Articles
Is Your Financial Institution Feeling the Burn?
When the first so-called “challenger banks” like Simple and Moven appeared on the scene around 2010 they were heralded as “disruptors” that were going to put traditional banks and credit unions out of business. Why? The asserted logic was that they provided a better customer experience, were more customer-friendly in terms of pricing (i.e., no…
Read MoreOur Favorite Monthly Subscription? Our Community Bank!
Members of the Garrelts family, which includes Chris (the unseen photographer), his wife, Amy, and their three teens (Elizabeth, Max, and Claire), saved $35 per ticket at Universal Studios Hollywood — plus another $1,200 in unforeseen cell phone repair costs, all thanks to their checking account powered by BaZing. By Chris Garrelts As a father…
Read MoreDave Crook Shares Three Strategies for Growing Primary Checking Relationships
Even before the coronavirus, there was a passionate renewal of relationship banking’s importance, with a specific focus on primacy — primary versus non-primary households. What’s evident is that all relationships are not created equal: Half your customers see your FI as their bank and about half don’t. It’s the curse of free checking. Free worked…
Read MoreMarketing Teams That Took It to the Next Level in 2020
By Dave DeFazio One of the most fun parts of my job is to see our clients take things that we’ve built and make them even better. Since we have great clients, that happens all the time. Here are three simple, but awesome, examples that stood out to me in 2020. Renasant Bank Tupelo, Mississippi…
Read MoreReinventing the Checking Account
Is it “game over” for mid-size banks and credit unions when it comes to checking accounts? Are the threats from deposit displacement, P2P providers, Amazon, and megabanks insurmountable? No. Despite the prevalence of free checking accounts, many consumers express interest in switching to that hypothetical Amazon-offered bundled checking account we discussed earlier in this report.…
Read MoreFI FOCUS: CS Bancshares, Inc.
State Bank customer service representatives Lisa Hobbs, Vicki Posch, Terra Allen, and Shelley Tate show off the bank’s new checking account features. For years, Chillicothe State Bank, State Bank of Missouri, and The State Bank have passed along a rich tradition of community banking, service, and values to residents of five cities in North-central Missouri. …
Read MoreIt’s Time to Kill Free Checking
Why would consumers show more interest in a fee-based account from Amazon than a free account? One reason is surely the value-added services bundled in. But there’s another reason: Consumers have learned (the hard way) that a free checking account isn’t really free. As one bank customer, commenting online, put it: “The issue isn’t wanting…
Read MoreThe Threats to Checking Accounts
Over the first half of the 2010s, the number of checks written in the United States declined from 41.9 billion to 17.1 billion — a nearly 60% drop. Bad news for checking accounts, right? Wrong. According to the FDIC, the percentage of U.S. households without a checking account dropped from 8.2% in 2011 to 7% in…
Read MoreUse Good/Better/Best for Checking Success
Shop for a new car, a cell phone plan, a cable TV package, or a major appliance these days, and you’ll find one consistent and very successful product strategy: Good/Better/Best (GBB). GBB is a three-tiered strategy conceptually defined as follows: Good: A basic level of value for price-sensitive customers. Good offers a minimal amount of…
Read MoreCan You Honestly Say Your Checking Account is Modern?
Case in point: the rapid adoption and use of smartphones in today’s world have made consumers aware of two realities: Those devices break. Bad people are misusing other people’s personal data. What’s your checking products doing to help your customers/members with these realities? If the answer is nothing, here’s a few research points to start…
Read More