You may have heard the sound of me cheering as I read the news that Regions Bank launched a new loyalty initiative called Regions Relationship Rewards this week. This is a prime example of a Total Relationship Banking (TRB) loyalty strategy. And, Region’s timing couldn’t be better.
With the Dodd-Frank Act passing in the House and on its way to the Senate for review, the Regions Relationship Rewards program institutes a brand-wide loyalty strategy rewarding customers for nearly all of their card usage and banking activities at an opportune moment. In addition to earning rewards for their debit card purchases, Regions Bank customers will be rewarded for online banking activities, maintaining a monthly minimum deposit balance and other bank interactions. If the so-called Durbin Amendment that is part of the new financial reform legislation making its way through Congress gets approved and passed, this type of Total Relationship Banking strategy may become an economically necessary way to cultivate deeper customer loyalty. After all, the days of stand-alone, siloed loyalty strategies on individual bank products – especially debit cards – may be numbered if the government regulates and slashes debit card interchange fees.
But — I’m not cheering on Regions Bank simply because they seemed to have the foresight that this kind of legislation might be coming. Instead, I view a holistic rewards strategy that rewards customers for all of their banking relationships with one company as simply good business. After all, that’s where the real “win-win” resides: customers accumulate rewards for their loyal business even faster; and, banks can underwrite the cost of more rewards across a broader breadth of their product portfolio.
Kudos, Regions Bank, for doing the hard work to break down those traditional product-centric silos and initiate a loyalty strategy that places the entire customer at the center of your efforts.
