The Financial Brand does an excellent job of putting FourSquare into perspective for financial services firms:
Most financial institutions are trying to push people out of branches — especially for routine interactions — by encouraging use of self-service channels. But a Foursquare promotion encourages exactly the opposite: frequent branch visits. If your financial institution builds a Foursquare promotion around mayors, you will be taking those who are highly wired, leading-edge, early adopter tech junkies and encouraging them to come into branches more often than they should.
Building a Foursquare promotion around the mayors of your locations may feel like the easiest and most obvious way to tap this social media platform, but it is probably the worst thing you can do. For starters, it really limits the promotion’s audience. There can be only one mayor at a time and there will likely never be more than 2-3 people who could possibly ever overtake him/her. So if you have five branches, a mayor-based promotion would mean something to only around 15 people.”
Banks and credit unions are missing the real lesson here: People like to play games. We like friendly competition, and we like to turn routine things into games to spice them up, make them a little more interesting.
So what should banks and credit unions do? Make a game out of interacting with the bank/CU. No, I don’t mean getting 5 points every time someone does some as meaningless as check their account balance.
But what about applying “game theory” to PFM usage? Construct a budget, get 50 points. Categorize your quarterly spending, get 50 points. Help someone else “in the network” set up their budget, get 250 points. Or more broadly, make a deposit into a savings account for more than $100, get 100 points. Give up paper statements, get 100 points. For every $10 you spend with your debit card, get 10 points.
Sound like a loyalty program? What in tarnation do you think Foursquare is? (Side note: Hypocrisy kills me. There are people who criticize rewards programs for “buying” loyalty instead of “earning” it, and then turn around and rave about some social media concoction like FourSquare).
The keys to success are: 1) Constructing a points scheme that rewards meaningful interactions and actions (this is why I keep harping on the importance of the concept of customer engagement, and how to measure it); 2) Making it social so people can see how they stand relative to everyone else, and to encourage some friendly competition; and 3) Integrating it with enterprise-wide marketing efforts.
Of course, if you prefer publicity over profits, feel free to pursue that Foursquare promotion.