While many retail banks’
marketing efforts are concentrated on keeping customers who have
lost faith in the market, the UK’s First Direct is finding
customers flocking to it from its bailed-out rivals. Paul Say, head
of marketing at First Direct, tells Farah Halime how it is reaping the
rewards.
First Direct, the UK online subsidiary of HSBC, is cashing
in on the troubles of its bailed out rivals by running the most
generous account-switching campaign in the UK, and offering up to
£200 to new customers.
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In addition, it is revamping its ‘Live’
website promotion, launched last October (see RBI 621) on the micro website
www.firstdirect.com/live to include a digital pin art concept as
part of its advertising campaign.
The public’s growing sense of mistrust of high
street banks has pushed more customers towards First Direct and
boosted its customer satisfaction credentials, Paul Say, head of
marketing at First Direct told RBI.
“Customers’ feeling towards banking is one of
mistrust,” said Say. “This year we are going to find the bank
account switch market will be more active than normal. As a
consequence of the credit crisis, people are considering their
options and making decisions as to whether or not they trust the
brand they bought into in former years.”
First Direct witnessed an influx of young
professionals joining its direct bank, particularly at the height
of the crisis last year, according to Say.
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By GlobalData“Particularly ABC1s, professionals, people who
are very much earning more than their age, your internet-savvy
customers from the likes of Lloyds TSB and Halifax came to us
because people were concerned about whether those banks would still
be around.”
Although 2010 will be slower for the bank in
terms of reeling in new customers, the bank is keen to continue
promoting its customer service proposition through its latest
campaigns.
New customers will get £100 when signing up to
first direct’s 1st Account and another £100 if they are unhappy
with the service after six months.
In First Direct’s ad
campaign, dubbed ‘Impressions’ after the impressions customers have
received from First Direct’s service, the artwork takes an
amalgamation of pins each representing a customer to form shapes
including a heart, £100 and £200 and a thumbs-up, signifying
positive customer feedback (see right).
The bank already boasts the best satisfaction
ratings in the industry, according to Say.
Nine out of 10 of First Direct’s customers are
very or extremely satisfied with the service they get and 80
percent said they would recommend the bank to friends and family.
With over 40,000 customer feedback comments aggregated on the
‘Live’ website, Say added that First Direct’s website has
‘surpassed’ expectations.
He said: “It is a bold and brave move to
[allow customers to comment] in an unedited way.”
The year ahead
The bank does not censor any negative
comments, which he said, surprised many customers “given the fact
that bankers were not especially people’s best friend”.
“That is definitely something we can shout
about,” Say said. “That is quite a unique position we have in the
market place especially considering bankers are more loathed than
estate agents now. The fact our customers trust us enough to
recommend us is quite remarkable.”
This year will be an exciting one
for the UK banking market, Say added, noting in particular
Santander’s re-branding of Alliance & Leicester and Abbey
(see RBI 625) as “very
aggressive”.
“They are shouting very loudly about what they
have to offer and that is going to add a new dimension to the UK
current account market,” he said.
While new players coming into the market, such
as Metro Bank and Virgin Bank, would resonate with customers,
customers who were “dissatisfied” with high street banks were
moving quickly to First Direct, he added.
For Say, the key to First Direct’s ongoing
success will be to continue reinforcing its credentials on customer
satisfaction and recommendation.
As well as improving its online channel, Say
revealed plans to introduce a downloadable application for the
Apple iPhone later in the year. This would allow the online bank to
foray into a fast-growing mobile banking sector led by Barclays and
latterly by NatWest in the UK.
Although he could not comment on how the
campaign had gone so far this year, Say said the targets were in
line with the feedback.
“People continue to talk about it,” he said.
“That is quite a nice thing because it means we are pressing the
right buttons.”
The key benefits of the 1st Account, which is
free to new customers earning at least £1,500 per month or who hold
an additional First Direct product, include:
• Internet banking and text
alerts;
• A £250 interest-free overdraft,
and;
• Daily withdrawal of up to £500 a
day at 55,000 cash machines in the UK.
