Wells Fargo: Benefits & Call to Action

Brochure Front

A couple of weeks ago, I shared lessons related to Wells Fargo’s in-store brochure for their Propel 365 card.  One month later, the retail branch is presenting a new brochure for another product. This one is for their other AMEX offering — the Wells Fargo Propel World American Express Card.  

Unfortunately, this brochure has the same Fail for Creative as the Propel 365 card brochure — it describes the features of accruing points but gives no benefit statement about the value of points. When you’re playing a video game, earning points is important as a goal in itself. However, with a rewards program, the points themselves are not the goal. Instead, the goal is to get what the points can bring — such as a trip to visit Grandma, fun electronics, or extra cash for the holidays.

Inside

The Wells Fargo Propel World American Express Card brochure does mention their front-end benefits, such as hotel upgrades, airline fee reimbursement, and concierge service. This would support the headline message of “Upgrade your travel experience.” The cover photos suggest aspiration, with the moving ghostlike Wells Fargo Wagon graphic on the credit card and a happy couple on a gondola, presumably in Venice.

The brochure also has a disconnect in the call to action. While the cover directs customers to talk with a banker to apply for the card, the inside of the brochure directs customers to visit a website or call a phone number for more information. You can sell only one thing at a time — and that also applies to motivating a customer to action. Having two distinct messages in this manner dilutes interest.

Lessons:

1. Marketing communications should communicate a benefit. Points are not a benefit — they are a vehicle of earnings toward a benefit.
2. Keep your call to action consistent, and reinforce it whenever possible.

Wells Fargo: What’s the Point of Points?

Front

Normally my comments are limited to marketing communications shared directly with consumers via direct mail or email, but this in-bank pamphlet merits a potential Fail for Creative.

Inside

Wells Fargo uses its retail branches as an opportunity to cross-sell products and services. Every bank teller window has a brochure holder for a customer to read while transacting with the teller. The brochures appear to rotate about once a month. This month, the brochures are for the Wells Fargo Propel 365 American Express Card.

The two-page, two-panel brochure touts the card as one that “earns you accelerated rewards and so much more.” More what? The brochure describes the accrual rate of points but gives no indication of the value. The only suggestion is on the cover -- in the form of a lifestyle photo of someone driving an expensive convertible. Now, that would be a nice “so much more,” but the brochure doesn’t mention that as an option.

Back, Disclosures

Also, as I write this, the URL listed inside the brochure, wellsfargo.com/getpropel, does not appear to work. After a search through the website, I found this mention of redemption options such as gift cards, unique travel experiences and exclusive offers, and credit to qualifying Wells Fargo credit product.  

Credit card rewards benefits range from the practical to the aspirational. Wells Fargo’s credit card appears to have both -- if you can find information about them.

Lessons:

1. Marketing communications should communicate a benefit.  Points are not a benefit.  They are a vehicle of earnings toward a benefit.
2. Ensure all your website match the URLs listed in your marketing communications and are properly functioning.

Edit: As of this evening 5/28/14, the landing page wellsfargo.com/getpropel appears to be functional.

Five days is not enough

The Sitecore Symposium offers users of their platform the opportunity to learn about product features as well as share success stories and best practices. A recent email from them communicated that fact fairly well.

The email arrived on May 6 with a call to action to register for the symposium by May 11. The registration site was not live until May 6, giving only a five-day window for a business customer to commit to an $895 registration fee and travel plans four months ahead. This earns the email a Fail for Offer. Business customers need time to make arrangements, commit to dates, and obtain management approval.

In fact, the landing page includes a link to a boilerplate justification letter for registrants to send to their managers to get approval. A nice touch, because any employee going to the boss on his or her own and saying, “I’m going to Las Vegas for three days, staying at a high-end hotel on the strip, and paying 900 bucks to register” needs more than a bit of back-up.

As of May 7, the landing-page grid mentions the ‘Super Early Bird’ price with a deadline of May 11; however, the landing-page body copy (just above the Terms and Conditions) and the justification letter cite the deadline as May 18. That’s a Fail for Creative for having inconsistent deadlines.

Lessons:

1)      Give your business customers an adequate response window to your offer, especially if there is a substantial commitment in cost and time involved.

2)      Be consistent with your respond-by dates.

Tommy Can You See Me?

I love Tommy Bahama attire. I’ve bought their pants and belts. I have their polo shirts, t-shirts, and sweatshirts. I have work shirts, bathing suits, and Hawaiian shirts. What I don’t have is any of their women’s attire. So why did I receive this mailer with some very… well, er, proportioned women begging me with their eyes to go swimming with them?

