Just how busy is the end of year when it comes to bank marketing mail?

The fourth quarter began and ended in flurry, with 10%, 47 pieces, of the entire year arriving in October, the third busiest month I've recorded in the last three years. November brought 40 items.  December started slow, but 16 letters arrived after Christmas, for a total of 40 letters during the month.  

In all, fourth quarter volume accounted for 26% of the total number of bank marketing direct mail I received in 2006, a quantity second only to first quarter 2006.  My mailbox, at home and at the office, received a whopping 78 letters from banks during January 2006.  This month's volume, two weeks into 2007, doesn't appear to hold the same bounty: only 16 bank solicitations have arrived so far.

So who is mailing to me?

Fourth Quarter 2006, Sent two or more letters:

Chase                    23 letters
Citibank                  22
Capital One             22
American Express   20
Discover                 7
Bank of America      6
Washington Mutual  4
HSBC                     3
Credit Union            3
Wells Fargo            2
MBNA                    2
First Equity             2
ING Direct               2

Twelve institutions sent me two or more letters during the quarter, with 44 different institutions contacting me at least once.

From the above list, it may be obvious that credit card solicitations comprised most of the offers.  During the three years that I've documented the bank mail sent to my home or office, I have never received the volume of credit card offers sent to me the previous three months:  108 card solicitations, 84% of the total.  Nor have I received so few equity loan offers, only 4 during the last quarter of 2006.

Typically, the mix of credit card to other product offers is close to 50%, while I previously have received as many as 10 home equity letters in October and November.

From these changes in patterns, I conclude that the most capable mailers are finding success with frequent mailings as the top four in the list above are each sending me an average of two letters per week.  Second, on a national basis, credit card offers are finding takers.

Finally, I remain concerned that community and regional banks—those most likely to find success with the profitable home equity product—feel they can not compete with the large mail volume sent by the national institions.  Yet the downside of not reaching out to prospects like myself is that Citibank does begin to standout as the local banking alternative.

Realistically, the typical bank marketing manager knows she can't get approval for same design standards and volume as Bank of American and Washington Mutual, let alone Citi and Chase.  While the fancy outers of a Capital One solicitation appears to be an important aspect of direct mail success, that is one aspect of design I don't think should be emulated.  Whether from Discover, Capital One, or American Express, all these letters no matter how creative make the same impression.

If you really want to stand out in the mail box, keep it simple.  A short, to the point, personalized business letter has only rarely appeared in my mail box.  Those letters looked so different, I was really curious to see what was inside.