Finding Carrots Among the Sticks
Banks are catching a lot of flak in the media these days for the fees they are charging customers. Bank of America tried to institute a $5 monthly fee for debit card users only to kill the program before it got off the ground. Other banks are charging fees for products and services that used to be free as a means of increasing revenue.
But there has been a significant backlash from consumers and consumer advocates. It may not be New York City’s Zuccotti Park, but there does appear to be a protest movement growing over the rectangular piece of plastic in everyone’s wallets. Therein lies an opportunity. Banks can use those fees as the stick to alter the consumer behaviors they would like to see changed.
Perhaps some fees could be waived if consumers started to make their auto loan payments online instead of mailing in checks. Or as a means of inducing consumers to make payments sooner. Or to make higher payments. Talk about making some great-tasting lemonade.
Bank of America got nothing — except for a lesson learned — for canceling its debit card fee program. Just a bunch of people saying, “They never should have done it in the first place.” That was a waste of an opportunity. If the bank had said that the fee would be waived for every customer who liked it on Facebook or for every customer who paid one bill online every month, then it would have eliminated the problem while getting something in return.
As a parent of three young kids, I know all about how bribery can get people to behave exactly as you want them to. In our house, the currency is video game time, but it’s worth its weight in gold.
Heck, a bank could even go so far as to announce some new fees and then waive them for getting consumers to do what it wants. It’s a little underhanded, but it could get the job done. Nobody ever wants to see how the sausage gets made, you just want to chow down.
