Episode 90 - Creative Ways to Use Email Automation for Banks and Credit Unions

In our latest episode, Meredith Olmstead, CEO of FiGrow Solutions, joins forces with Inbound Marketing Manager Rebecca Gwaltney to explore creative and effective ways to harness the power of automated emails. Beyond the basics, they delve into advanced strategies for financial institutions to engage customers meaningfully, ensuring their services remain indispensable.

Key Takeaways:

• Re-engagement Campaigns: Utilize transaction data to trigger re-engagement emails, encouraging consistent usage and reinforcing your status as the primary financial institution.

• Product Lifecycle Communications: Automate emails around specific product milestones, such as post-purchase check-ins or warranty expirations, to maintain communication and offer relevant additional services.

• Behavior-Based Customization: Tailor automated emails based on user behaviors and interactions, like page visits or product interest, ensuring content relevance and increasing conversion chances

Transcription:

Meredith Olmstead:
Hi there. I'm Meredith Olmstead, CEO and Founder of FiGrow Solutions. We are a digital marketing and sales consulting agency. We work exclusively with banks and credit unions. And I am here with our Inbound Marketing Manager, Rebecca Gwaltney. Say hi Rebecca.

Rebecca Gwaltney:
Hi everybody. Nice to be here.

Meredith Olmstead:
So Rebecca and I recorded a podcast yesterday, but depends on when you listen to it, if you listen to. It could have been weeks ago. About automated emails and what we typically see clients, credit unions and community banks using automated emails for. And so we went through like about six or eight different examples of pretty standard uses for automated emails, behavior-based emails. And then we wanted to do a second podcast today to talk about ideas for more creative ways to use automated emails and behavior triggers to t

So we've got like eight or nine different examples. We're going to just dive right into them, because we really think there's some really great possible ways, creative ways to use email automation that you may or may not have considered. So the first thing is you have to have data in order to do these. So you have to be bringing in customer data, possibly some versions of core data or account level data potentially, in order to make some of these work. But the first one that we wanted to talk about is when you want to stay the primary financial institution for your member or your customer or that PFI, one of the things that you can use to tell whether or not your relationship is starting to fall off with them is transactions, debit card transactions. And so if those are starting to fall off, and you would only know that if you were looking at transaction member data or customer data on a weekly, monthly basis, we recommend that you do some re-engagement campaigns when you see those kinds of transactions start to fall off with an existing customer.

So if you can do that and set that up, that kind of a trigger, Rebecca, what would you do with those emails to try to get people, customers to not continue to stop using a debit card or stop using you as a primary financial institution?

Rebecca Gwaltney:
Right. So definitely, with the re-engagement campaign mindset here, we're looking to get them to make more swipes, exactly what you're saying, just to come right back in. Make sure that you're their primary financial institution, make you top of mind, top of wallet, all those things. So a couple of tactics you can do that are targeted emails, but generic enough that they can run on their own without the need of your marketing department being involved. Definitely about the safety of adding your debit card to their digital wallet just to make it more accessible for them, top of mind. You can promote any features in a secondary email or in the same email your card offers. So sometimes with checking accounts, you can get cash back for every single time that you swipe your debit card, so that's an option.

And then one more thing too, it depends on your organization of course, and what you're willing to... I don't know how often you're willing to do contests, but we have seen it successful where members will get added into a quarterly or monthly contest for each additional time that they swipe their debit card for a small monthly prize or quarterly prize. And then all the promotions around that can also help with the re-engagement. So it depends how often you want to automate the contest, but it is possible, there's a few ways to deepen the relationship.

Meredith Olmstead:
And you could also have somebody reach out, if you are seeing... Like a relationship banker, if you want to make sure that customer or member retention is a high priority, potentially it might be worth it to prioritize a personal reach out, a phone call or something along those lines if you have valuable existing customers or members who are starting to fall off in transactions or interactions. So you could also automate letting an internal team member know that maybe they might want to reach out to somebody. Okay, very good. So then we also talked about a bunch of different examples for emails based on when a loan is closing or a product life cycle. So talk to me a little bit about that. I know the first example we talked about was auto loans.

