Northwest Bank has improved its customer acquisition and retention through personalized, automated marketing and digital offerings since implementing data-driven marketing agency Deluxe in 2021.

The $14 billion bank launched Deluxe’s Life Event Trigger Program last year and posted program outperformance at 112% of the target, checking balances also outperformed at 118% of the target and average new-to-bank checking account balances exceed $12,000, Devin Cygnar, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, told Bank Automation News.

The Deluxe program “outperforms pretty much every other customer acquisition program that we run,” he said, noting that every penny counts when it comes to bank operations and understanding client needs based on life events including marriage, starting a family or moving.

Deluxe points out four key areas that banks need to understand to capture deposits: how large is the client wallet, preference of holding cash in bankable accounts, provider selection and life stage of consumer, Kris Lazzaretti, head of data driven marketing at Deluxe, told BAN.

“Here’s where technology comes in. All of that data [to better understand clients] is available, it’s just in many different disparate areas,” he said, noting that financial institutions must have “the appropriate analytical tools to build the audiences that are going to drive the best, sticky, low cost, core retail deposits.”

At Northwest, Deluxe gives the bank access to data sources in a single view, Cygnar said.

“Technology is key to have a unified view of the consumer or the business,” Lazzaretti added.

Automation efforts

In the past year, the bank also launched a personalization and optimization engine that allows for predictive analysis and personalization at scale, Cygnar told BAN.

For example, one area the technology is used is in sending personalized messages to clients, Cygnar said, noting that the bank is sending upward of 100 versions of messages based on specific customer characteristics.

Through embedded technology and intelligence, the platform recognizes what tone, message and graphics provide increased customer retention, he said.

The platform “allows us then to understand what’s the best combination of those creative elements that drive the best result. … That’s all automated,” he said.

Through the technology Northwest Bank has implemented recently, the bank is able to operate “just as sophisticated as the biggest banks in the country,” Cygnar said.