NetBanker 2.0

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)

What's in a name?

Two data points:

1. A front-page story in today's Seattle Times reveals Washington Mutual's decision to change their brand name to WaMu.
2. Monday's American Banker told of Alhambra, CA-based InterBusiness Bank name change to Tomato Bank.   

Two name changes among 8,000 U.S. banks is hardly a trend. But as the Internet becomes more and more important to your new account acquisition (see Online Banking Report 128, "The Demise of the Branch"), you must consider how your name works online. First National Bank and Trust looks good on a main-street signpost, but when translated to cyberspace it loses much, if not all, of its appeal. The problems?

• Not memorable: Too many generic words strung together make a name difficult to recall when potential customers return to their computers.
• Not searchable: Again, too many generic words makes it hard to even find in a search engine.
• No domain name available: The domain names containing first, national, and bank have long been snatched up by early adopters in 1995 and 1996. Many banks have had to resort to hard-to-remember domains such as <ibankfnb.com> from First National Bank of Hudson. 
• Not a modern brand: While it's nice to have your name create a feeling of trust and security, generic names reinforce the impression that the bank is not modern and technologically savvy, not good positioning for attracting customers online.

A name change is one of the biggest decisions a company will make, so we won't presume to give you advice on that point. However, you must consider the effectiveness of your brand online, both in recall, search, and overall company image.

--JB

Washington Mutual joins high-rate savings game

Reports first surfaced Saturday (Aug. 12) that Washington Mutual was offering 4.75% on a no-minimum deposit savings account. But don't try to find it on their website. The offer is only visible after you begin the application process for one of the highly promoted free checking accounts (see FMW July 20).

We searched the WAMU website using a variety of states and did not see any mention of the high rate. However, the bank could be using cookies or other methods to serve the banners to select customers (see Citibank, FMW May 10). In our tests (from a Seattle IP address), users are first introduced to the savings offer on the first page of the online checking account application (click on screenshot below for a closeup).

Like Citibank's e-Savings Account, Washington Mutual is requiring a checking account to take advantage of the offer. However, WAMU's checking account is completely fee-free regardless of balance and with no direct-deposit requirement. Current WAMU customers can take advantage of the high rate, which is 12 times higher than the current 0.4% rate, only by opening a new checking account.

Analysis
WAMU is attempting to minimize deposit cannibalization by keeping the offer off the website. They are attempting to leverage their free checking campaign by upselling new customers at the point of sale. For a bank with a major branch presence, that's not a bad approach; however, it's not going to bring in deposits at the same rate as Citi or HSBC.

It will also be interesting to see how the bank deals with the inherent channel conflicts. If the high-rate deposits are credited to the Internet channel only, branches will be up in arms over the 12x rate advantage offered online. But if branches do get credit for the deposits, they will be converting their biggest customers into the new accounts as fast as possible (unless WAMU rewards branches by account profitability).

--JB

Good landing by WAMU

Washington Mutual, one of the more creative offline promoters, is beginning to apply its talent to online promotions. We're still not particularly fond of the "trapped bankers" creative (see FMW April 28), but we like the bank's new "more than free checking" campaign.

We first ran across the promotion July 7 in a skyscraper-animated banner (175 x 500 pixel) on the right side of Rotten Tomatoes <rottentomatoes.com>, the popular film review aggregator (see inset).

The banner was good, but what we really liked was the landing page (see below). The design was clean and fresh (not so hard to do), and the copy was original and user-friendly, with just the right dose of humor (not so easy to do).

Our only criticism is the crucial final step. Users clicking the "Get Started" button are delivered to a much different and more bank-like screen to begin the application. The relatively dull look (see below) is a real letdown after the originality of the landing page. It's so different, it may cause users to stop and rethink their decision to apply.   

The bank would likely convert more prospects if they continued the landing page theme through the first page of the application. Overall, we'll score the effort an A-.

--JB

Bankers making fun of bankers

David vs. Goliath has been a popular theme for a few millenia. Everyone likes the underdog. And when the established player is also seen as stodgy and clueless, the advertising opportunities multiply.

