BANK ADVERTISING | MARKETING RESEARCH |AWARD WINNING AD AGENCY | LOOMIS

DALLAS – APRIL 6, 2009, Working with award-winning marketing research experts at the Optimization Group, The LOOMIS Agency conducted a study to learn about switching behavior among bank customers in today’s environment. LOOMIS, an award-winning advertising agency based in Dallas collaborated with Optimization Group on an IdeaMap® study aimed at determining which ideas and concepts consumers find most persuasive with respect to switching.

The methodology for the study conducted by the ad agency and the marketing research firm was detailed in a related post March 23, 2009.

A variety of advertising positioning statements and marketing promotions ideas were tested and research results were evaluated based on the age, income, education and geography of the sample. The statements evaluated by the marketing research team included:

- Open a college savings fund or a mortgage down payment fund and we'll match 2 percent of your annual deposits.
- The more you bank with us, the more we give you back. Earn cash back, premium gifts and better interest rates.
- We offer our customers job insurance to help cover monthly expenses while searching for a new job.
- We are the savings experts. Through seminars, our website and our blog we can help you save money and fees, and also save at the grocery store, buying a car and so forth. We will show you everything you need to know to save up to $500 per month.
- Our bank offers a special savings program for kids that teaches elementary through college students how to manage their money, their credit and their checkbooks.

The marketing research team evaluated these statements and about 20 more developed by the ad agency. The research results were tabulated across urban, suburban and rural respondents, and by age and income.

Specific top-line marketing research results will be provided in the third and final part of this three-part series on bank marketing.

According to LOOMIS Agency president, Mike Sullivan, the idea behind the study was to provide some additional insight into consumer behavior with respect to personal banking behavior. 

INDUSTRY

Forrester Research, a leading marketing research firm, published a research study in May 2008 on bank marketing: 

"At the end of 2007, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)-insured banks in the United States held nearly $6.9 trillion in deposits, supported more than 73,000 branches, and employed 1.8 million people. With changing demographics, increasing choices for consumer financial services, and pressures to reduce costs, retail banks are looking to improve the efficiency and productivity of their assets and create enduring relationships with customers."
 
The financial industry troubles that started in September 2008 made the environment even more difficult for bank marketers to navigate. While the focus on creating enduring customer relationships is key to customer retention, new customer acquisition requires bank marketers to glean current insight into the motivations behind customer switching behavior. 

ABOUT LOOMIS AND OPTIMIZATION GROUP

The LOOMIS Agency has won more than 200 awards for a variety of clients, and is focused on creating revenue acceleration and sales results. The Optimization Group, an award-winning research firm, is based in Ann Arbor, MI, with notable Fortune 1000 clients in industries including financial services, automotive, healthcare, publishing, and many others.

Jeff Ewald is president of Optimization Group.  Prior to founding OG, Jeff was an account director at J. Walter Thompson -- Detroit, where he also held account planning positions. LOOMIS and OG have collaborated on a number of marketing research engagements for a variety of clients over the past 10 years.