Tag: credit marketing

Rewards are among the most appealing features of any credit card. While upfront benefits, like sign-up bonuses and cashback, are most influential in card acquisition, ancillary benefits, like fraud and identity protection, can amplify a card’s overall value.1 Credit card fraud ranked as the second most common form of identity theft in 2021,2 and is expected to become even more frequent as consumers continue to bank and shop online.3 42% of consumers are concerned for the safety of their banking and shopping transactions. With digital identity theft and fraud on the rise, it’s no surprise that safety measures are “very” or “extremely” important to consumers when deciding between different credit cards.4 In response, many card issuers have started to market their security and protection-related benefits more frequently to better capitalize on their cards’ value to consumers. The ways they’ve highlighted these benefits include: A fraud protection campaign From spotlighting their fraud protection benefits in card welcome kits to providing privacy tips on social media, credit card issuers have crafted compelling campaigns to demonstrate their commitment to protecting their customers from fraud and identity theft. In turn, issuers can differentiate their cards from the competition and improve response rates. Reminders about their fraud prevention efforts Issuers have also sent out ongoing reminders outlining the protections their credit cards offer, such as credit monitoring services 5 that notify cardholders of suspicious activity on their credit report. By consistently promoting their efforts to keep their customers’ accounts and data safe, issuers can earn their cardholders’ trust, build loyalty and drive card usage. While benefits like cashback and travel points can help with card acquisition, fraud and identity protection benefits can help drive long-term customer relationships, especially now that card fraud is becoming a growing concern.6 To learn more about how businesses have worked to meet the consumer demand for secure interactions, check out our 2021 Global Identity and Fraud Report. Learn more 1Jonathan O'Connor. "Most Consumers Aren't Aware of Their Credit Cards' Ancillary Benefits. How Does This Impact Card Acquisition and Usage?" TSYS, January 2019 2FTC. "Consumer Sentinel Network" Data Book, 2021 3April Berthene. "Coronavirus pandemic adds $219 billion to US ecommerce sales in 2020-2021" Digital Commerce 360, March 2022 4"Consumers Consider as Many as Six Factors When Choosing Credit Card" PYMTS.com, December 2021 5David McMillin. "Identity theft is a major problem, but these 5 credit card protection programs can help keep you safe" Business Insider, June 2021 6"New FICO Survey Finds Overconfidence Could Put US Consumers at Risk From Scams" Business Wire, February 2022

With 2020 firmly behind us and multiple COVID-19 vaccines being dispersed across the globe, many of us are entering 2021 with a bit of, dare we say it, optimism. But with consumer spending and consumer confidence dipping at the end of the year, along with an inversely proportional spike in coronavirus cases, it’s apparent there’s still some uncertainty to come. This leaves businesses and consumers alike, along with fintechs and their peer financial institutions, wondering when the world’s largest economy will truly rebound.   But based on the most recent numbers available from Experian, fintechs have many reasons to be bullish. In this unprecedented year, marked by a global pandemic and a number of economic and personal challenges for both businesses and consumers, Americans are maintaining healthy credit profiles and responsible spending habits. While growth expectedly slowed towards the end of the year, Q4 of 2020 saw solid job gains in the US labor market, with 883,000 jobs added through November and the US unemployment rate falling to 6.7%. Promisingly, one of the sectors hit hardest by the pandemic, the leisure and hospitality industry added back the most jobs of all sectors in October: 271,000. Additionally, US home sales hit a 14-year high fueled by record low mortgage rates. And finally, consumer sentiment rose to the highest level (81.4%) since March 2020. Not only are these promising signs of continued recovery, they illustrate there are ample market opportunities now for fintechs and other financial institutions.   “It’s been encouraging to see many of our fintech partners getting back to their pre-COVID marketing levels,” said Experian Account Executive for Fintech Neil Conway. “Perhaps more promising, these fintechs are telling me that not only are response rates up but so is the credit quality of those applicants,” he said.  More plainly, if your company isn’t in the market now, you’re missing out. Here are the four steps fintechs should take to reenter the lending marketing intelligently, while mitigating as much risk as possible.   Re-do Your Portfolio Review Periodic portfolio reviews are standard practice for financial institutions. But the health crisis has posted unique challenges that necessitate increased focus on the health and performance of your credit portfolio. If you haven’t done so already, doing an analysis of your current lending portfolio is imperative to ensure you are minimizing risk and maximizing profitability. It’s important to understand if your portfolio is overexposed to customers in a particularly hard-hit industry, i.e. entertainment, or bars and restaurants. At the account level there may be opportunities to reevaluate customers based on a different risk appetite or credit criteria and a portfolio review will help identify which of your customers could benefit from second chance opportunities they may not have otherwise been able to receive. Retool Your Data, Analytics and Models As the pandemic has raged on, fintechs have realized many of the traditional data inputs that informed credit models and underwriting may not be giving the complete picture of a consumer. Essentially, a 720 in June 2020 may not mean the same as it does today and forbearance periods have made payment history and delinquency less predictive of future ability to pay. To stay competitive, fintechs must make sure they have access to the freshest, most predictive data. This means adding alternative data and attributes to your data-driven decisioning strategies as much as possible. Alternative data, like income and employment data, works to enhance your ability to see a consumer’s entire credit portfolio, which gives lenders the confidence to continue to lend – as well as the ability to track and monitor a consumer’s historical performance (which is a good indicator of whether or not a consumer has both the intention and ability to repay a loan). Re-Model Your Lending Criteria  One of the many things the global health crisis has affirmed is the ongoing need for the freshest, most predictable data inputs. But even with the right data, analytics can still be tedious, prolonging deployment when time is of the essence. Traditional models are too slow to develop and deploy, and they underperform during sudden economic upheavals. To stay ahead in times recovery or growth, fintechs need high-quality analytics models, running on large and varied data sets that they can deploy quickly and decisively. Unlike many banks and traditional financial institutions, fintechs are positioned to nimbly take advantage of market opportunities. Once your models are performing well, they should be deployed into the market to actualize on credit-worthy current and future borrowers. Advertising/Prescreening for Intentional Acquisition As fintechs look to re-enter the market or ramp up their prescreen volumes to pre-COVID levels, it’s imperative to reach the right prospects, with the right offer, based on where and how they’re browsing. More consumers than ever are relying on their phones for browsing and mobile banking, but aligning messaging and offers across devices and platforms is still important. Here’s where data-driven advertising becomes imperative to create a more relevant experience for consumers, while protecting privacy.   As 2021 rolls forward, there will be ample chance for fintechs to capitalize on new market opportunities. Through up-to-date analysis of your portfolio, ensuring you have the freshest, predictive data, adjusting your lending criteria and tweaking your approach to advertising and prescreen, you can be ready for the opportunities brought on by the economic recovery. How is your fintech gearing up to re-enter the market? Learn more

