The Power of a Simple Thank You

In the book, The Thank You Economy, Gary Vaynerchuk offers compelling evidence that we have entered into an entirely new business era, one in which the companies that see the biggest returns won't be the ones that can throw the most money at an advertising campaign, but will be those that can prove they care about their customers more than anyone else.

He illustrates that the businesses and brands that harness the word-of-mouth power from social media, those that can shift their culture to be more customer-aware and fan-friendly, will pull away from the pack and profit in today's markets.

To this end, I received an email letter today from one of the banks where I have an account. Seeing that I had just opened an account with Simple, I anticipated the worst. Maybe my initial deposit didn't clear. Maybe I did one of my transactions incorrectly or possibly didn't activate my debit card correctly. But the subject line for the email just had the words 'Thank You'. Upon opening the email (personalized with the name I told Simple I preferred using as opposed to my 'legal' name on the account), I must admit I was surprised to see that the email included nothing more than a 'thank you'. That's right, a simple appreciation letter from Josh Reich, the CEO of Simple.

Kaching Ushers In New Era of Mobile Banking

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has broken new ground in the advancement of mobile payments by introducing a new iPhone application that allows users to pay friends or businesses using Near Field Communication (NFC), Facebook identification, an email address or a mobile phone number.

Kaching (pronounced like the cash register sound Ka-Ching)  will initially only be available for users of the iPhone 4 and 4S (with soon to follow Android support) using a specially designed case with built in NFC chip. With this case, the phone will allow the user to simply tap and pay at a PayPass terminal. 'This banking breakthrough marks a significant milestone in the evolution of how people pay and receive money from each other," stated Commonwealth Bank of Australia chief information officer Michael Harte.

According to a CBA spokesperson, the use of a specially designed NFC case is only an interim solution until iPhone, Android and other smartphones introduce new versions of phones with NFC integration built in. In what some believe could be the beginning of the end for plastic credit and debit cards and potentially even cash, this form of electronic payment would be conducted 24x7 in real time if both sides of the transaction are CBA customers and one to two days if the payment is made to a customer of another bank.

An Open Letter to BankSimple

On January 18, you impressed me when Rachel Giuliani from BankSimple wrote an email to me unexpectedly asking me for my "loves, hates, quibbles, hopes and dreams" regarding my financial life. Her email seemed surprisingly personal coming from a bank I had signed up to be part of a beta test several months earlier. In her letter, she piqued my interest when she told me she represented a 'new' bank that was committed to building the best possible customer service without surprises.

Her timing was great since I had been a bit upset with my current bank. Not only had my bank changed their fee structure without a clear notification, but they seemed to be looking for new ways to generate fees for actions I had become accustomed to not paying for. Sure, I could avoid the fees as I had in the past by maintaining a steady balance in my account, but even that had been raised to a level that really didn't correspond to the value I felt I was receiving from the bank.

You made it so easy for me to respond to Rachel's email since she even provided her email address (rachel@banksimple.com). And, as opposed to feeling like my response would end up in some black hole of customer service or would be responded to by a person not even named Rachel, it was easy to see that my new pen pal had been hired just a week earlier as the first of two customer service representatives to provide 'brilliant customer service'.

A Little Note From BankSimple

After hearing about the vision of BankSimple several months ago, I decided to see if the development of another new online bank would be different. To begin with, I accepted their invite to be part of their beta test once the bank officially launched some time in 2011. Yes, I accepted an opportunity to be on a waiting list to potentially open an account.

As a lifelong bank marketer, I also followed the story of the bank's founders and the development BankSimple (The Buck Stops Here). I was intrigued by the fact that BankSimple would not really be a bank at all, but instead, simply provide a better front-end experience with a myriad of banks being used behind the scenes to generate the highest returns (and lowest costs) for their customers.