Using various internal and external data sources, Kiwibank and Equifax joined forces to “pre-screen” and target the bank’s online campaigns.
The Challenge
After witnessing low conversion rates for online campaigns, it became clear to Equifax and Kiwibank that there was wasted media spend going towards showing ads to people who did not meet the approval criteria for lending products. At the same time, this was also a poor experience as being told “No” is not the best impression for a prospective new customer.
The next challenge was to link the rich offline data Equifax held to digital identities to enable highly targeted audiences to be used in Kiwibank’s campaigns.
The challenge then became for Kiwibank to improve this metric so that it could deliver significant value from an acquisition cost perspective and efficiencies by reducing the proportion of referred applications. I.e. how could Kiwibank target people that matched its credit approval criteria and avoid showing ads to people who, in their best interest should not receive credit offers.
The Response
Custom audiences began being built following a pre-screen against the credit bureau to remove people that were not within Kiwibank’s approval threshold. Following a review of bureau data attributes and a consultation with the credit risk team, the filter criteria were then matched to Kiwibank’s criteria. 1.8 million people of Equifax’s ConsumerVault prospect universe were washed against the credit bureau and ineligible consumers were removed.
To help create the best look-a-like audience possible, the best Helix Personas were also identified from Roy Morgan survey data where responders confirmed they have a Kiwibank card. This confirmation helped further refine the targeting of consumers that matched the prole to maximise potential click through and card applications.
Another challenge was to link Equifax’s rich online data to digital identities to target audiences suitable for Kiwibank campaigns. Responding to this, Equifax obtained large volumes of mobile device data including mobile advertiser IDs that ad platforms can use to serve ads. Geolocation information was also used to link at an address level in Equifax’s marketing universe. Data was then hashed and custom audiences were created for Facebook and via a DMP to activate audiences for targeting in programmatic display campaigns as well.
The Result
After utilising customer insight and data to better its conversion rates, Kiwibank gained a greater uplift in credit card applications and a decent reduction in decline rate over the campaign period.
Many Kiwis were also blocked from receiving credit offers that would have not benefited them in the long term or been ethical for Kiwibank to represent.
The key objective and ultimate proof of success would be the impact on decline rate (or lift in approvalrate). This rate declined when compared to the prior quarter, and when compared to the previous 12 months the reduction was even greater.
Another benefit for Kiwibank was the efficiency gain for the approval team. With fewer referred applications where additional manual review and information is gathered, this team was able to spend less time reviewing applications that would never have been able to be approved and help more new customers get approved and onboarded.
Entry details
Category: Best Use of Customer Insight/Data
Company: Kiwibank & Equifax Taking NZ
Marketing Initiative: Kiwibank & Equifax Taking Responsible Lending to the Next Level
Marketing Partners: OMD, Mobilewalla, Roy Morgan
Judge’s Comments: “Confronted with the challenges of responsible lending, minimising negative customer experiences, internal loan application processing costs and media investment, Kiwibank and Equifax have cleverly used data to define not only target its market but result in a better user experience generating significant growth. In a tightly regulated and privacy driven market Kiwi bank has aligned data sources to create a unique vision of its potential target customer base. Integrating public data to identify targets in and out of focus they have been able to gain efficiency and better customer experience in their marketing uptake. This is an exemplar use of data to address an insight impacting both business and brand.”
Finalists: Tower Insurance, Mitre 10 New Zealand, The Warehouse
This article was originally published in the December/January 2020 issue of NZ Marketing. You can subscribe to the magazine, here. Or read the other winner stories, here.
