The 3 P’s are Key to Bank’s Email Success

Preparation, Personalization and Permission

This Case Study was published in the April 2011 edition of ABA Marketing Magazine under the title Email Marketing: Click Here to Start.

By Ray Parenteau

When the marketing team at Middlesex Savings Bank ($3.9 billion in assets, 31 branches) embarked on its email marketing program in the spring of 2009, they had a laundry list of questions and concerns. They also had a firm concept of how they wanted to “go to market” with their program, which was to start small and focused, and build on successes.

The 175-year-old mutual bank, headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts, had previously attempted an in-house rate alert email program, but was looking to expand it to include regular customer communications. A major challenge — and an unknown quantity at the time — was to extract and consolidate the bank’s “inventory” of email addresses from its various systems. The goal was to create a centralized email database that would contain information aggregated from multiple sources.

The bank worked with its data consultant and ClickRSVP to assemble a unified email database. The database was segmented into three basic groups: small business, consumer and commercial accounts. This segmentation approach supported the marketing team’s goal to roll out its email program in phases.

Another key goal for the marketing team was to deliver communications that were personalized from someone at the bank related to the customer. The database work came into play here since customers were assigned a branch manager or a business banker as part of their profile. The customer’s "contact" at the bank was then prominently featured in messages and newsletters.

"We wanted to have a program of consistent, professional marketing touches for our consumer and business customer base," said Alan Schachter, vice president of marketing. "We know our customers are highly satisfied, and wanted to reinforce their decision to bank with us."

Initial program efforts focused on the small business segment, since the bank wanted to promote its numerous business events more effectively. These include sponsored “Creating Connections” networking events, quarterly business success seminars and an annual Economic Breakfast. Having all these events ahead provided the program with high-value content, as well as an opportunity to promote the bank’s programs.

Getting Permission

Since the bank had not previously contacted its customers by email, there was concern about the accuracy of its email addresses, as well as how those emails would be perceived by their customers. The bank developed a series of “permission messages” designed to introduce the email communications as the first step.

Depending on their profile, customers were sent letter-type emails from their bank contact that outlined the purpose of the program, and offered the opportunity to opt-out of further messages. These initial messages also served to "clean" the email database of undeliverable addresses and identify any delivery issues that sometimes occur when small local service providers see a sudden surge in email traffic from a new sender.

This is a "permission" email in which Middlesex Savings Bank solicited its retail customers to receive the bank’s electronic newsletter. Note that the message includes a photo and contact information from the customer’s branch manager. The customer is also given the opportunity to opt-out.

Given the age and unknowns of the initial email addresses, the "permission activation" process returned solid results, and paved the way for strong subscriber retention metrics going forward. The chart below illustrates results for bounces (undeliverable addresses), and opt-outs (customers requesting not to receive further messages) for both business and consumer segments.

What’s interesting to note from the results is that the business list proved to be substantially cleaner than the consumer list. On the flip side, business customers opted out of further email communication at twice the rate of consumers. This would support the logic that business customers tend to be more actively engaged with their bank on a regular basis.

The number of opt-outs and bounces drop dramatically after the initial permission campaign. This indicates that the program is maintaining a good balance of relevant content and frequency.

Program Design

The bank had ClickRSVP design a series of templates that strongly support the bank’s style and branding, with consistent message headers and color scheme, and a professional look that matches its website. Templates were designed to support the requirement of incorporating the customer’s primary bank contact photo and contact information into the message.

Connecting with Customers

This is a copy of Middlesex Savings Bank’s quarterly electronic newsletter for retail customers. (Click for larger view.)

For its consumer segment, the bank offers a quarterly newsletter that features a photo and contact info of the customer’s branch manager. The bank used an "opt-out" permission process and has grown its consumer email database to nearly 30,000 customers. The database is updated quarterly, before each newsletter is sent. Engagement metrics (views and clicks) remain strong for the consumer segment as well, with average unique message views of 29% and unique click-through rates of 17.5%.

"We put together a plan to collect addresses and did a great job of collection, with all new account openings and with online banking. Customers are comfortable providing emails, all we had to do was ask ... and we did. And in terms of content, we have quite a few community programs, customer profiles and business seminars planned that need to be communicated and promoted," he continued.

The email program has been well-received by the bank’s non-marketing business units, as they recognize the potential for reaching customers quickly and cost effectively. As the program has grown, so has the number of bank users on the system. Customer-facing employees that need to access the email database, or manage their own "private" list, are given access to the application based on their role.

This personalized approach was further extended with business development officers having their own “signature templates” and personal contact lists to keep in touch with new contacts they meet at various functions.

“For our business customers, since we don’t have the ability to personally manage every relationship, this email program is a way for us to remind them that we appreciate their business,” Mr. Schachter noted.

Mark Drew, one of the bank’s senior business development officers, uses a variety of lists and templates to stay in front of his contacts and “centers of influence” to position the bank as a valuable resource. The custom templates allow him to effectively deliver personalized, consistent-looking messages in a time-effective manner.

Driving Event Participation

One of the initial goals of the email program was to expand the bank’s annual Economic Breakfast event. The event features local economics personalities and draws hundreds of attendees. For the most recent event held last October, the bank used a three-part email program that resulted in nearly half (41%) of attendees registering via email. The final segment of the campaigns featured a downloadable recap document, as well as a video of the event. This was sent as a follow-up to attendees, non-attendees, as well as other business segments — further extending the program’s function and value. See the details.

"The newsletters served to maintain our brand presence, but the biggest win is with making our seminars and events promotion and registration more effective and professional looking. Plus our tracking/reporting has vastly improved," noted Mr. Schachter.

Now entering its third year with the program, Middlesex Savings Bank appears to be well-poised to expand the use of email for a variety of communications.

"Aside from the event invitation/registration process, email has been somewhat of a side experiment. The fact that the program is professionally done reflects well on the bank and is a tangible benefit. I expect email to play a bigger role in communicating new services and programs to our customer base," Mr. Schachter concluded.

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