Technology & Finance
National Bank of Australia Markets by Events with Teradata
Use your credit card from National Bank of Australia at a DIY store and you might, within a few weeks, get a friendly checkup call from a banker just asking how things are going, if you might need any additional banking services. He will probably suggest one or two products which the bank’s information suggests will match some need of the customer’s.
“The credit card is one of the most powerful pieces of information to trigger event-based messages,” said Brock Lynch, Director of Strategic Marketing for National Australia Bank. “It could mean they are doing some home renovations.” On the other hand, the bank knows a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Just because someone used a credit card to buy baby clothes doesn’t necessarily mean he is pregnant.
“It just gives extra nuances.”
An unusually large deposit, which could indicate a customer has sold a car or left a job, can also be a trigger for an outbound call. Signs of potential defection can also trigger outbound calls.
This is event-triggered marketing which the bank uses across all its channels, from call centers to the Internet. Many of the conversations with customers occur on in-bound calls, added Lynch. The bank uses Siebel for customer relationship management and a Teradata data warehouse for customer analytics to develop conversations for bankers to have with clients.
“We have a centralized inbound pool, so customers who call in, often when something has gone wrong.” For bankers, who know how much customers dislike being called at home during dinner, the inbound problem calls offer an opening to sell. NBA provides scripts to the call center reps or basic customer information they can use to develop their own conversations.
“We think it enables us to deliver a message to a customer on their terms, rather than us ringing and bothering them. We are testing that hypothesis that we are more likely to have a good conversation when they are calling us rather than our contacting them.”
The bank is improving its context strategy to make sure it is contacting the right people with the right products.
“We are working to make sure our program is not product led but customer led.”
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