• by April 2, 2009

In 2008, banks registered a 57% increase in their use of direct mail to sell additional products and services to current customers, according to research by Mintel Comperemedia. The previous year had seen a 48% decline in such mailings.

"Clearly, there was a major shift in strategy," stated Stephen Clifford, vice president of financial services, Mintel Comperemedia.

Current bank customers also received 37% more CRM-related mailings, including loyalty messages, renewal notices and upgrade offers. In 2007, such mailings had decreased 3%. Clifford noted a definite increase in both direct mail and email that included "strength and stability messages, reassuring customers that their money is safe."

Meanwhile, acquisition-directed mail offers sent to non-customers in 2008 rose 7% in 2008, after staying even in 2007, and still accounted for the overwhelming majority of all bank direct mail -- some 1.15 billion pieces in 2008, compared with 178 million for customer management and 89 million for cross-selling to current customers.

Percentage-wise, direct mail geared to new customer acquisitions dropped from 85% of total bank direct mails in 2007 to 81% in 2008, with direct mailings to existing customers rising from 15% to 19%.

In email marketing, where communications to current customers far outweigh new customer acquisitions, the same trend was apparent. Emailings to current customers rose from 89% in 2007 to 94% of total bank emails in 2008, with acquisition emails dropping from 10% to 6%.

Banks that acquired other banks -- and those banks' customers -- during the year were as likely as other banks to seek new customers through direct mail and emails, noted Clifford. But the trend was clearly for banks to sell current customers on additional services --"cross-selling to existing customers is a wise direct marketing strategy, especially as the economy makes attracting new clients difficult ... A customer who uses two or more of a bank's products likely has a deep, loyal relationship with that bank."

Such products offered by direct marketing during 2008 included CDs, checking accounts, debit cards, money market accounts, online banking services and savings accounts.

In total, bank direct mailings increased 13%, from 1.26 billion to 1.42 billion, Mintel Comperemedia reported. The researcher does not estimate email volume.