Rebecca Gwaltney:
Yeah. So auto loans, there's a few different ways. And again, like what you're saying, just as an example here. At the two month mark for auto loans, after they've closed their loan, if they haven't purchased gap insurance, you can still reach back out to them and try to get that extra income for your organization. Maybe after that primary payment went through, maybe they're thinking of a couple of things or experiencing something in their life where it might be more valuable.
So at the two month mark you can have an automated email if they haven't already signed up for it. And that's just one more reminder, these are completely personalized. So you're not selling them something they already have. Yeah, at the two year mark, a lot of times that's where the manufacturer's warranty completely ends. So if you have mechanical breakdown protection, that's a great automated email, if they don't already have that as part of the auto loan package. And then finally, not just for auto loans, but every loan, your lending team will know the typical loan payoff date. So let's say it's a five-year loan, but for your credit union or bank, it's typically paid off in two and a half or three years or however many exact months, if you keep it in mind when that is, you can send an email six months prior just reminding them, "Hey, I know this is coming up. You're almost done with your loan. Keep us in mind. Check out our great rates." And all that can be customized for them too.

Meredith Olmstead:
Awesome. Yeah, and it's so cool because you can set all these things up when you get the initial loan details, have them triggered based on known characteristics like if they did get gap or if they do or don't have mechanical breakdown, and then you don't ever have to touch that person again. And we just know that they're going to be getting these personalized, specific pieces of content to remind them of the great options they have for you all. What about credit cards? Can you think of ways that you could, based on usage or based on the actual product lifecycle that you could use email automation for credit cards?

Rebecca Gwaltney:
Yeah. A lot of our clients set up holiday emails and things at certain times of the year. But if you have a pretty standard message or if your promotion doesn't change often, it can be something that's automated. So your marketing team has less to worry about. If they don't have a card already, and this is for every product, not just credit cards. If they don't already have whatever product it is, they can be on an active list that's constantly changing. So every six months your team can create an email that just goes out automatically that your team has already approved for new members, just to remind them of your card and the benefits that it has or a feature that they haven't been reminded of in quite a while.

Meredith Olmstead:
Awesome, okay. Now, so we said auto loans, credit cards. What about mortgages? Can you think of ways that you could kick off some valuable communications with automation for mortgages?

Rebecca Gwaltney:
Definitely. So I know this is a super profitable product for all banks and credit unions. So if you're going to pick one of these, mortgages might be the best place to start because it really impacts your bottom line. So if people do not have a mortgage with you and they're say 40 and above, most likely they have it somewhere else. So this would be a prime option to create an automated email for a refinance campaign. So it could be set up once a year or maybe in spring and fall, whatever your marketing team decides, because the more lists you add, you want to spread them out. But it would be a super great target, super profitable, just very valuable.

Another one that we've seen be beneficial is for first time home buyers. So even though that age might be getting a little bit later, your lending team would know the typical age or a starting age, so you want to start nurturing them ahead of time. Maybe it's, how much house can I afford calculator first. Maybe it's, do you know how much you need to save? There's all these helpful content pieces that you can send to them just to keep you top of mind without overly selling, but still letting them know that you offer that service or product.

Meredith Olmstead:
Awesome. Yeah, and so especially too, if you have known members or customers who meet one of these criteria and then they go onto a product or service page on your website, that can be another indicator that they might be really interested or in market for that high priority product. So something like mortgage could also be kicked off if you know somebody is a certain age range and they've recently been on the mortgage page, maybe then you send them a couple of additional pieces of content that might be related to that product and their potential phase of life in a way.
The other thing we see a lot of is people wishing that home equity lines of credit would be more used, like the utilization of sometimes a line of credit or a home equity loan, like actually taking those funds and there can be a bit of a lag there. Or sometimes people will just open a line of credit but they never really pull off of it. Are there ways that automation can help with that kind of utilization?