Credit unions and community banks have taken market share for decades using a variety of similar themes: local vs. outsiders, small vs. big, member concerns vs. shareholder profits, and so on. It was only a matter of time before this tried-and-true strategy went online.

Campaign #1: HomeStreet's My Bank Doesn't Get It
The first campaign to catch our eye was from Seattle's HomeStreet Bank, which sent teaser postcards to local businesses in mid-April. The cards featured an image of a face and an intriguing URL, <mybankdoesntgetit.com> (see right). We've also seen the campaign running on the side of city buses.

After logging in to the unbranded site, users were encouraged to post a rant about something they disliked about their bank (see screenshots below).

#1    #2   #3

The site is about as soft-sell as you can get; users aren't even asked for their email address. The only sales message is an unbranded, lower-left link prompting users to click to go to a bank that does "get it" (see inset upper left and screenshots above).

Users clicking on the link are taken to a HomeStreet landing page that reinforces the "get it" theme (see screenshot right). First, users see a welcome page that reveals the name of the with-it bank. Then users move to a more traditional product page with subtle reinforcement of the "gets it" theme (see screenshot below).

However, once at the bank site, the sales momentum rapidly loses steam, and there's little in the way of compelling benefits to convince a business owner to go to the next step. Obviously, the bank's branding agency gets it, but not necessarily the website designers.

For viral marketing, HomeStreet includes an email-to-a-friend link. But what's missing is an email-capture device for visitors making the online rants. All the bank needs to do is add an inexpensive prize to the pitch, such as a free iPod Nano, and they'd have hundreds, if not thousands, of opt-in emails to market to.

Campaign #2: Washington Mutual's Trapped Bankers
Surprisingly, the second campaign is not from an up-and-coming community bank or credit union, but from behemoth Washington Mutual. The company has a long history of anti-banker advertising going back to the days when it actually WAS the underdog and not the sixth-largest retail bank in the country.

It was brave enough to provide a look at its new campaign at BAI's SmartTactics conference earlier this week in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, I was busy with another session and missed the joint presentation from Chris Matthews, the bank's brand & advertising SVP and its agency, Leo Burnett. 

The campaign was a hit with the crowd of 30-something bank marketers, especially the television spots depicting various methods to trap bankers such as baiting a trap with a plate of steaming lobster. The campaign has a Web component at <trappedbankers.com> where users can view one of the television spots, ask questions of the bankers trapped in a basement holding pen, and review the benefits of WaMu's free checking offer. The only lead capture device is an opt-in email address required to download a screensaver (click on inset for closeup), a huge 3MB offering that incidentally wouldn't load onto our Windows XP laptop.

While the edgy advertising is likely to be popular with its younger target audience, I don't think the website is particularly appealing (click on inset left for closeup). The Flash-based presentation first required a download of version 8 to run, then used hard-to-read fonts on a black background.

There are several HTML remnants in the black background that if accidentally clicked, take you to a garbage page at <pointroll.com>, a rich media design house that must have had something to do with the WaMu site. And there is no way the site works on a dial-up, and even on broadband the use of streaming video creates some lag that makes the presentation a bit choppy. This is one of those high-tech websites likely to win design awards while turning off users.

Finally, I find the whole concept of "trapping" a bunch of fat old bankers and then teasing them in an underground holding pen to be slightly disturbing. Maybe it's that the banker profile hits too close to home, but I think they went too far. Instead of a positive, "we get it" message, there is an underlying theme of negativity, one that is borderline abusive, which turns me off. While it will generate massive traffic, I wonder what impact it will have on account growth and brand image. There must have been quite a debate in the boardroom on this one.

Even if you like the creative, as in HomeStreet's campaign, I don't think the Web designers quite "get it." The bank should have a way to capture email addresses from the hundreds of thousands, or millions of visitors, and there should be a more direct link to sign up for an account. Currently, the bank just drops you onto their default personal banking page when clicking on the tiny WaMu link at the top of the trapped banker page.