A colleague of mine who is also a Tommy Bahama enthusiast – and has also purchased only men’s clothes from them – received the same mailer. As customers, we have not purchased anything from Tommy Bahama other than for ourselves.  Yet we received this self-mailer. It is printed on heavy white paper with some well-designed and superbly printed photographs. It cries to the aspiring summer bather, “Join me” or “Be me.” All the same, it gets a Fail for List. Mailing this piece to us is a waste of time and money.

Some direct marketing professionals might suggest that, perhaps, Tommy Bahama used a Big Data method as part of a growth strategy to try to bring in new purchasing behavior. Maybe we have credit card purchase data suggesting we buy things for our female significant others. I would be able to accept such a hypothesis if we were new customers. However, we both have years of purchasing behavior and we were identified by our customer number on the self-mailer. My hypothesis is that the merchant sent the same self-mailer to most or all of its customer base.

Lesson: Use your customers’ purchase history to your advantage. Target offers to customers that demonstrate a likeliness to make an incremental purchase. 

P.S. As I write this, I am wearing a Tommy Bahama men’s shirt.

AARP and the Mini Day Bag!

My girlfriend recently celebrated her birthday. While she is not exactly in the demographic sought by MTV, she isn’t that old, either. Which is why we were surprised when she received an offer to join the AARP. 

My understanding is that the minimum age to join the American Association of Retired Persons is 50, and she is several years away from that threshold. Besides, I doubt that either of us will retire at 50, much less 60.

Creatively, the package is interesting. 

Externally, the AARP leverages a self-mailer approach with a nearly blind outer envelope; that is, the typical consumer would not note that it is from the AARP, although the typical direct mail marketer would notice the mention of ‘AARP’ in the universal postage indicia. Internally, the first things an old person potential member sees are the card and the image of the Free mini day bag. This suggests that the incentive is as much the Hero as is the value of membership.

 When the full letter is opened, a reader learns of all the benefits. The copy on the left side is assumptive, opening with, “Please keep this card until you receive your Membership Kit.” The copy on the right side calls out the various benefits of membership.

The return envelope reiterates the benefits -- not of membership, but of the mini day bag. For so much emphasis to be placed on this, it must be quite a great bag. If the bag and membership are enough reason for the reader to join the AARP, that person has to provide a stamp for the return envelope. This is likely also an indication of the target audience, because younger people such as my girlfriend are less likely to have a stamp -- they would have preferred to respond online.

 

I presume that a large organization such as the AARP has put in the time and effort to optimize their Control solicitation package. Perhaps this is the first in a series of solicitations. However compelling the visuals, messaging, and incentive, a Fail for List is appropriate. Maybe after mailing to my girlfriend, they will target recent college graduates?

Response form tear-off

Lesson: Target your mailings to the appropriate audience. Otherwise, you waste production money and postage while potentially damaging your reputation.

Response envelope flap

Outside of response envelope

Hilton HHonors: The Hidden Bonus

Subject line: "Earn HHonors Bonus Points when you sign-up for the HHonors Shop-to-Earn Mall"

The email subject line read, “Earn HHonors Bonus Points when you sign-up for the HHonors Shop-to-Earn Mall.” The proposition of getting more points just for signing up for a “mall” was tempting. I was not sure what it means to sign up for a mall, but if it gets me closer to nights in Maui, I would be interested. I read on for details.

The subhead states, “GEAR UP FOR FALL WITH THE HILTON HHONORSTM SHIP-TO-EARN MALL.” The call to action is to click “Shop now.” The body copy describes opportunities to earn bonus points by shopping at merchants and reiterates the call to action to visit the mall.

There are several Fails for Creative in this email. The most significant Fail is that the body of the email does not explain the offer presented in the Subject Line. How do I sign up for the mall? What bonus points are available for me to do so? Even when I visit the landing page (shown here), there is no mention of the offer to earn HHonors points for signing up.

Other Fails for Creative include:

• Including a “TM” using the same font and weight as the main word in the subhead. If your HTML capabilities are so lacking that you can’t place your “TM” in a superscript on a subhead, do it in the first mention in the body copy. Your lawyer would understand.
• Using the term “merchant” interchangeably with “retailer”. Be consistent about it, and consider sticking with “retailer”. After all, the primary definition of “merchant” is “a person who buys and sells commodities for profit.” Items such as Tumi handbags are not commodities; therefore, “merchant” is not a consumer-facing term.

Lessons: 

1. If you mention an offer in your Subject Line or headline, explain it in the body of your communication.
2. Do not use the same font and weight for a “™” or “®” as the word it references.
3. Ensure that your language is appropriate for the audience and is consistent.