Bank of America has announced plans to offer its 3.4 million online customers personal e-mail business cards in a co-marketing agreement with Peoplestreet.
The bank said it plans to offer its online customers free registration for online business cards later this year. Bank of America said it planned to test the technology first with a select group of its 140,000 employees, including those who have direct contact with bank customers.
“We want to make sure it's well vetted before we give our customers complete access,” said Daniel Friel, senior vice president at Bank of America, Charlotte, NC.
Bank of America and Peoplestreet will run a co-branded Web site, linked to BankofAmerica.com, where bank customers can register for the online business cards. Peoplestreet is powered by LiveCards, graphic electronic business cards that contain contact information. Once customers set up the service, the business cards are incorporated into the signature on e-mail they send. Recipients of the e-mail can use the card to automatically update the contact information in personal information management software, such as their Microsoft Outlook address books.
Details of the agreement were not disclosed. However, as part of the deal, Bank of America may market Peoplestreet business services to its business partners in the future.
Bank of America also is considering using Peoplestreet technology to allow its online customers to change their personal information with the bank by visiting a Web site.
Just having the Peoplestreet logo on Bank of America's site will give the company a boost, said Alper Caglayan, CEO of Peoplestreet, Cambridge, MA. BankofAmerica.com receives millions of site visits each month.
“They have a tremendous reach,” Caglayan said. “For us, it's tremendous exposure.”