The largest industry disruptor was a surprise to everyone. Where bets may have been placed on digital transformation, automated decisioning, or better omnichannel programs, no one foresaw the global pandemic of COVID-19 and the corresponding economic fall out that ensued. As financial institutions have spent the past two months scattered and then regrouping, whether with pivoted downturn contingency strategies or with a business-focused Hail Mary, some might argue that the dust is beginning to settle. While the world and the majority of businesses are working to manage and stabilize a new normal against a background of some form of chaos, once federal and state regulations are loosened, the world – and financial institutions in particular – will need a plan forward. So, what comes after COVID-19? With stimulus checks and what everyone hopes will soon be a re-stimulating of the economy, consumers will seek credit. And when that influx comes, there will be a need to strategize what is the right offer for the right consumer. How do you take on more customers while minimizing risk? Non-existent and/or shrinking budgets Many marketing budgets were already small prior to the global pandemic, so coming out of it, to say every marketing dollar counts is an understatement. Traditional prescreen, while a pillar in acquisition operations, is an antiquated strategy. Using hyper-segmentation via a true end-to-end marketing service, pumped up by the right data for decision making, enables financial institutions to not only build the right audience but tailor quality experiences that increase engagement and loyalty. That means ultimately reducing operating costs while improving experiences and take rates. Work from home turned life from home Going virtual has gone viral. Seemingly overnight, most brick and mortar operations went online. Some versions of digital transformation became a need to have, versus a nice to have, and the gap between the financial institutions who were equipped to pivot online, versus those who were not, spread further. As the vast majority of consumers are at home – whether by way of work from home or furlough – our society has quickly embraced everything being online. Reach your consumers where they are, in the digital-first channels to which they have become familiar with and accustomed. As consumers are at the center of every marketing strategy, engaging omnichannel delivery enhances reach across critical touchpoints. Inclusive of social media, email, direct mail, TV, and more, the campaign should provide a seamless experience, all working together in a synchronized fashion. Consistency has always been key, but especially during these volatile times, to reflect stability, empathy and constant messaging is an undertone that can only help strengthen consumers’ view of your organization. Learn fast, grow faster For marketing financial products, it’s a matter of connecting the dots between consumer touchpoints and results data. By making these critical connections, financial institutions will be better positioned to identify the most effective elements in the campaign. By gleaning more insights from campaign performance, organizations can optimize future campaigns and minimize wasted ad spend. These key learnings, delivered at the end of every campaign cycle, help your organization to remain nimble, pivot quickly and execute campaigns that get increasingly better ROI as you hone in on the nuances revealed by data on consumer behavior, preferences, motivations and more. Changing times and even faster-changing needs There’s always been a need for faster decisioning and more results with increasingly fewer resources. The need for speed has been put on hyperdrive as the economy has entered the current environment. How do you keep up with the changing needs of your consumers? Get your marketing right from the start and see results through to the end. Incorporating the right data, advanced analytics and constant access ultimately enable more strategic focus and shorter campaign cycles. As we all navigate the ever-changing “normal,” offering the right support to your consumers is the right thing to do for them and for you. Managing rising consumer needs, while also minimizing risk to your bottom line, is also the right thing to do for your business. Once plans move from managing business operations through the crisis to moving forward, make sure your marketing – how you are reaching out to existing customers and prospective customers for the next steps in their financial journey – is data-driven. To learn more about how Experian can help you execute data-driven marketing that fuels customer acquisition, visit our website. Learn More

For financial marketers, long gone are the days of branded coffee mugs, teddy bears and the occasional print ad. Financial marketers are charged with customizing messaging and offerings at a customer level, increasing conversion rates, and moving beyond digital while keeping an eye on traditional channels. Additionally, financial marketing teams are having to do it all with less; according to CMO Survey, marketing budgets have remained stagnant for the last 6 years. Accordingly, competing in today’s world requires transforming your organization to address rapidly increasing complexity while containing costs.  Here are four tactics leading-edge firms are using to respond to changes in the market and better serve customers. More data, fewer problems Financial institutions ingest a mind-boggling variety of data, transaction details, transaction history, credit scores, customer preferences, etc. It can be difficult to know where to start or what to do with what is often terabytes of data. But the savviest teams are mining their unique data, along with bureau data, and other alternative and third-party data for rich decision making that drives differentiation. Getting analytical In financial institutions, advanced analytics has traditionally lived with lenders, underwriters, risk and fraud, departments, etc. But marketers too can find the value in the volume, velocity and variety of new data sources available to financial institutions. Using advanced analytics allows the most forward-thinking financial marketers to better target customers, personalize experiences, respond in near-real-time or even predict actions, and measure the impact of marketing investments. Customized quality time with customers Thanks to the likes of Google and Amazon, consumers have become accustomed to individualized interactions with firms they utilize. And this desire is just as present when it comes to their financial institution. But banks, credit unions and fintechs have been historically slow to respond. According to a recent Capgemini study, 70% of US consumers feel like their financial institution doesn’t understand their needs. The most dynamic financial marketing teams tailor quality experiences that increase consumer engagement and long-term relationships. All the channels, all the time The financial marketer’s job doesn’t stop at creating bespoke experiences for customers. Firms are also having to leverage an omnichannel approach to reach these clients, across an ever-growing number of channels and touchpoints. If that wasn’t enough, campaign cycles are shortening to match consumers changing demands and need for instant gratification—again, thanks Amazon. But the best teams determine which media or interaction resonates most effectively with clients, whether face-to-face, via an app, chatbot, or social media and have conversations across all of them seamlessly. It’s clear, financial firms must transform their approach to address increasing market complexity without increasing costs. Financial marketers are saddled with stagnant marketing budgets, proliferating media channels and shorter campaign cycles, with an expectation to continue delivering results. It’s a very tall order, especially if your financial institution is not leveraging data, analytics and insights as the differentiators they could be. CMOs and their marketing teams must invest in new technologies, strategies and data sources that best reflect the expectations of their customers. How is your bank or credit union responding to these financial marketing challenges? Watch our 2020 Credit Marketing Trends On-Demand Webinar  

The challenges facing today’s marketers seem to be mounting and they can feel more pronounced for financial institutions. From customizing messaging and offerings at an individual customer level, increasing conversion rates, moving beyond digital while keeping an eye on traditional channels, and more, financial marketers are having to modernize their approach to customer acquisition. The most forward-thinking financial firms are turning to customer acquisition engines to help them best build, test and optimize their custom channel targeting strategies faster than ever before. But what functionality is right for your company? Here are 5 capabilities you should look for in a modern customer acquisition engine. Advanced Segmentation It’s without question that targeting and segmentation are vital to a successful financial marketing strategy. Make sure you select a tool that allows for advanced segmentation, ensuring the ability to uncover lookalike groups with similar attributes or behaviors and then customize messages or offerings accordingly. With the right customer acquisition engine, you should be able to build filters for targeted segments using a range of data including demographic, past behavior, loyalty or transaction history, offer response and then repurpose these segments across future campaigns. Campaign Design With the right campaign design, your team has the ability to greatly affect customer engagement. The right customer acquisition engine will allow your team to design a specific, optimized customer journey and content for each of the segments you create. When you’re ready