Rebecca Gwaltney:
Yeah, definitely. I think a lot of the marketing efforts are put into the initial loan itself, right? Getting that line of credit out and having members or customers take them. But you're right, then it kind of gets stagnant. They get it for their first project and forget about it over their draw period. So whether it's halfway through those 10 years or 15 years, whatever your institution has set, maybe it's a third of the way through, maybe you send two reminder emails, letting them know. And then depending how much data you have, you might be able to pull information in on exactly how much is left of that line of credit that they can utilize. So a lot of it depends on what you can access, but reminders and yeah, keep using that line. I think it's a great option and often forgotten about.

Meredith Olmstead:
Yeah, and when you send stuff like that, you can send other kinds of helpful content that you might have on your website around the best ways to maximize the value of your house, or great DIY projects that give you a lot of bang for your buck. Like things to get homeowners thinking about ways maybe that they might be able to use that equity or other creative ways too. Not just projects around the house, but like debt consolidation. Maybe you use it for a huge special event or something else that's fairly responsible, but might be a once or twice in your life that you might want to consider using that kind of equity for. All right, we're almost done. So a couple other things, in terms of, you did talk about non-interest income generators with that gap coverage and the mechanical breakdown, is there any other use for automation that you could think of to help drive some of those kinds of revenue impacts?

Rebecca Gwaltney:
Yeah, definitely. So skip a pay is one that, again, it's remembered around the holidays sometimes after the big credit card bills come in or different times of the year. But that's something that could be used from a customer or member throughout the year if they're experiencing hardship. So again, creating those smart or active lists that know if they have used it or if they're at their capacity for the number of times they can use it in a year. But anything that you can automate to lighten that load for your marketing team, but still generate productivity is a valuable investment.

Meredith Olmstead:
Absolutely. And there's obviously the regular, like thank you for your business anniversary emails, birthday emails, if that's something that's kind of personalized or you would like to do. So that can be a fun way to kind of stay in touch with a customer or a member. The last one is probably one of the more exciting ones that we're just playing with these days, and this is being able to kick off an automated email to an existing customer or lead, that you know their contact information and maybe some account details about them and they've recently clicked on a digital ad, so why would this be something that would be super useful?

Rebecca Gwaltney:
Yeah, I think it's fantastic if... And we are, we're able to scrape that data from the interactions and say, wow, they're already showing interest in this loan product. They've clicked on it, they've taken that next step to learn more about it. That's the prime lead for your team to invest time in. And what better way to save your team time by to reach out first through an automated email. So if you can get them one step closer, provide them more information on that, they've already shown interest, so it's the perfect opportunity to help them down the funnel with more helpful information.

Meredith Olmstead:
Sure, absolutely. So I mean, so when you're running an auto loan ad in say Google pay per click search ads and people are out there searching auto loan rates, best auto loan rates in Texas or whatever it is, or near me or whatever, there is definitely the possibility that because a lot of times your customers have a proximity to where you're located as these regional financial institutions, they may see a paid ad of yours that you're running on those channels and click on it and go to your website. So to find out more about that auto loan.

You may be mistakenly assuming that all the traffic that your ads are driving to your website is brand new users or brand new possible customers. But in fact, there may be hundreds of people who you already know and who might already be doing business with you, who are also clicking those ads. And why not, if you know that they're searching for auto loan rates out on Google and you find out because they click your ad and come look at something on your website, why not send them an email that says, "Hey, if you're in the market for a new car, here's some advice we have for you and a blog that you might find useful." Or something along those lines. So very, very useful. Awesome. Well thank you so much, Rebecca. I appreciate you sharing all of these ideas. I know you build a lot of these campaigns for our clients. We appreciate your expertise. If you're interested in learning more about marketing or sales for your bank or credit union, we would love for you to visit us at figrow.com. Otherwise just get out there and let's make it happen.