Category Archives: Payments

PNC revamps credit card portfolio to focus on relationship rewards

Earlier this week, PNC introduced three new rewards credit cards, with bonus rewards tiers for cardholders who also have specific PNC checking accounts. This relationship rewards approach builds on PNC’s existing PNC Points program, which enables customers to combine points earned on credit card and debit card spending, as well as on various banking activities. Two of the three new cards are also in the PNC Points program; the other offers a cash rebate.

While Citi’s ThankYou Network is frequently cited as the archetypal relationship rewards program, PNC’s bonus rewards concept has more in common with the Chase Exclusives program. Both programs provide bonus earnings for their checking account customers, and underscore the primacy of the checking account as the key relationship product for banks. It is also notable that all three banks have built their relationship rewards programs using a card-based points architecture.

With the Federal Reserve’s proposed cap on debit card interchange, many leading banks have announced the discontinuation of rewards on debit card spending. From a relationship perspective, this means that some banks are refocusing attention on the checking account itself, rather than the plastic attached to it. In the case of PNC, it is telling that the level of bonus reward is based on the checking product owned, each with different minimum balance requirements (e.g., 50% bonus with PNC Performance Checking Account; 75% bonus with PNC Performance Select Checking Account).

Email Re-Engagement Strategy #3: Email Engagement without the Email

Recent EMI blog posts discussed the growing importance of email engagement and the roles of preferences and pursuing new tactical approaches in re-engaging customers. But it’s also important to remember that there are many people who don’t enjoying reading and interacting with email. They get too many; they find it difficult to scan; they didn’t grow up using email and aren’t completely comfortable with it; they taint all commercial email with the “spam” brush—there are a variety of reasons for non-engagement with emails that are based on the medium itself. In light of this, it’s vital to explore alternatives to the low-cost siren song of email such as direct mail, telemarketing/call centers, and even social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

There are two important reasons to consider these types of media as possible solutions to the challenge of email engagement:

  • Any form of engagement that helps you maintain a viable communications relationship could, at some point, could open the door to email engagement.
  • Demonstrating responsiveness to the implicit media preferences of recipients will make them more favorably inclined to all your communications—if you continue to send them email they will be less likely to mark it as spam.

Obviously, because non-email media generally carry much higher variable costs, it’s necessary to be selective about when and how to utilize these channels. Targeting the highest value email non-engagers would be one logical approach. Segmenting based on the customer lifecycle is another possibility; for example, you could target those whose recent email activity has declined in the hope that they would be more likely to respond and then re-engage by email. Whatever the approach, it’s important to utilize non-email channels to maintain the relationship because the alternative (continued email non-engagement) will only result in a shrinking email list.

Relationship Marketing Is…

A client asked me today when does old-style direct mail turn into relationship marketing? I said…

  • When it’s about the whole relationship—web, emarketing, mail and human channels—and all of these know the customer equally well.
  • When all of these channels are enabled to deliver offers and services that demonstrate that customer knowledge.
  • When the focus is on the customer’s lifetime value, with measurement to match, rather than making a single product sale in a silo.
  • When the lines between service, marketing and sales are seamless and invisible to the customer.