NetBanker 2.0

Amazon.com uses feedback link to measure effectiveness of customer service responses

Hoping to download a movie to watch on the long Seattle-NYC flight, I sent Amazon an email with a question about its new Unbox video service. Not only did they answer within the hour, they also included a link to indicate whether the answer solved my question or not. 

Choosing the "yes" option, I was delivered to a "Thanks for your feedback!" message, which not coincidently put me back onto the Amazon site. The thank-you also contained a link to provide additional feedback.

Following that link leads you to a page to provide detailed comments:

If you responded "no" to the original question, you are taken to a similar page to rephrase the question (see below).

Analysis
This simple feedback mechanism provides five important benefits:

1. Demonstrates you actually care whether the user's problem is resolved satisfactorily
2. Allows customer to easily submit another question if not satisfactorily resolved
3. Allows you to quantify the performance of the service department
4. Identifies areas where better answers are needed
5. Helps identify tricky problems that can be corrected

All financial institutions should consider similar techniques for improving electronic customer service.

Now, if only the Amazon video-download service were as efficient as its service reps. First, it took two tries to get the player downloaded. Then the 90-minute, 1.7 GB movie took nearly eight hours to download via my Wi-Fi connection to our Comcast cable modem, never going much faster than 80k per second. Bottom line: For $2.99, it's still worth doing, provided you plan far enough in advance.

Apple Bank joins the high-yield savings game with Grand Yield Direct

Yesterday, a new advertiser appeared at the top of Google searches for "high-yield savings accounts (click on inset for closeup)," Apple Bank for Savings <theapplebank.com>. The New York-based thrift is marketing the 5.25% APY account under the brand name, Grand Yield Direct <grandyielddirect.com>.

To market the account, the bank uses a single-product microsite powered by Digital Insight (see screenshot below). The Apple Bank name and logo appear in the lower-right corner in a subtle graphic image, but there are no links back to the main bank site. The online application is hosted by CashEdge (click on continuation link for screenshot).

The new product joins an increasingly crowded field that just two years ago was owned by ING Direct. Just yesterday, E-Loan launched its 5.5% savings account (see FMW 26 Sep).

E-Loan launches high-yield deposit line

Six months after announcing its intention to enter the direct-banking deposit market (FMW 29 March), Popular Inc. launched a 5.5% deposit account through its E-Loan subsidiary. The fee-free account requires a $5,000 minimum opening deposit. The rate drops a quarter-percent if the balance falls below $5,000. The news was covered this morning in American Banker and The Wall Street Journal.

Popular execs clarified the timetable of its $3 billion deposit goal, saying it hoped to bring in that amount within a year. With few U.S. deposits to cannibalize and no branch network, the company expects to be aggressive with its pricing. To prove the point, it launched today at 5.5%, a full half-percent higher than Citi's E-Savings (FMW Jun 26), Wamu (FMW Sep 21) and HSBC, and a quarter-percent above Countrywide (FMW Sep 20).

The Delivery
The E-Loan homepage has been remodeled to include a Savings tab across the top and a deposit box in the middle of the page (click on inset for a closeup; click on continuation link below for a screenshot of the entire homepage). There is also a high-yield savings category in the drop-down menu in the upper right.

The main savings page is laid out in a modern style with clear rate and APY in the upper right and the beginning of the online application on the lower-left side (see screenshot below).

Analysis
Since this had been expected for six months, there's nothing earth-shattering here. The decision to market deposits under the E-Loan brand makes sense given its awareness level online as demonstrated by the four million loan applications since its 1997 launch. It will take some advertising and promotional efforts to make consumers aware that the pure-play lender is now in the deposit business. But it will be less expensive than if Popular had tried to create an entirely new brand.

E-Loan has not yet begun marketing on savings terms at Google, but they'll likely have to join Citi, Wamu, HSBC, Emigrant, ING Direct and others if they are serious about making the $3 billion goal.

