors, preferences or lifestyle. Plus, these customers don’t know you too well, either. So how do you get the conversation started? While there’s no one right way (since every financial institution has different factors in play), we’ve rounded up a few ideas on how you can use the data you do have to develop a communications matrix that can turn first-year customers into long-term clients.

Take a look at the statistics:

US Bankers research shows that customers with only one banking product have a 27 percent likelihood to attrite. Yet CCG’s own research indicates that the average new-customer cross-sell ratio in year one is a paltry 1:1.

So it stands to reason that more work is needed to build a bond with new customers to cross-sell sooner, thereby increasing retention and reaching the break-even point earlier in the relationship. But how, exactly, is that done?

Review frequency
If your average customer goes six weeks between visits, you might try driving the new customer in sooner by sending a message at four weeks.

Consider special times
Time messages to coincide with events or seasons when you particularly want to be top-of-mind with this audience.

Start soft
Consider using your first communications to welcome and thank the customer, introduce them to the full spectrum of your company offerings and find out more about them with a feedback mechanism.

Take aim
With data gathered from the first communication, you can begin segmenting your new customers and ensuring that future messages are targeted to their particular needs or interests.

Find the channel
New customer communications should be as personal as possible. Use personalized emails or direct mail pieces, or even personal phone calls. Ask customers for their preferred method of delivery, but consider marketing across channels to reinforce your message.

While communicating with newbies may present some unique challenges, it also presents a golden opportunity. As Lane Ware, CCG’s Senior VP of Strategic Marketing, explains, “Once a customer’s pattern of behavior is set, it’s more difficult to change.”

“With new customers, you have a huge opportunity to shape behavior and introduce them to other products and services — before they’re locked into a routine.” And that means, if you play your first-year communications right, you’re looking at a profitable three of a kind: increased customer retention, increased cross-sell ratios and increased frequency. In short, a winning hand.

STRATESCAPES and STRATESCAPES SUPPLEMENTS are published by Customer Communications Group, Inc., a full-service agency specializing in relationship marketing and customer communications. Our comprehensive, turnkey services include data analysis, customer segmentation, strategic consulting, account management, creative execution, print production and multimedia solutions.