More than half of Mexico's Ixe Banco's 40,000 clients have enrolled in the bank's loyalty program, Ixe Rewards, since it began last summer.
“We don't auto-enroll customers; they must request membership,” said Josemaria Bolio, general manager of Ixe Rewards and Ixe Net. “We found that the required signup gives the program added value in the eyes of members. And we get an affirmative answer from them right away.”
Ixe Banco is the retail banking arm of Ixe Grupo Financiero, an independent Mexican financial group providing retail, corporate and investment banking, securities trading, foreign exchange, asset and wealth management services to institutions and private clients in Mexico and abroad. The loyalty program rewards Ixe Banco customers for their banking relationship across all of Ixe's financial products.
The program is operated through hotel chain Grupo Posadas' New Loyalty Service Bureau using Cincinnati-based Frequency Marketing's Loyalty Solutions Platform.
“Our loyalty program rewards customers who hold credit and debit cards as well as checking and savings accounts,” Bolio said.
In the next phase, the bank will extend the program to customers of its brokerage house products and trust funds.
“Our goal is to reward our clients for every relationship they have with Ixe Financial Group, not just our retail products,” he said.
Members enroll in Ixe Rewards by telephone, the Web or in person at an Ixe branch. Each Ixe Rewards member earns points based on the types of accounts held. Personalized communications include monthly statements summarizing members' account activities, e-mail newsletters and information regarding special promotions. The members-only Ixe Rewards Web site provides program and account details, a list of rewards and partner offers, reward redemption, additional phone and e-mail contact information and an enrollment application.
“We're planning tiered membership levels,” said Bolio, while adding that the bank first must collect more data from the program. “We're beginning to practice some basic loyalty analytics. We currently make several basic targeted offers, such as special offers to clients who make utility bill payments through our automated bill-paying service.”
