Key CCG Services
A leading national bank had spent years building up its HELOC portfolio, spending $100 to $800 or more acquiring each new account. But once an account was in its portfolio, the bank wasn’t doing any follow-up marketing to those customers.
Not surprisingly, the portfolio wasn’t blowing up with profits for the bank.
True, HELOC customers aren’t obvious candidates for marketing campaigns. They tend to open a line for a specific purpose, build up their balance over the first three to six months and then let the line sit idle as they quietly pay down the balance. So why waste marketing dollars on them?
Because circumstances crop up when a customer may need another cash infusion — and that’s when the HELOC can come in handy again. That’s what the bank needed to convey. Yet, they knew it didn’t make sense to simply blanket their account holders with a mass marketing campaign. A one-size-fits-all approach wouldn’t optimize the portfolio or the marketing effort.
So how could the bank tell which customers would be worth their marketing dollars — and which were best ignored? Or who should receive an incentive and who shouldn’t?
Enter CCG’s proprietary HELOC segmentation analysis.
Used and improved by CCG’s financial marketing experts over several years, the process breaks a bank’s HELOC portfolio into multiple segments based on various attributes. The segmentation can then be used to guide marketing decisions by identifying if, when and how to talk to customers in each group.
Sample Segmentation Template
For instance, we were able to identify segments with a projected negative return on marketing investment (ROMI), as well as segments that didn’t meet the bank’s minimum ROMI hurdle. The bank could then remove those unprofitable audiences from its HELOC marketing plans, while focusing resources on segments with higher projected ROMI.
By looking not just at potential returns, but also on the customer’s stage on the HELOC journey, the bank could send each group the most appropriate message to ignite interest and action. For instance, one group might get content encouraging utilization, while another might get messages explaining how to get a line increase.
Since customers naturally migrate through different segments over time, the segmentation analysis is routinely repeated. This helps the bank continue providing the right message to each customer throughout their journey.
HELOC optimization achieved.
In fact, CCG’s segmentation strategy has given the bank an ongoing program for continually optimizing its HELOC portfolio. And the results have proven the tactic’s worth. Compared to control groups, the audiences identified by our segmentation have yielded an average $483 balance benefit for every $1 spent on marketing — with some groups hitting as high as $631.
And the bank? It’s happy to keep segmenting, marketing and optimizing to make its HELOC portfolio more valuable than ever.
Key CCG Services
Financial Marketing Strategy
Strategic CRM consulting
Account management
Retention program development
Cross-sell or upsell program development
CRM business case development
ROI measurement
Data, Analytics & Research
Database analysis & mining
Testing design & analysis
Segmentation & cluster analysis
HELOC portfolio segmentation
Content & Creative Services
Direct mail & other print assets
Email, web, video, social media
Print production & fulfillment
Let’s Connect
Looking for ways to optimize your own HELOC portfolio? Want help segmenting your customers to better target your messaging and offers? CCG’s financial marketing experts can assist with a variety of data and analytics tasks, as well as strategy, research and creative development. Complete the form below or call us at 303.986.3000 to schedule a free consultation and see how we can help you.
