PenFed Credit Union: Not Military Precision

I recently received this solicitation from PenFed Credit Union, whose formal name (according to Wikipedia) is Pentagon Federal Credit Union -- a name that aligns with the company’s pentagon-shaped logo. 

The solicitation letter is pretty typical for mid-tier credit card providers: window envelope with teaser; letter with Johnson Box; clear Call to Action; Schumer Box; buckslip insert reinforcing benefits and the call to action; and required credit prescreen opt-out notice.

The first line of the disclosure on the front of the letter reads, “To receive any advertised product, you must become a member of the PenFed Credit Union.” I originally thought this might be a Fail for Targeting since I have never worked in the military services or at the Pentagon and thus, I thought, would not be eligible for membership. The letter itself does not mention membership criteria, and I also could not find a mention on the main pages of their website or their sitemap. I did, however, find some information about membership eligibility from third-party websites such as on WalletHub; from there, I returned to a page that listed Affinity Partners. 

On affinity partner pages such as this one related to the American Red Cross, there is some copy that reads:

"Congratulations! As an employee, retiree, or volunteer of the American Red Cross you are eligible for PenFed membership! How does PenFed define volunteer? A volunteer is anyone who provides time, talent, or treasure. Time is the hours volunteering for the organization, talent is the unique skills a volunteer brings to the organization, and treasure is both financial and blood donations."

Aha! I am eligible for PenFed Credit Union membership because I supported the American Red Cross. Perhaps the Red Cross shared my contact information with PenFed in hopes that I would become a member and the Red Cross would receive some benefit for the referral. If I am correct -- and, perhaps even if I'm not -- the letter merits a Fail for Creative because the letter lacks an explanation of membership eligibility. 

The letter should explain membership eligibility and how broadly they define it. Even a couple lines along the lines of "We support people who serve the military but also offer membership benefits to tens of thousands of other people who support the military or one of our affinity partners." Or, if I received this offer because of my history of American Red Cross support, why not call that out? Touting affinity relationships helped make MBNA America successful -- perhaps that approach could work for the credit union.

At the very least, PenFed should add a page on its website explaining membership criteria -- a page that is indexed by Google, easy to find and easy to understand. This easy-to-find page on Affinity Federal Credit Union's website is a good template.

Also, is this offer a Fail for Timing? According to CNBC and other news sources, many banks are cutting back on balance transfer offers during these extraordinary times. Perhaps the credit union has a contrary view of where the economy is headed. Or, maybe it has reviewed its current membership pool and credit prescreen criteria and has taken a different view of credit default risk. Or, maybe the credit union had planned this campaign long in advance, and just decided to move forward.

Lessons:

1. If soliciting members for your credit union's credit card, include language that suggests the person is not only eligible for the credit card, but also eligible to join the credit union.
   
2. Membership eligibility for a credit union should be easy to find.
   
3. Consider whether a pandemic is a good time to offer 0% balance transfers.

Affinity Federal Credit Union: Visa Email Not the Best Fit

When you join a credit union, you can remain a member regardless of what happens to your original qualifications. That is the case with me. My first job out of college was at AT&T. I used my first paycheck to become a member of the AT&T Employee Federal Credit Union at their on-site branch. A month later, I applied for and received their Visa credit card.

I left AT&T but remained a member of its credit union. A few years later, the credit union expanded its membership criteria and rebranded as Affinity Federal Credit Union (AFCU). I have watched over the decades as the credit union’s marketing communications evolved from simple and homely to complicated and flashy. Sometimes, their complex messaging leads to ambiguity and confusion.

For example, I recently received this email selling a change from my current Affinity Pure Rewards Visa Credit Card to an AffinityCash Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card. My current Visa card offers the equivalent of 1% cash back on all purchases, plus up to an additional 5% on purchases made through their online portal. The Signature Card earns – well, based on the email – something that matches my personal spending style. Huh?

The Subject Line reads, “Switch Your Card to the Best Fit.” The headline in the email reads “SWITCH YOUR CARD / Find Your Best Fit” – suggesting I might be able to compare cards. The first Fail for Creative is the contradiction between the Subject Line and email content. The Subject Line implies that the Visa Signature Card would be my best fit; the Headline implies that I need to find the card that is my fit; then, the Subhead suggests that the Visa Signature card is meant for me. The card should either be good for me or not – pick one.

It turns out that I have to find the card and work hard to find the link to make the switch.

The email’s links to “Log In & Switch” do not lead to a comparison page. They lead to the credit union’s general customer login page. From there, I have to log in; scroll past my account balances, my pre-approved auto loan offers, a solicitation to consolidate outside accounts, an offer to track all my purchases by category, and a review of my rewards points balances and rewards available; and find a link in 12-point font reading, “Switch My Credit Card.”

This is a Fail because the offer requires substantial customer effort to respond. Granted, the email explains part of this process, but that only partially mitigates the friction present in the transaction. Furthermore, there is not an easy way for me to compare my current card to this new one. Which benefits are the same? Which ones are different? What benefit might the customer lose by making the switch? 

If I haven’t given up and I manage to click on the “Switch My Credit Card” link, this confirmation screen appears:

This confirmation screen is the first point in the customer experience that mentions specific product benefits. The product description reads:

Unlimited cash back with no annual fee. Earn up to 5% cash back on all purchases, including bookstores like Amazon.com, access 24/7 Visa Signature Concierge, cell phone protection, travel benefits and more.

This sales message is another Fail for Creative. Overall, the sales message is fairly incoherent, with a confusing string of dependent clauses.