Wells Fargo blog is off to a good start

After a slow start, with no new entries during its first week, the student loan blog from Wells Fargo is off and running. Since its Sep. 5 launch, the site has averaged about two posts per week, each running 300 to 400 words, a good length. (See inset for jump page to the bank's two blogs, <blogs.wellsfargo.com>)

Furthermore, the writing is surprisingly good, with little corporate-speak, a trap that's so easy to fall into when every word has to be approved by a team of attorneys and compliance officers. Interestingly, the one off-topic post, written by the freelancing college-student mom, Caroline Hansen, was pulled from the site a day or two after it was posted. Either her step-daughter, or more likely, Wells Fargo management didn't like the story about her new tattoo.

The site is obviously aimed at parents, with warnings about credit card abuse and an instructive post about transferring money online to pay for a $573 book tab (ouch!).

While the bank does a good job of not blatantly pitching its products, it seems that most links within the posts lead to a wellsfargo.com page. The blog would have more credibility, and readership, if it linked to more outside resources.

Yodlee announces bill-pay switch kit

This week Yodlee announced its new Bill Pay Account Accelerator, a bill-pay-switching tool designed to help banks attract active users of competitive bill payment services. Not only does Yodlee's wizard move payee information, it also can cancel and move previously scheduled payments, including recurring ones.

The service will be piloted in fourth quarter and launched in early 2007.

Analysis
If it works, it could reduce the "retention benefits" of electronic bill pay by making it easier to switch banks. The American Banker article reporting the new service hit hard on that aspect. However, we think the concern is overblown. It's not that time-consuming for most people to move their payee information, requiring 10 or 15 minutes of "cutting and pasting" or "scribbling and retyping," then a few more minutes to reschedule upcoming payments.

What's MUCH harder for the user is making sure outstanding paper checks have cleared and, more importantly, unwinding preauthorized debits such as important insurance and loan payments. Those require contacting the payee directly and hoping that your instructions to change the debit are processed in a timely fashion.

But the biggest issue is motivating users to make a checking account switch in the first place. And that's where Yodlee solution could provide a big boost, offering the perception of radically simplifying the switchover. And if Yodlee expands the tool to also transfer the entire account history, not just the bill pay history, it could become an important industry tool.

Since it doesn't ship until next year, we'll refrain from superlatives until we've had a chance to test it. But Yodlee has a good track record in hooking accounts together, and we expect the new service to be functional. However, whether banks will adopt it is another matter. It will have to be drop-dead simple to use or banks will not want the ensuing customer-service nightmare.

Wamu targets savers at Google

As we reported Aug. 16, Washington Mutual Bank is looking to win back some of the high-yield deposit business from ING Direct, HSBC, and Citibank. The bank is now bidding aggressively on Google with its "5.00% APY" landing it in fifth place for "savings accounts" (placing it second on the right-side list) and eighth for "high-yield savings" (see inset, search conducted 21 Sep, 1 pm PDT, from Seattle IP).

After clicking through the ad, potential customers are delivered to a well-designed landing page further emphasizing the "5.00% APY Statement Savings" rate (see screenshot below, click for larger view). Wamu continues its year-long effort to lampoon bankers with the three-piece suited icon "complaining" about the high rate paid on savings (see also, 28 April).

A new Wamu checking account (opened after 11 March 2006) is required to take advantage of the special rate. That important fact is downplayed on the landing page but is obvious once the user clicks through to the application (see screenshot by clicking the continuation link below). Furthermore, both accounts must be opened online. However, deposits can be made in the branch.

Wamu landing page from Google ads on "savings accounts" (see continuation link to see full page with fine print)

Countrywide uses dedicated microsite to market SavingsLink

Countrywide Bank is using a microsite <savingslink.com> to funnel users interested in its new high-yield savings account (see screenshot below). The account was advertised in Sunday's (10 Sep) New York Times (Business section, National Edition, p. 4) with a one-third page, 5-inch tall ad that asked, "Can your bank match our online savings rate?"

