Online Anniversary Promo Nets $5 Million in New Deposits
SharePlus Bank in Plano, Texas just celebrated its 50th anniversary with a $50,000 promotion that netted 500 new customers and generated over $5 million in new deposits.
Note: The grand prize cost the bank an average of $100 per new customer.
The 1950s-themed promotion which ran during August, included a promotional direct mail piece with a unique prize code. Recipients were invited to play for the $50,000 prize at a special website, shareplus50thanniversary.com.
Both the website and the grand prize giveaway were hosted by SCA, a third-party promotional management company. One of the firm’s specialties is a turn-key “prize code” promotion that can be easily “re-skinned” with your brand.
SharePlus invited the community to visit their local branch and register for FREE gas cards and vacation packages.
The promotional campaign included direct mail, web ads, newspaper print ads, and in-branch activities. A decorating contest had team members outfitting their branches in a 1950s theme.
All content © 2013 by The Financial Brand and may not be reproduced by any means without permission.
My first thought was “$50,000? What a horrible idea!”
Then I thought, “$100 per customer? A couple of years ago I was told that it took about $45 in advertising to get a checking account. That wasn’t such a good idea.”
Finally, I realized “If $4,000,000 of that $5,000,000 was loaned at an average of 5%, that’s $200,000 in income in the first year. What a great idea!”
The power of a comprehensive and effective marketing campaign never ceases to amaze me. Thanks for the story.
Thanks for the comment Christian. It’s always nice to hear positive feedback.
I wasn’t sure about the mathematics of the promotion. We don’t know how much the bank spent on production of DM pieces, posters, take-ones, statement stuffers, etc. Without knowing the total cost of the promotion, it makes it tough to accurately evaluate the ROI.
It’s not really critical how many new customers they yielded. Nor is the average cost-per-new-customer that important. What’s interesting is that those 500 customers brought in an average of $10,000 each in new deposits. So I’m guessing their profitability exceeds the cost, but again, I’m not entirely sure.
I’m also guessing they spent at least an additional $100,000 (don’t forget postage, so let’s make it $150K) on top of the $50,000 for the grand prize. They also had gas cards and a trip giveaway, which adds another $5,000.
Important to note: They gain MCIF info from the entries, so there’s more opportunity for cross-selling.
I wonder if this promotion went only to existing customers…?