"The Men Still Don't Get It"

 

Received a beautiful marketing mailer over the weekend....and here's my two cents worth. I wonder if the VP will reply to my email. Let's wait and see.

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11 April 2005

Janice Ang
First Vice President
Head, Credit Card
Personal Financial Services
UNITED OVERSEAS BANK

Dear Ms Ang,

Thank you for sending me a mailer last week, inviting me to apply for the new UOB Lady's Platinum Mastercard.

While I was pleasantly surprised to receive a nice package, I caught
the fine print in the attached application form that reads,
"Applicants must have an annual income of at least S$70,000".

This puzzled me, as my current income does not qualify. I came to two conclusions:

1. As part of the launch of this new card, UOB must be very generous to relax its rules and allow all the Classic card members to apply for the Platinum card, on top of the first year fee waiver.
2. Or, the direct mailer is sent to all existing card members, including those who are not anywhere near the income level of S$70,000 per annum.

I reckon the 2nd conclusion might be more probable as I once attended a conference on Target Marketing and I remember one of the speakers mentioned that UOB sent him a "The Men Don't Get It" direct mailing package. That particular anecdote brought laughter across the room.

I believe that the bank has all the personal data of your customers and that of course includes detailed salary information. In this era of automation, I don't see why segmentation cannot be done for more cost-effective marketing.

Already we are receiving frequent phone calls from call-centre personnel inviting us to sign up for various credit cards most of which we already have. I would suggest UOB look into a more integrated approach, which could put these wasted marketing dollars to better use.

Thank you.

Eunice Soo

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