Catalyzed by Check21 and evolving outward from branch capture, remote deposit capture lets businesses and consumers image and deposit checks at automated teller machines, from their own offices and even on mobile phones.
As this technology evolves, real-time capture and funds availability will become the norm. Businesses will no longer require separate and expensive hardware to image checks but instead will be able to rely on devices they already possess.
As RDC becomes more affordable, easier to use and more beneficial for its users, financial institutions should look beyond larger businesses and start targeting small-business accounts. Marketing campaigns will bring in deposits, expand the company's footprint and improve retention.
To focus resources more effectively, start by segmenting your market and defining your priorities regarding customer retention, account growth and deposit volume.
First, assess your commercial clients, dividing them into four segments: high dollar deposits with high volume, high dollar deposits with low volume, low dollar deposits with high volume and low dollar deposits with low volume.
Each segment has its own risk model and value proposition for adopting RDC that will affect your ability to reach those businesses. The fourth segment, low dollar deposits with low volume, will typically have the least interest in RDC because there is still very little payback or value to their day-to-day operations.
Conversely, businesses with high dollar deposits and/or high volume benefit the most from improved cash flow, reduced time and resources to prepare deposits, more convenient deposit hours, enhanced deposit reporting and research capabilities and fewer deposit errors due to automated balancing. The high-volume segments — with both low and high dollar deposits — may benefit from a centralized view of deposits from multiple sites.
By identifying these commercial accounts and prioritizing them in the marketing and sales effort, you can more easily define success for your campaign and focus your resources.
As prospects sign up for RDC and start to realize its benefits, so will your institution. You will reduce the time branch employees spend supporting incoming deposits and enable them to focus on consumer deposit growth and lending relationships. Furthermore, you will probably expand deposit volume from current customers who you have enabled to consolidate their banking relationships by averting geographic constraints.
To ensure the success of RDC, some financial institutions have benefited from taking both defensive and offensive approaches. Banks need to offer RDC to existing customers to keep from losing them but also use the service to gain customers in other areas that would not otherwise be served.
RDC marketing campaigns tend to require a more customized approach — tailoring each campaign to the prospect.
The financial institution should identify prospects for RDC and learn as much as possible about these companies and their technical environments. Acquiring this knowledge can help determine whether RDC is a good fit and, if so, what the benefits would be. Since different commercial customers operate in different ways, benefits often vary based on business needs. For instance, one customer has 14 sites in six states. Being able to avert courier fees would be a huge benefit of adopting RDC; therefore, it would be appropriate to market RDC to that company with a focus on expense reduction.
This might not be true for a company with four sites in the same city as the bank.
As your RDC service becomes better known, you can leverage word-of-mouth marketing to reach out to noncustomers who were either aware of RDC through contacts from banking competitors or their own research. Many banks leverage their deep client and professional services relationships to generate referrals and raise awareness.
We are now nearing a time when RDC is no longer a luxury but a requirement and commercial clients expect this service to be available. Whether you offer RDC to customers is no longer a question.
What is crucial is how you market the service to existing and prospective customers to ensure its success and remain competitive among financial institutions.
Research indicates that millions of consumers are looking for new banking partners, and many are business owners looking for new business banking relationships.
To survive, banks must first evaluate their target market and segment the group to determine the best approach for each type of customer.
Identifying these groups and matching them with appropriate benefits will help banks sell the service better. Customized marketing strategies also are essential to the success of a bank's RDC service, and leveraging word-of-mouth marketing will swell the momentum.