Grades
We'll give each of them an A for effort, although we prefer the simpler design of HomeStreet Bank's campaign. However, both get downgraded on execution. HomeStreet gets a B- due to its lack of sales emphasis and failure to capture email addresses. WaMu, which also fails to capture email addresses from most visitors, receives a C- due to the overly complex website, lack of a custom landing page, and lack of a good, direct-marketing design.   

--JB

 

Free wi-fi in branches? Wi not?

Providing free wi-fi is like offering a toll-free number 30 years ago—a consumer-friendly way to make you stand out from the crowd. But unlike call centers, which have grown into multi-million dollar cost centers, free wi-fi only  runs about $50 per month per location, a price that is sure to fall over the coming years.

There are two ways to jump on the wi-fi bandwagon:

1. Offering access to users in branch lobbies
2. Sponsoring free access at local gathering spots such as coffee shops, community centers, or libraries

Analysis
If you are of the branch-as-a-retail-store mindset such as Washington Mutual's Occasio concept or Umpqua Bank's plasma-TV zones (see right), then free wi-fi is a great way to bring customers into the branch and keep them there (until presumably they buy something). Even more important than the opportunity to sell checking accounts to laptop-toting visitors, is the publicity you'll receive as the first bank in your area to offer such a trendy service. Only 15 U.S. bank branches currently offer wi-fi access according to JiWire (see Appendix below).

If you are concerned that high-schoolers looking for MySpace friends will inundate your lobby, you can let the coffee shop across the street provide the seating while you sponsor free Internet access (through a service provider).

With either approach you can require users to enter a bank-branded screen first, register, and create a wi-fi access username and password for subsequent access. You can then use this information to market your online banking and other services.

-JB

Appendix: Wi-fi in U.S. bank branches
JiWire lists 110,512 wireless Internet "hot spots" worldwide in its online database <jiwire.com>. Fewer than 1,000 are at bank locations, mostly in South Korea. In the United States, only 16 bank branches—out of about 80,000—currently offer wireless Internet access to customers, at least according to JiWire (see list below), and six of those are in the San Francisco area:

US Bank - 2 branches in the SF Bay area
Citibank - 1 branch in the SF Bay area
Integra - 1 branch in Indianapolis, IN
Bank of America - 2 branches in the SF Bay area, 1 in Miami, 1 in Norwalk, CT (Fleet)
Union Bank of California - 1 branch in the SF Bay area
First National Bank - 1 branch in San Diego
First National Bank - 1 branch in Hutchinson, KS
Cass County Bank - 1 branch in Queen City, TX
Charter One Bank - 1 branch in Cleveland, OH and 1 branch in Albany, NY
Umpqua Bank - at least 1 branch in Portland (reported in the press, NOT in JiWire listing)

PNC Bank bundles ID theft insurance with checking

How do you make your checking account stand out from the one across the street, around the corner, or two clicks away in Internet Explorer? It's not easy if you want to maintain or increase profitability.

Several banks, including Washington Mutual (FMW Nov. 8, 2005) and PNC Bank, use a relatively new technique that is inexpensive and plays to the current hysteria surrounding online security: identity theft insurance.

In PNC's case, three of its core checking account options come bundled with $2500 to $5000 in insurance: Premium Plan, Choice Plan, and of course Digital Checking (click on inset right for more details). Free Checking does not include ID theft insurance.

Action Items
Before giving away identity theft insurance, look instead at creating a profit center around fraud protection services. As we discussed in a previous Online Banking Report (OBR 83/84), identity theft protection and related credit bureau-monitoring services are among the few relatively easy fee-income opportunities online.

In fact, PNC Bank sells a full suite of credit bureau services housed under Identity Theft Safeguards in the Personal Finance area. The options range from a $29.95, one-time, three-bureau report to relatively pricey $120/yr and $180/yr subscription plans powered by TransUnion's TrueCredit, an OBR Best of the Web winner in 2002 (click on inset for closeup).

--JB