to apply your credit criteria to the audience to generate a pre-screen, the best tools will allow you to view the size of your list adjusted in real-time. Make sure to look for an acquisition engine that can do all of this easily with a drag and drop user experience for faster and efficient campaign design. Rapid Deployment Once you finalize your audience for each channel or offer, the clock starts ticking. From bureau processing, data aggregation, targeting and deployment, the data that many firms are currently using for prospecting can be at least 60-days. When searching for a modern customer acquisition engine, make sure you choose a tool that gives you the option to fetch the freshest data (24-48 hours) before you deploy. If you’re sending the campaign to an outside firm to execute, timing is even more important. You’ll also want a system that can encrypt and decrypt lists to send to preferred partners to execute your marketing campaign. Support Whether you have an entire marketing department at your disposal or a lean, start-up style team, you’re going to want the highest level of support when it comes to onboarding, implementation and operational success. The best customer acquisition solution for your company will have a robust onboarding and support model in place to ensure client success. Look for solutions that offer hands-on instruction, flexible online or in-person training and analytical support. The best customer acquisition tool should be able to take your data and get you up and running in less than 30 days. Data, Data and more Data Any customer acquisition engine is only as good as the data you put into it. It should, of course, be able to include your own client data. However, relying exclusively on your own data can lead to incomplete analysis, missed opportunities and reduced impact. When choosing a customer acquisition engine, pick a system that gives your company access to the most local, regional and national credit data, in addition to alternative data and commercial data assets, on top of your own data. The optimum solutions can be fueled by the analytical power of full-file, archived tradeline data, along with attributes and models for the most robust results. Be sure your data partner has accounted for opt-outs, excludes data precluded by legal or regulatory restrictions and also anonymizes data files when linking your customer data. Data accuracy is also imperative here. Choose a marketing and technology partner who is constantly monitoring and correcting discrepancies in customer files across all bureaus. The best partners will have data accuracy rates at or above 99.9%.

It’s December, and if you’re like most credit union leaders, your strategic plan is distributed, and the 2020 budget is approved. Before you know it, you and your team will be off and running to pursue the New Year’s goals. Another thing most of us have in common is a strategic membership growth priority. New members are needed to help us take loan and deposit growth to the next level. Specifically, who are you looking for? It’s surprising how many credit union leaders have a difficult time clarifying their ideal member(s). They usually come up short after they have called out younger borrowers, active checking account users, prime credit, middle income, homeowners, etc. The reality is in today’s competitive market, these general audiences are not definitive enough. Many then go to market with a limited universe that is too generic to be highly effective. Savvy marketers have a much deeper understanding of who they are reaching and why. First, they have clearly defined the ideal member i.e. product profitability, relationship profitability, referrals, how they access the credit union, etc. Second, they use data, analytics and demographic segmenting to refine their search further to reveal the ideal member. They leverage information to understand what drives the potential members decision making. They understand that every potential member does not live the same type of life. They segment markets into groups to understand their shared values and life experiences. These segments include geographic, demographic, financial behavior, and motivation that includes psychographics and social values. Thus, armed with this information, they align the consumer’s needs with the credit union’s products, purpose and strategic goals. This clarity allows them to invest their marketing dollars for the best possible result. Most credit unions would identify “younger borrowers” as a desired member, so we’ve laid out two examples of just how different this member can look. Ambitious Singles – is a demographic segment comprised of younger cutting-edge singles living in mid-scale, metro areas that balance work and leisure lifestyles. Annual Median income $75k - $100K Highly educated First time home buyers Professionals, upwardly mobile Channel preferences for engaging with brands (and their offers) is while watching or streaming TV, listening to their favorite radio apps or while browsing the web on their phones. They are also quite email receptive (but subject lines must be compelling) Families Matter Most – This segment is comprised of young middle-class families in scenic suburbs, leading family focused lives. Annual Median income $75K - $99K Have children 4-6 yrs. old Educated Homeowners Child-related purchases Credit revolver and auto borrowers (larger vehicles) Go online for banking, telecommuting and shopping Both segments represent younger borrowers with similar incomes, but they have different loan needs, lifestyle priorities and preferences for engaging with a marketing offer. These are just two examples of the segmentation data that is available from Experian. The segmentation solution provides a framework to help credit unions identify the optimal customer investment strategy for each member segment. This framework helps the credit union optimize their marketing between differentiating segments. For some segments the investment may be directed toward finding the ideal member. Others may be made to find depositors. While many credit unions don’t have infinite marketing budgets or analytical resources, segmentation help marketers more efficiently and effectively pursue the best member or develop member personas to better resonate with existing members. The feedback we have heard from credit union leaders is that the solution is the best segmentation tool they have seen. Learn more about it here. What your team is up against Today, credit unions face national competitors that are using state-of-the-art data analytics, first-rate technology and in-depth market segmentation to promote very attractive offers to win new members, deposits, checking accounts and loans. Their offers have a look, feel, message and offer that are relevant to the person receiving the offer. Here are a few recent “offer” examples that we have heard of that should give you pause: Fintech companies, like the Lending Club offering auto loan refinances (the offer provides an estimate of refinance interest savings). The ad we saw had an estimated monthly payment of $80. PayPal Cashback Mastercard® – with a $300 early use cash bonus and 3% cash back on purchases. High limit personal loans that take minutes to apply and to be funded. Banks acting alone or in partnership with a fintech to offer online checking accounts with new account opening bonuses ranging from $300-$600. and of course, Quicken® Mortgage promoting low rates and fast and seamless origination. These are just a few recent examples from thousands of offers that are reaching your ideal member. Besides offering great rates, cash back, low fees and seamless service – these offers are guided by robust data analytics and consumer segmentation to reach and engage a well-defined, ideal consumer. Why it matters The 2020 race is on. Hopefully your team has clarity of the member(s) they want to reach, access to robust data analytics, in depth consumer insights, reliable credit resources and marketing tools they will need to compete in the toughest financial market any of us have likely ever seen. If you’re afraid that you can’t afford the right tools when it comes to marketing, consider what the dealer fee is for purchasing an indirect auto loan. What if the 2% or more fee was reallocated to finding organic loan growth with consumers you’re more likely to build a relationship with? Or consider the cost of consistently marketing to the wrong consumer segments with the wrong message, at the wrong time and in the wrong channels. What if you could increase your market engagement rate from 5% to 10%? Perhaps the best strategic question is can you afford NOT to have the best tools that support future membership growth? If you don’t win your ideal member, somebody else will. Learn More About Scott Butterfield, CUDE, CCUE Principal, Your Credit Union Partner Scott Butterfield is a trusted advisor to the leaders of more than 170 credit unions located throughout the United States. A respected veteran of the CU Movement, he understands the challenges and opportunities facing credit unions today. Scott believes that credit unions matter, and that consumers and small businesses need credit unions to now more than ever.

You’ve Got Mail! Probably a lot of it. Birthday cards from Mom, a graduation announcement from your third cousin’s kid whose name you can’t remember and a postcard from your dentist reminding you you’re overdue for a cleaning. Adding to your pile, are the nearly 850 pieces of unsolicited mail Americans receive annually, according to Reader’s Digest. Many of these are pre-approval offers or invitations to apply for credit cards or personal loans. While many of these offers are getting to the right mailbox, they’re hitting a changing consumer at the wrong time. The digital revolution, along with the proliferation and availability of technology, has empowered consumers. They now not only have access to an abundance of choices but also a litany of new tools and channels, which results in them making faster, sometimes subconscious, decisions. Three Months Too Late The need to consistently stay in front of customers and prospects with the right message at the right time has caused a shortening of campaign cycles across industries. However, for some financial institutions, the customer acquisition process can take up to 120 days! While this timeframe is extreme, customer prospecting can still take around 45-60 days for most financial institutions and includes: Bureau processing: Regularly takes 10-15 days depending on the number of data sources and each time they are requested from a bureau. Data aggregation: Typically takes anywhere from 20-30 days. Targeting and selection: Generally, takes two to five days. Processing and campaign deployment: Usually takes anywhere from three days, if the firm handles it internally, or up to 10 days if an outside company handles the mailing. A Better Way That means for many firms, the data their customer acquisition campaigns are based off is at least 60 days old. Often, they are now dealing with a completely different consumer. With new card originations up 20% year-over-year in 2019 alone, it’s likely they’ve moved on, perhaps to one of your competitors. It’s time financial institutions make the move to a more modern form of prospecting and targeting that leverages the power of cloud technology, machine learning and artificial intelligence to accelerate and improve the marketing process. Financial marketing systems of the future will allow for advanced segmentation and targeting, dynamic campaign design and immediate deployment all based on the freshest data (no more than 24-48 hours old). These systems will allow firms to do ongoing analytics and modeling so their campaign testing and learning results can immediately influence next cycle decisions. Your customers are changing, isn’t it time the way you market to them changes as well?

Day 2 at this year’s Vision conference was fueled with new technology and inspiration. The morning session opened with Robert Boxberger, Experian President, Decision Analytics, and also featured two live demos, one on Experian’s solution for the upcoming CECL compliance deadline and the second for mobile credit, including two use cases on instant issuance and lead generation, which has resulted in a 28% conversion rate of hot leads for one of Experian’s marquee clients. Keynote Speaker: Aimée Mullins "Get comfortable with the uncomfortable" was just one of the mantras shared on Tuesday morning by Aimée Mullins, an actor, Olympian, TEDTalk speaker, and one of the youngest honorees to be inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, among many other accomplishments. “It is our uniqueness that’s our greatest asset that we can leverage for our greatest strength,” said Mullins during her keynote centered on achieving the “impossible.” As a bi-lateral amputee (or “double BK” also known as double below-the-knee amputee, as she referenced), Mullins had doctors and experts tell her and her parents what she would not be able to do. Instead, she encouraged Tuesday’s audience to never stop thinking like a child, to use their curiosity to find new ways where you want to go, and to practice curiosity like a sport to keep from getting comfortable, and therefore static. “It made my not knowing what I can do so much more powerful than an expert's presumption of what he thought I could do,” she said. Session Highlights – Day 2 Consumer Trust What engenders trust as consumers? And what does it take to build online trust? With 51% of new account fraud victims personally knowing the perpetrator and 3.4 billion total losses from fraudulent account openings (Javelin Feb 2019), there are five key components to building trust: digital adoption, transparency, fraud management, recognition and authentication. Today’s consumers want to use the digital channel, have both security and ease of access, be recognized, know how their personal information is being used, and engage and trust with biometrics. Artificial Intelligence – Chat Bots and Beyond According to Gartner, “'Conversational AI-first' will supersede ‘cloud-first,’ ‘mobile first’ as the most important high-level imperative for the next 10 years.” As evidenced by Google Duplex’s realistic conversations with humans, including the use of “uh” and “um,” conversational AI is positioned to redefine the next generation of human interface, aimed at achieving better customer satisfaction and elevate the customer relationship. Marketing Analytics The marketing analytics landscape is changing. Today’s marketing problems – including the always limited budget and need to produce greater ROI – require tactical strategies to target the right consumers. Enter Experian’s AscendTM marketing platform. Leveraging this tool, including its neural networks that were demonstrated Monday morning, helps gain new insights into consumer behavior. Fraud in the Digital Wild West A panel discussion featuring representatives from Merchant Risk Council, USAA and Alliance Data compared fighting fraud to herding cats. Challenges discussed included the ongoing struggle to find balance between limiting friction during the authentication process, while also protecting customers, as well as fraudsters’ tendencies to tap into victims’ emotions and curiosity (think phishing schemes). As one of the panelists offered as a piece of advice, “Fraudsters share best practices, so should we.” Visibility for the Invisibles People are more than the sum of their parts. The traditional credit score may show a consumer’s reputation, but layering trended and alternative data sets adds their character. Not only can trended data and alternative credit data – including leveraging education attributes – make invisible consumers visible, they can also reveal that a consumer with a presumably superlative credit score is actually a “credit zombie.” These data sets enable the opportunity to create first chances, drive second chances and re-evaluate risk, while also driving a strong growth strategy. CECL After reviewing the basics of CECL and the upcoming deadlines (ranging from Q1 2020 to Q1 2022), a review of CECL compliance challenges and potential product changes preceded a modeling techniques case study and a list of key impacts to businesses. Those impacts include: product profitability, loss forecasting methodology, data management and processes and capital ratios. Experian’s CECL forecasting solution leverages Experian’s extensive historical data and Ascend Analytical Sandbox. Using a best practice modeling pipeline to improve efficiency and reduce operational risks, the solution combines advanced machine learning, traditional model techniques and modeling experience to improve performance and reduce risk of overfitting. Keynote Speaker: Kobe Bryant Kobe Bryant closed out the day with stories from his highly-decorated 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers, some tips on trash talk and lessons in leadership. “I had to figure out how to be undeniable,” Bryant said, on competing for minutes at the start of his career. In addition to his basketball legacy, including wining five NBA championships, being named an NBA MVP, a two-time NBA Finals MVP and winning two Olympic gold medals, Bryant also launched the Kobe and Vanessa Bryant Family Foundation, hosts the Kobe Academy and has formed Kobe Inc. He’s a storyteller, an Oscar winner, and his name has become synonymous with standing for uncompromising excellence. How to be successful? “Make sure you have the right people on the team,” Bryant said. “Passionate. Borderline obsessive.” One of his key takeaways from his basketball career that translates to his leadership on and off the court happened when his pre-game and game time thinking shifted from internal to external. “You have to put yourself 2nd, 3rd, 4th…you have to put the team first,” Bryant said.   For more coverage, follow #ExperianVision on Twitter or check the Experian Insights LinkedIn page.  

2019 is here — with new technology, new regulations and new opportunities on the docket. What does that mean for the financial services space? Here are the five trends you should keep your eye on and how these affect your credit universe.   1. Credit access is at an all-time high With 121 million Americans categorized as credit-challenged (subprime scores and a thin or nonexistent credit file) and 45 million considered credit-invisible (no credit history), the credit access many consumers take for granted has appeared elusive to others. Until now. The recent launch of Experian BoostTM empowers consumers to improve their credit instantly using payment history from their utility and phone bills, giving them more control over their credit scores and making them more visible to lenders and financial institutions. This means more opportunities for more people. Coupled with alternative credit data, which includes alternative financial services data, rental payments, and full-file public records, lenders and financial institutions can see a whole new universe. In 2019, inclusion is key when it comes to universe expansion goals. Both alternative credit and consumer-permissioned data will continue to be an important part of the conversation.   2. Machine learning for the masses The financial services industry has long been notorious for being founded on arguably antiquated systems and steeped in compliance and regulations. But the industry’s recent speed of disruption, including drastic changes fueled by technology and innovation, may suggest a changing of the guard. Digital transformation is an industry hot topic, but defining what that is — and navigating legacy systems — can be challenging. Successfully integrating innovation is the convergence at the center of the Venn diagram of strategy, technology and operations. The key, according to Deloitte, is getting “a better handle on data to extract the greatest value from technology investments.” How do you get the most value? Risk managers need big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence strategies to deliver market insights and risk evaluation. Between the difficulty of leveraging data sets and significant investment in time and money, it’s impossible for many to justify. To combat this challenge, the availability and access to an analytical sandbox (which contains depersonalized consumer data and comparative industry intel) is crucial to better serve clients and act on opportunities in lenders’ credit universe and beyond. “Making information analysis easily accessible also creates distinct competitive advantages,” said Vijay Mehta, Chief Innovation Officer for Experian’s Consumer Information Services, in a recent article for BAI Banking Strategies. “Identifying shifts in markets, changes in regulations or unexpected demand allows for quick course corrections. Tightening the analytic life cycle permits organizations to reach new markets and quickly respond to competitor moves.” This year is about meaningful metrics for action, not just data visualization.   3. How to fit into the digital-first ecosystem With so many things available on demand, the need for instant gratification continues to skyrocket. It’s no secret that the financial services industry needs to compete for attention across consumers’ multiple screens and hours of screen time. What’s in the queue for 2019? Personalization, digitalization and monetization. Consumers’ top banking priorities include customized solutions, omnichannel experience improvement and enhancing the mobile channel (as in, can we “Amazonize” everything?). Financial services leaders’ priorities include some of the same things, such as enhancing the mobile channel and delivering options to customize consumer solutions (BAI Banking Strategies). From geolocation targeting to microinteractions in the user experience journey to leveraging new strategies and consumer data to send personalized credit offers, there’s no shortage of need for consumer hyper-relevance. 33 percent of consumers who abandon business relationships do so because personalization is lacking, according to Accenture data for The Financial Brand. This expectation spans all channels, emphasizing the need for a seamless experience across all devices.   4. Keeping fraudsters out Many IT professionals regard biometric authentication as the most secure authentication method currently available. We see this technology on our personal devices, and many companies have implemented it as well. Biometric hacking is among the predicted threats for 2019, according to Experian’s Data Breach Industry Forecast, released last month. “Sensors can be manipulated and spoofed or deteriorate with too much use. ... Expect hackers to take advantage of not only the flaws found in biometric authentication hardware and devices, but also the collection and storage of data,” according to the report.   5. Regulatory changes and continued trends  Under the Trump Administration, the regulatory front has been relatively quiet. But according to the Wall Street Journal, as Democrats gain control of the House of Representatives, lawmakers may be setting their sights on the financial services industry — specifically on legislation in response to the credit data breach in 2017. The Democratic Party leadership has indicated that the House Financial Services Committee will be focused on protecting consumers and investors, preserving sector stability, and encouraging responsible innovation in financial technology, according to Deloitte. In other news, the focus on improving accuracy in data reporting, transparency for consumers in credit scoring and other automated decisions can be expected to continue. Consumer compliance, and specifically the fair and responsible treatment of consumers, will remain a top priority.   For all your needs in 2019 and beyond, Experian has you covered. Learn more

Consumers are hungry for more personalized marketing, and I’m an actual example. As a new stepmom to two young kids, who has a full-time job, I rarely have any down time. No revelation there. I no longer have time to surf the web to buy clothes. And shepherding everyone to an actual store to shop? #forgetaboutit I’m not alone. Of the 57 percent of women in the U.S. workforce, 70 percent have a child under the age of 18. We don’t always have the time to shop for clothes, financial products, and nearly anything else, but it doesn’t mean we don’t need or want to. I would give the right bank or retailer my data in exchange for personalized marketing offers in my inbox, social feeds and mailbox. And many others would, too. Sixty-three percent of Millennial consumers and 58 percent of Gen Xers are willing to share data with companies in exchange for personalized offers, discounts and rewards. This indicates consumers are craving more customized marketing. Providing their personal data to get that is acceptable to them. In the financial services space, Mintel research shows that just 61 percent of male consumers, 49 percent of consumers aged 18-44, and 44 percent of Hispanic Millennials have a general-purpose credit card, either with or without rewards (Mintel’s Marketing Financial Services Report for June 2017). This indicates a significant market opportunity for cards that offer segmented or boosted rewards based on specific sectors and categories. Here are some other interesting trends specific to financial services: Relying on Experts Although chatbots and robo-advisors allow easy access to many financial services, 81 percent of consumers prefer in-person meetings when it comes to personalized financial advice. According to Mintel, men aged 18-44 are most interested in a free consultation with a financial advisor, and 19 percent of consumers are open to a free consultation. This interest surpasses attending free classes about finance and receiving email and mobile alerts from a financial institution. Quick, Efficient Delivery While consumers are calling for increased personalization, they also want it delivered quickly and efficiently. These expectations create unique challenges for financial institutions of all sizes. Some banks have embraced “card finder” apps, which allow consumers the convenience of inputting personal information to generate customized offers. There is a huge opportunity for financial institutions to leverage available consumer data to understand their target audience, and then deliver relevant products via multiple channels where they are consuming media now. Those who do will be positioned to provide personalized financial recommendations that were impossible just a few years ago.

Many institutions take a “leap of faith” when it comes to developing prospecting strategies as it pertains to credit marketing. But effective strategies are developed from deep, analytical analysis with clearly identified objectives. They are constantly evolving – no setting and forgetting. So what are the basics to optimizing your prospecting efforts? Establish goals Unfortunately, far too many discussions begin with establishing targeting criteria before program goals are set. But this leads to confusion. Developing targeting criteria is kind of like squeezing a balloon; when you restrict one end, the other tends to expand. Imagine the effect of maximizing response rates when soliciting new loans. If no other criteria are considered, you could end up targeting high-risk individuals who cannot get approved elsewhere. Obviously, we’re not interested in increasing originations at all cost; risk must be understood as well. But this is where things get complicated. Lower-risk consumers tend to be the most coveted, get the best offers, and therefore have lower response rates and margins. Simplicity is best              The US Navy developed the KISS acronym (keep it simple, stupid) in the 1960s on the philosophy that complexity increases the probability of error. This is largely true in targeting methodologies, but don’t mistake limiting complexity for simplicity. Perhaps the most simplistic approach to prescreen credit marketing is using only risk criteria to set an eligible population. Breaking a problem down to this single dimension generally results in low response rates and wasted budget. Propensity models and estimated interest rates are great tools for identifying consumers that are more likely to respond. Adding them as an additional filter to a credit-qualified population can help increase response rates. But what about ability to pay? So far we’ve considered propensity to open and risk (the latter being based on current financial obligations). Imagine a consumer with on-time payment behavior and a solid credit score who takes a loan only to be unable to meet their obligations. You certainly don’t want to extend debt that will cause a consumer to be overextended. Instead of going through costly income verification, income estimation models can assist with identifying the ability to repay the loan you are marketing. Simplicity is great, but not to the point of being one-dimensional. Take off the blindfold Even in the days of smartphones and GPS navigation, most people develop a plan before setting off on a road trip. In the case of credit marketing, this means running an account review or archive analysis. Remember that last prescreen campaign you ran? What could have happened with a more sophisticated targeting strategy? Having archive data appended to a past marketing campaign allows for “what if” retrospective analysis. What could response rates have been with a propensity tool? Could declines due to insufficient income have been reduced with estimated income? Archive data gives 20/20 hindsight to what could have been. Just like consulting a map to determine the shortest distance to a destination or the most scenic route, retrospective analysis on past campaigns allows for proactive planning for future efforts. Practice makes perfect Even with a plan, you probably still want to have the GPS running. Traffic could block your planned route or an unforeseen detour could divert you to a new path. Targeting strategies must continually be refined and monitored for changes in customer behavior. Test and control groups are essential to continued improvement of your targeting strategies. Every campaign should be analyzed against the goals and KPIs established at the start of the process. New hypotheses can be evaluated through test populations or small groups designed to identify new opportunities. Let’s say you typically target consumers in a risk range of 650-720, but an analyst spots an opportunity where consumers with a range of 625-649 with no delinquencies in the past 12 months performs nearly at the rate of the current population. A small test group could be included in the next campaign and studied to see if it should be expanded in future campaigns. Never “place bets” Assumptions are only valid when they are put to the test. Never dive into a strategy without testing your hypothesis. The final step in implementing a targeting strategy should be the easiest. If goals are clearly understood and prioritized, past campaigns are analyzed, and hypotheses are laid out with test and control groups, the targeting criteria should be obvious to everyone. Unfortunately, the conversation usually starts at this phase, which is akin to placing bets at the track. Ever notice that score breaks are discussed in round numbers? Consider the example of the 650-720 range. Why 650 and not 649 or 651? Without a test and learn methodology, targeting criteria ends up based on conventional wisdom – or worse, a guess. As you approach strategic planning season, make sure you run down these steps (in this order) to ensure success next year. Establish program goals and KPIs Balance simplicity with effectiveness Have a plan before you start Begin with an archive Learn and optimize In God we trust, all others bring data

There are about as many definitions for people-based marketing as there are companies using the term. Each company seems to skew the definition to fit their particular service offering. The distinctions are vast, and especially for financial services companies running regulated campaigns, they can be incredibly important. At Experian, we define people-based marketing in its purest form: targeting at the individual level across channels. This is a practice we’re very familiar with in offline marketing, having honed arguably one of the most accurate views of U.S. consumers over the past three decades. And now we’re taking those tried and true principals and applying them to digital channels. It’s not as easy as it sounds. The challenge with people-based marketing  With direct mail, people-based marketing was easy. Jane Doe lives at 123 Main St. If I want to reach her, I can simply send her a direct mail piece at that address. To help, I can utilize any number of services, including the National Change of Address database, to know where to reach her if she ever moves. People-based marketing through digital channels is exponentially more difficult. While direct mail has one signal with which you use to identify a consumer (the address), digital channels offer countless signals. And not all of those signals can be used, either individually or in conjunction with other signals, to reliably tie a consumer to a persistent offline ID. A prime example of this is cookies. The problem with cookies A cookie, in and of itself, isn’t the problem. The problem is the linkage. How was a cookie associated with the person to whom the ad is being served? As marketers, we need to make sure that we are reaching the right people with the right ad … and more importantly not reaching those people who have opted out. This is especially true in the world of regulated data, where you need to know who you are targeting. And cookie-based linkage is controlled by a handful of companies, many of which are walled gardens who don’t share how they link offline people to online cookies and don’t collect this information directly. They rely on other third-party websites to gather PII, and connect it to their cookies. In some cases, the data is very accurate (especially with transaction data). In some cases, it is not (think websites that collect PII when giving surveys, offering coupons, etc.). In short, in order for you to use cookie-based targeting accurately, you need to have insight into the source of the base linkage data that was used to connect the offline consumer record to the online cookie. This same concept applies to all forms of digital linkage that drive people-based marketing. Why does people-based marketing matter in digital credit marketing?  With campaigns that utilize non-regulated data, such as “Invitation to Apply” campaigns that are driven from demographic and psychographic data, the consequences of not reaching the consumer you meant to target are negligible. But with campaigns that utilize regulated data, you must ensure you’re targeting the exact consumer you meant to reach. More importantly, you must make sure you’re not targeting an ad to a consumer who had previously opted out of receiving offers driven with regulated data (prescreen offers, for example). Even if you’ve already delivered a direct mail piece with the same offer, this doesn’t negate your responsibility to reach only approved consumers who have not opted out. --- Bottom line, the world of 1:1 marketing is growing more sophisticated, and that’s a good thing. Marketers just need to understand that while regulated data can be powerful, they must also take great responsibility when handling it. The data exists to deliver firm offers of credit to your very specific target in all-new mediums. People-based marketing has its place, and it can now be done in a compliant, digitally-savvy way – in the financial services space, nonetheless.   Register for our webinar on Credit Marketing Strategies to Drive Today's Digital Consumer.

Direct mail is not dead, but it's 2017. Financial services companies need to acknowledge there might be other ways to deliver credit offers and capture consumer eyeballs. There are multiple screens competing for our attention, including one of the originals - TV. Advertising and TV have been married forever, but addressable TV allows marketers to target on a much more sophisticated level. Welcome to credit marketing in the digital age. To help financial services companies understand the addressable TV channel, Experian marketing expert Brienna Pinnow answered the following questions in a short interview. What is addressable TV? Addressable TV is an amazing 1-to-1 direct marketing capability. To put it simply, addressable TV is the ability for an advertiser to deliver a TV ad to a specific household. From a consumer perspective, that means even if you and your next door neighbor are watching the latest episode of The Voice, you may see an ad for a mini-van while your neighbor sees an ad for upcoming one-day sale from their favorite retailer. With addressable TV, brands can define their target audience based on 1st, 2nd or 3rd party data (like Experian’s). With the help of satellite and cable companies, they can deliver a personalized, measurable experience. This is an exciting departure from the way that TV advertising has been planned and targeted for nearly 70 years. Instead of focusing on the program, marketers can now focus on the person. Addressable TV makes reaching a precise audience – the same way you would with a direct mail piece or an email – a marketing reality.  How long have marketers been leveraging addressable TV? Experian has been an pivotal player in the development of the addressable TV space. Since the first addressable TV trials back in 2004, nearly 13 years ago, Experian has provided the audience targeting data and privacy-compliant matching capabilities that make addressable TV possible. The past 3 years, however, have demonstrated unprecedented, hockey-stick growth in addressable TV. In 2016 alone, the volume of addressable campaigns doubled from the previous year accounting for nearly $300 million spend.  That trajectory remains the same in 2017 and beyond. So why are we seeing this growth now? Here are a few reasons addressable TV is continuing to grow… Scale: Millions of households can now be targeted using addressable technology, and the footprint continues to grow with smart TVs and additional cable operators. Data: As organizations put data at the heart of their business, addressable TV enables them to infuse their most important customer information into the targeting. Education: Agencies, data providers, and TV providers have invested time educating brands on the process and power of addressable TV. And now, advertisers are becoming more experienced at making this a consistent part of their marketing plan. Accountability: You’ll be hard pressed to find a marketer that doesn’t have to demonstrate ROI on their marketing campaigns. The measurement capabilities that addressable TV provides adds a layer of accountability and insight that was not previously possible. Technology: Experian has developed an audience management platform, the Audience Engine, which makes addressable TV possible in a matter of clicks. In the past year alone, our platform has distributed over 1,800 audiences for addressable advertising campaigns. What types of companies have been utilizing addressable TV? Have you seen many financial services companies test this channel? The early adopters of addressable TV were primarily automotive advertisers. Compared to other verticals, auto advertisers still spend the largest proportion of their budgets across TV. For that reason, they know it’s a necessity to see if their dollars are actually driving sales for their big-ticket items. Addressable TV solves that problem for auto advertisers. In a DIRECTV campaign leveraging Experian’s automotive data for audience targeting and post-campaign sales reporting, one major auto OEM saw a 26.2%  lift in sales for the advertised model compared to the control group. In the past few years, Experian has worked closely with advertisers across verticals – from retail to travel to finance – to launch addressable campaigns. Financial services clients particularly find Experian’s financial related segments, such as income or net worth, to be accurate and powerful in creating qualified target audiences that improve campaign performance. I’ve read that millennials are abandoning cable and TV providers in favor of services like Hulu and Netflix. Does this mean the market for addressable TV will shrink in the coming years? There is a segment of consumers who are abandoning traditional cable services. However, this doesn’t mean they are abandoning content. In fact, content consumption is at an all-time high with offerings from Roku, Hulu, Netflix, Sling TV, CBS, and beyond. All this shift in behavior means is that the definition of TV is becoming more fluid. “TV” doesn’t have to be a big screen sitting in your living room; it can be a laptop on a red-eye flight. And from a marketing perspective, the concept of addressable, 1-to-1 targeting is already moving into some of these products and services. The footprint of addressable TV will only continue to rise as consumers stay connected to the content they love. How can companies measure the success of utilizing addressable TV as a channel? Not only does addressable TV provide laser-targeted ad delivery, but it also opens up measurement capabilities that were never possible for TV advertisers in the past. Traditionally, TV audience measurement has focused simply on eyeballs and not revenue impact, with little insight into how TV advertising converts into sales. The primary source for audience measurement in the TV world has been program ratings and expensive brand studies. With addressable TV, that story is changing. With companies that collect second-by-second viewership data linked to households, marketers now have the ability to tie this data back to their online and offline sales. Experian is pivotal in making closed-loop TV reporting possible. As a data and matching safe-haven, we link together the viewing information from the target audience with the sales data provided by the advertiser. The end result is a privacy compliant report that clearly demonstrates the impact of the campaign on the target