#MarketingExcellenceAwards SG 2021 highlight: Maybank switches up credit card strategy to remain timeless

Realising that many customers were often frustrated with pre-determined credit card benefits that may not be fully relevant to them, Maybank wanted to relaunch its flagship product, the Maybank Family & Friends Card, to address this issue. The highly customisable card benefits impressed the judges, winning the gold award for Excellence in Personalisation Marketing at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE's Marketing Excellence Awards Singapore 2021. 

Challenge

In the current credit card market, customers are often frustrated with pre-determined card benefits that may not be fully relevant to them. Hence, customers would have to apply for multiple cards to enjoy different benefits offered on various card programs. Moreover, card benefits offered on their existing cards may also become obsolete as they progress into different stages of life. 

The previous Maybank Family & Friends Card cashback categories were determined by the bank using customers’ historical data on their spend behaviour. Despite using data to curate the top essential cashback categories for the product, Maybank was still unable to cater to all customers of different lifestyle and life stages.

Strategy

Maybank wanted to create a timeless card that would increase the acquisition of new customers of all ages and lifestyle, improve customer engagement by allowing customisation of their benefits in cashback categories, improve customer retention by staying relevant throughout their different life stages and allow customers the flexibility of changing their benefits annually. Thus, Maybank relaunched the Friends & Family card with fully customisable benefits, along with a communications plan to create awareness for the relaunch of the card.

Execution

Maybank first needed to develop the system capability to facilitate the personalisation of card design and cashback categories. The bank then curated eight comprehensive cashback categories that would be relevant to individuals across different age groups. These eight cashback categories were groceries, dining and food delivery, transport, data communication and online TV streaming, retail and pets, online fashion, entertainment, and pharmacy and wellness.

To resonate with digitally-savvy customers of today, also customers could perform the selection of their preferred cashback categories via Maybank’s lifestyle mobile application - Maybank TREATS SG. 

Maybank also introduced two new card designs to appeal to the younger customers. With recent studies showing that minimalistic card designs have been gaining popularity among the millennials, Maybank Singapore collaborated with Mastercard to develop two new card designs which come in Silver Chrome & Lilac Chrome.

A "Benefit Optimiser" dashboard within the TREATS SG app was developed to help cardmembers keep track of their spending in each category. This dashboard also lets cardmembers know whether they have met the required spend for the month in order to be eligible for the 8% cashback, as well as the cashback awarded under each categories based on their spend amount. With this feature, customers can now better plan their spending across the various categories they have selected to maximise their cashback monthly.

Maybank adopted a multi-channel approach to create awareness on the re-launch of the Family & Friends Card. The objective was to drive landing page hits to the Family & Friends Take Control web page to drive consideration and sign-ups, as well as build reach against core audience segments to generate consideration. To showcase the new Maybank Family & Friends benefits, Maybank used videos shot in 4:5 aspect ratio to fill up the entire mobile screen to create a better viewing experience for customers who are on the phone most of the time. The videos were placed on selected traditional, digital and OOH advertisement channels such as social media sites and retail malls. 

Mid to high-tier KOLs were engaged to promote the card by featuring their spending at groceries stores, getting around at MRT stations and other activities that tie in with their selected cashback benefits. For existing customers, Maybank adapted the creative and communicated it on internal channels such as ATM machines and Maybank Treats SG app. SMSes were also sent out to existing Family & Friends Cardmembers to communicate on the refreshed card benefits.

Results

The re-launch Family & Friends card empowered customers with flexibility, from the choice of their card design to their cashback categories. With the market shift toward digitalisation, the re-launch Family & Friends Card offers cardmembers the convenience to select their benefits as well as to track their spend and cashback ease, leading to higher customer engagement and greater customer loyalty.