The account is also to be advertised aggressivly on Google, appearing second from the top in the right-hand column for searches on "online savings accounts" and "high-yield savings accounts." However, it's only in eighth position on the more generic "savings account" search (searches conducted 20 Sep, 10 am PDT, from Seattle, WA, IP address).

The bank took a low-key approach to using its main brand by using just a small logo in the lower-right corner. The fine print explained that the advertised 5.25% APY applied to balances of $10,000 or more with smaller balances garnering a still-respectable 4.50%. The bank has raised the SavingsLink rate a full 1% since its launch in mid-May with a rate of 4.25%.

Analysis
The use of a dedicated microsite for marketing a high-profile product such as a high-yield savings account offers a number of benefits:

• Ability to focus users on a single product/offer
• Easier to track traffic and test layouts
• Avoids the distractions of other website navigation
• Can use a different look and feel than the main corporate website
• Makes the product feel like a true "special offer"

Webby award deadline Oct. 27

The 11th annual website beauty contest, The Webby Awards, is accepting entries for the best websites and interactive advertising campaigns. Financial institutions may compete in any of the advertising categories, or one of the three website categories:

• Best Banking/Bill Pay
• Insurance
• Financial services (everything other than banking or insurance)

Last year the winners were Bank of America in Banking/Bill Pay; PayPal in Financial Services; and Allstate's nowwhat.com in the Insurance category (see inset).

Early entry deadline is Oct. 27. Fee is US$125.

Automobile title insurance has fee income potential

When it comes to generating incremental fee income, it's difficult to find new ideas. One you may not have considered is automobile title insurance.

Although we've purchased two used cars on eBay, we'd never heard of title insurance for autos until we read about it in the Wall Street Journal today. For a one-time fee of $50 to $60, consumers can buy insurance that protects them against fraudulent titles, including instances where a salvaged auto has had its title wiped clean by registering the vehicle in a state with more liberal salvage rules.

According to First American Corporation, which markets a $49.95 policy in a joint venture with Experian Automotive, 20% of salvaged autos end up with clean titles. The product is called TitleGuard Vehicle Title Insurance and is sold through a stand-alone website <autotitleguard.com> and through resellers such as Credit Union Direct Lending and Escrow.com.

Financial institution opportunities
There are two ways financial institutions could use title insurance:

1. Education: In your auto-loans area, explain the ways that car titles can be manipulated with links to outside informational sources.
2. Resell title insurance: Title insurance is most needed when purchasing vehicles from unknown private parties. Even if you don't finance such transactions, you could earn commissions on customers referred to third parties for title insurance.
3. Bundle title insurance with loans: If you offer financing for private transactions, you could bundle title insurance with your loan to help differentiate your product and help justify premium pricing. The title insurance could be mandatory or optional and either way could be priced as a fee-based add-on or included in the regular loan-origination fee.

PayPal's 30-second card application

PayPal is advertising its PayPal Plus card with this box located in the upper-right of the main account start-page within the secure area (click screenshot below for a closeup).

With the falloff in response to traditional direct mail raising acquisition costs to $200 or more, a pitch delivered within an online banking session can be far less expensive. And with online banking users typically wanting to get in and out quickly, the 30-second response shows that the company is sensitive to the time constraints of its customers (notice they did NOT say that it was a 30-second process).

The PayPal card is issued by GE Money Bank, the same company behind PayPal Buyers Credit used by sellers to offer longer-term financing of major eBay purchases. The Plus card includes a free rewards program offering 1 point per dollar purchased. The current rewards structure includes three levels:

• 1,000 points – Free shipping up to $7 on a PayPal purchase
• 2,500 points – $25 voucher (for merchandise at most PayPal merchants)
• 9,500 points – $100 voucher (for merchandise at most PayPal merchants)

The card carries a variable rate from 14.24% to 24.24% and has no annual fee.

Here's the main account page displayed after login:

Here's the landing page displayed after clicking on the apply button: