The battle to be the “first card” in the wallet is real and has long-term financial benefits for banks. A new report finds the average account tenure for the “first card” is 17.4 years.
NY-based Auriemma Consulting’s Cardbeat report says more than two in five consumers report that they also have some other type(s) of account(s) with the same bank in addition to their credit card, most commonly checking and savings accounts.
Logically, 64% of consumers indicate that they applied for their first card in order to establish their credit history. Additionally, the largest percentage (71%) of these consumers cite a specific life-event being associated with their first credit card acquisition, with many being related to educational milestones such as college or high school graduations. In theory bank transactional data, as well as lower-tech solutions such as having retail bank salespeople help to manage consumer relationships can enable banks to market to consumers during these life events.
Although direct mail remains an important acquisition channel for credit cards, in recent years, branches have been a rapidly-growing acquisition channel for new cards for a number of large banks. In fact, branches or other facilities that offer face-to-face consumer interactions are now responsible for nearly half (45%) of all new credit cards sold.
However, retail banks face challenges, notably, most new credit cards are issued to the Millennial population (born between the years of 1981-1991, now between the ages of 23-34), and this demographic segment is much more likely than other age groups to avoid visiting bank branches completely, preferring to conduct most of their routine bank business at ATMs or online instead. This makes reaching them more difficult than it was for prior generations. Some financial institutions have started to experiment with concepts like video chats with bank call center reps right from the ATM.
Auriemma notes that while these are still in trial phases, its definitely a step in the right direction.
RESOURCES:
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