Building a better bank

How many of us filed our taxes early? How many of us delayed our tax prep, work and filing until the last minute — causing some kind of stress on our families, our accountants and ourselves?

 

In the realm of retail shopping, "reluctant shoppers" are defined by their ability to "put off" shopping as long as possible.

The actual problem might never fully materialize, or any new solution may be a "nice to have" versus a "need to have."  This is a frustrating and challenging dilemma for retailers because your mission is to convince your target that they actually have a problem and need to buy a solution. In the case of reluctant shoppers, the consumer's current solutions are "good enough" and the underlying problem never fully surfaces.

 

Banks are retailers, too. But not all banks understand the importance of creating and executing a true retail experience for their accountholders.

 

When was the last time you changed banks?  Probably not in the past five years — unless your bank closed its doors, you moved and/or your place of employment moved. More often than not, you bank with the bank that is most convenient and aligned to your commuting habits — even factoring in the side of the street or corner of the intersection that is most convenient for you.

 

TD Bank knows this to be true — and bases its whole strategy around poaching consumers who no longer find their original banks to be terribly convenient. With its building-a-better-bank strategy, TD doesn't consider itself a traditional bank — it positions itself as a retailer that always provides a "wow" to its customers. 

 

TD Bank's success is driven by innovative, consumer-based marketing practices with the goal of innovating and improving its legendary customer experience. Its marketing levers are truly consumer-inspired — such as late hours (8 p.m.), Sunday hours, the free penny arcade (which I frequent even though I am not a TD customer) and good coffee while you wait in queue.

 

A particularly intriguing promotion in recent months was an offer of cash back on grocery purchases.

 

This promotion demonstrates how well TD Bank knows and respects it target — and seeks to encourage switching by offering much-appreciated real-time rewards for everyday purchases vs. traditional banks, which offer frequent flier miles.

 

Given TD Bank's success (Some key metrics: adjusted net income grew more than 24 percent in 2009 over 2008; TD Bank is one of only three North American banks to receive an AAA credit rating from Moody's), competing financial institutions should look harder at how they want their customers to bank versus how their customers actually want to "shop."

 

AnnaMaria Turano is a partner of MCAworks, a strategic marketing consulting firm based in Westport, CT. To submit a comment about this article, please e-mail the editor, Tracy Kitten.