It is sparse and written poorly. Let’s break it down:

• “Earn up to 5% cash back on all purchases”: What does “up to” mean? Do I have to meet a purchase threshold to earn 5%? Does 5% apply only to purchases up to a threshold amount? Or is some other dynamic in play?
• “…including bookstores like Amazon.com”: Amazon is not a bookstore. It is a shopping site that sells just about everything you can have shipped to you, digital services, even house cleaning. Does this phrasing mean I would earn up to 5% cash back only on books? Or on anything purchased on Amazon.com? The Amazon app is not a dot-com. Are those purchases eligible? What are “bookstores like Amazon.com”? Does that include books on barnesandnoble.com? What about jigsaw puzzles on barnesandnoble.com? Does it include my local brick-and-mortarbookstore? What about books on target.com?
• “Cell phone protection”: What does that mean?

Another Fail for Creative is the lack of information in the customer email. With some active research, I was able to learn that the card offers 5% cash back at “all bookstores, including Amazon.com” (whatever that means); 2% cash back at restaurants, gas stations, and supermarkets; and 1% on other purchases. These are substantial features that should be included in the email to help explain why the card fits my lifestyle. 

I was able to find more information on this product sales page. It appears to have some explanation of what “bookstores, including Amazon.com” means. If I understand the footnote…

2 Cardholders will earn 5% cash back (which is equivalent to 5 points for every $1 spent) for purchases made at Bookstores, which also include purchases made at Amazon.com on up to $3,500 per month in purchases, excluding gift cards. Please note that these bonus categories are categorized by specific Merchant Category Codes. Not all merchants may use the specific qualified transactions codes. The additional points may not be issued, if the merchant does not use a qualified Merchant Category Code.

…a customer earns 5% cash back at Amazon.com and at all bookstores. If so, why not state that outright? Or perhaps simplify the offering and make it applicable to only Amazon.com, as Discover Card does in its quarterly calendar?

The same page mentions the feature of cell phone protection as an exclusive “card-holder” benefit:

There are two Fails here. The first is grammatical: “card-holder” is not hyphenated. The second is that there is no explanation of features related to this benefit. What does "cell phone protection" mean? How is a cell phone protected? Are there incremental requirements to get this protection? My supposition is that AFCU’s protection is similar to Wells Fargo’s cellular telephone protection; however, this is merely a guess. I cannot find details anywhere on the ACFU website. While I’m not a fan of having numerous disclosures in a marketing communication, an explanation and details should be available to the customer.

Lessons:

1. The content of a marketing email should complement the Subject Line.
2. Marketing communications should explain at least some product features to support benefits messaging.
3. Marketing emails should have a simple call to action.
4. A customer's online sales journey should start with supporting the email sales message, then quickly and easily bring the customer through the sale.
5. Amazon is not a bookstore.
6. Proofread your content.
7. If you message a product feature, make available a clearly communicated explanation of what it means.

Affinity Federal Credit Union: Missing the Point — er … Points

This self-mailer from Affinity Federal Credit Union merits a Fail for Creative for failing to fully explain their offer.

Outside of self-mailer

Address Panel

During most of the year, purchases on the AffinityFederal Credit Union Pure Rewards Visa Card earn 1 point per dollar spent. Based on their redemption options, I estimate this equates to a rebate value of approximately 0.7%. Every year for the past several years, the credit card has proactively offered customers a simple points multiplier of double points or triple points for purchases in November and December to encourage purchase activity during the holiday shopping season. 

This year, the points multiplier appears to be vary based on the type of merchant. According to the self-mailer, purchases at “Bookstores, including Amazon.com” earn “5 Bonus Rewards Points,” while purchases at “Gas and Restaurants” earn “3 Bonus Rewards Points” and “Supermarket and Wholesale stores” earn “2 Bonus Rewards Points.”

Interior of self-mailer

The language suggests the customer might earn 5 Bonus Rewards Points per purchase at Bookstores. What I believe the credit union is attempting (but failing) to explain is that some purchases earn 5 Bonus Rewards Points per dollar. Even the Disclosure copy fails to explain this as such. It reads:

*Bonus points are earned as follows: in additional to the standard points you earn (1 point per $1 spent or 2 points per $1 spent if you quality for EvenMore perks), you will receive 5 bonus points on bookstores, 3 bonus points on gas and restaurants, and 2 bonus points on supermarket and wholesale store purchases less returns during the promotional period …

It appears to me that, if a customer makes a $100 purchase at a bookstore, the customer will receive 105 points. If the intention is that the customer should receive 600 points for that purchase (6 total points per dollar spent), then the offer copy should read “5 Bonus Rewards per Dollar” and the Disclosure should read:

*Bonus points are earned as follows: In addition to the standard points you earn (1 point per $1 spent or 2 points per $1 spent if you quality for EvenMore perks), you will receive 5 bonus points per $1 spent on bookstores, 3 bonus points per $1 spent on gas and restaurants, and 2 bonus points per $1 spent on supermarket and wholesale store purchases less returns during the promotional period …

The communication of the bonus points offer appears sloppy in a couple other ways. First, Amazon.com is not a bookstore. According to Wikipedia, Amazon.com started selling items other than books in 1998. Rather than “Bookstores, including Amazon.com,” the category headline should read “Amazon.com and Bookstores.” 

The second category reads, "Gas and Restaurants" when it should read "Gas Stations and Restaurants" for clarity.  Otherwise, a person who purchases gas at CostCo would expect to receive 3 bonus points per dollar.  The third category reads, “Supermarket and Wholesale stores” when it should read “Supermarkets and Wholesale Stores.” 

Lessons:

1. Explain your offer clearly and concisely in the body of your communication as well as in your supporting Disclosure.
2. Be sure to have your marketing communication proofread for clarity and accuracy.
3. Amazon.com is not a bookstore.