audience. Did the targeted audience visit a bank location? Email customer service? Sign up for a new account? Spend a certain amount? These are all questions our TV attribution reporting answers for clients. If a company wants to begin marketing in addressable TV, what is required in terms of set-up? Addressable TV may sound new, exciting or even complex. But it doesn’t have to be. Getting started is as simple as defining the target audience. Decide whether you would like to leverage your own CRM data, a custom model, third-party data or a combination of these data sources. If you’re still not sure where to start, ask yourself a very simple question, “Who am I sending a direct mail piece or email to in the next month?” There’s your audience. Better yet, you will be amplifying your message, reaching the customer with a consistent message and meeting them wherever they are. After you’ve determined who you want to target, a matching partner like Experian can work with you to show you the reach of your audience across TV providers. You’ll finalize your budget, creative and media plan while Experian distributes your audience to the selected media destinations. Before you know it, your campaign will be live, and reaching your target audience whether they’re watching Shark Tank or Sharknado. When the campaign wraps, you’ll be on your way to measuring results like never before. Are there any additional trends you see emerging in the addressable TV space? The future of addressable TV is related to both the targeting and measurement capabilities. More advertisers are working with Experian, for example, to launch coordinated campaigns. That doesn’t just mean launching a digital campaign and TV campaign at the same time. It really means targeting the same exact people for the digital and TV campaign. We like to consider this a "surround sound" approach where the customer or prospect experiences a consistent message across channels. As for measurement, Experian is working closely with advertisers to explore the power of mobile data. Recently, Experian partnered with Ninth Decimal and DIRECTV to incorporate mobile location data into the post-campaign measurement process for Toyota.  The results proved a 19% lift in dealership visits for those exposed to the campaign. This is an exciting development because this approach can translate well for any other advertiser who wants to measure metrics like location visitation. If you’d like to learn more, check out our Addressable TV whitepaper.

As lenders seek to enhance their credit marketing strategies this year, they are increasingly questioning how to split their budgets between digital, direct mail and beyond. What is the ideal media mix to reach consumers in 2017? And is the solution different in the financial services space? Scott Gordon, Experian's senior director of digital credit marketing, recently tackled some of the tough questions financial services marketers are posing. Here are his responses: Q: We live in a world where consumers are receiving hundreds of messages and offers on a daily basis. How can financial services companies stand out and capture the attention of the customers they wish to engage with relevant offers? A: When it comes to the optimal marketing media mix, there is no “silver bullet.”  It varies from product to product. The current post-campaign analysis is showing us that consumers react positively to coordinated multi-channel messaging. We’ve seen studies showing that marketers can see up to a 30% lift in sales by combining email with social media, for example.  This makes sense, when you look at how consumers engage through devices. We are no longer a single channel culture; we check Facebook while watching TV, listen to podcasts while checking our email, etc. Consequently, marketers have had to adapt their campaign strategies accordingly – and this starts with the organizational structure. Far too often we see silo’ed groups responsible for disparate media verticals. For example, a company may have a direct mail group and a digital marketing team, and then (in extreme cases) outsource television to one agency group and social media to another. Aligning these groups and breaking down the barriers between the groups is a critical first step toward building a true multi-channel campaign strategy. This includes addressing budget concerns that are inherent with a culture where the size of a budget is tied to job security and corporate status. Aligning campaigns and finding the perfect cross channel market mix is much easier once you’ve broken down internal barriers and encouraged marketing collaboration. Q: What are some of the new best practices financial companies must embrace in 2017 in order to improve their marketing efforts? A: Thanks to tremendous efforts from industry leaders,  we can now utilize regulated data with the same proficiency that they’ve been executing campaigns using non-regulated data. This presents unique challenges, as the industry races to get up-to-speed on new capabilities,  take best-in-breed practices and apply them to the world of regulated campaigns. We’re seeing tremendous demand to combine programmatic advertising with people-based advertising, with cross-channel campaigns spanning mobile, video, social, and addressable TV. Measurement and analytics must play a large part in these strategies. While the industry hasn’t achieved true cross-channel measurement to identify a consumer’s path to purchase across multiple devices,  it’s getting closer, thanks to technology advances. Q: Is direct mail dead? How should financial marketers be using direct mail in 2017? How can it best be combined with digital? A: Direct mail is certainly not dead. It has its place among a media mix that continues to grow as new advertising technologies come to market and are adopted by consumers. Will direct mail’s influence diminish in the future? Possibly. At Experian, we are focused on making sure that our advertisers can reach consumers where they spend time, when they are most receptive to receiving messages, and most importantly in a cost-effective manner. So no matter where consumers shift their focus in the future, we’ll be able to support comprehensive targeted advertising campaigns. How can digital be best combined with direct mail?  We’ve seen encouraging results in retargeting direct mail with digital credit marketing like email and display. With that said, we haven’t seen a silver bullet solution, and we’re still advising our clients to put a heavy focus toward “test and learn” in concert with comprehensive campaign measurement and analytics protocols. Q: What are the advantages to serving up a firm offer of credit to a consumer in a digital format? Are consumers ready to embrace this type of delivery in the financial services space? A: The advantages of serving up a firm offer of credit to a consumer in a digital format are similar to those benefits for “traditional” digital marketing. Lower cost, more measurement capabilities, and greater flexibility to optimize campaigns are just some of the benefits. Early indications show that consumers are very receptive to digital credit marketing offers. It provides them with offers in the channels in which they spend time, in a  consumer friendly manner which offers them numerous paths in which they can have a voice in the messages that they receive. Q: Some say digital credit marketing should largely be directed to Millennials? Do you think other generations are ready to embrace this type of digital messaging? A: We don’t view digital credit marketing as an exclusive offering just for Millennials. It is a holistic consumer offering – applicable to all generations as our parents and grandparents make the move to new channels such as addressable TV and social media. Need more info on Digital Credit Marketing? Learn More