It Pays to Measure!

A client launched Kasasa Checking on September 1, last year. As the product provided us with differentiation in the market and gave our team something new to talk about, we promoted the launch pretty darn heavily. The kind of “heavily” that makes management ask questions four months into the program.

That’s why you must always know your baselines. So, when your CEO walks into your office with the “WTF” question (Where’re The Funds – what’d YOU think I meant?) you’ll be ready with some answers.

I’ll share the result, but first, some background:

Focus
Kasasa offers 3 checking options: High interest, cash back for debit swipes and iTunes rewards. Our primary focus was on the high interest and cash back crowd: age 25-49, with household incomes of $50K-$299K, only in targeted zip codes near our retail branches.

Momentum
Sample CreativeOur challenge was to increase awareness for this new product and educate consumers on the benefits of this robust checking offering. We divided the message into 3 pieces, each highlighting a separate Kasasa reward: Interest, Cash Back & iTunes). Tactically, we spread out our messages among:

  • Direct Mail: It was difficult to measure a direct response of our over-sized postcards, but we did see lift in conjunction with the arrival of each mailing.
  • Prospect Emails: This was a total bust! We purchased a pre-qualified list and tried several message approaches. The open and click through rates were awful and not worth the investment.
  • Radio: Impossible to gauge direct response, but the broadcast media provided a nice awareness tool to support all other efforts. This was the only effort not specific to our zip code target.
  • Digital Display, Facebook Ads and Paid Search: This was the money maker!!! We could look back at the direct response from each impression and determine what was working best to maximize the spend each month.

Of course, we also included a full set of front line sales tools and training.

Results
So, this is how we approached the “WTF” question.  In the first four months of the program, we:

  • Increased market awareness and drove action: Page views for the checking page (our call to action) skyrocketed from an average of an average of 353 per month to 2,208 per month!!!
  • Opened Accounts: Average new checking account opening increased 21.31% per month.
  • ROI: Based on Kasasa-provided profitability numbers for the accounts we have opened to date and their respective balances, the 1-year marketing ROI for the accounts opened (only in the first 4-months) is 214.45%. When you consider a standard customer lifetime to be 6-8 years, that return gets ridiculous.
  • Ongoing: And the campaign is not complete. While we have backed off the budget for the promotion, back to pre-launch levels, we are still experiencing an increase. So, these ROI numbers will only improve over time.

Know your baselines and keep your results close at hand so you too, my friends, can experience a mic-drop moment when your marketing budget is questioned.

Results are vital to MarketMatch, since we offer an ROI Guarantee for our bank and credit union marketing expertise!!! 

MORE RESULTS:

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