Within three months of campaign roll-out, MaxCredit saw a 100% increase in sales enquiries; receiving 70 email and 10 SMSes each day, and 15-20 phone enquiries per hour. More important, MaxCredit saw 50-60% revenue increase, higher than their original projection going in.
The Marketing Challenge
In this business category, there are many loan companies with a storefront that thrives on walk-in patronage and word of mouth. For the slightly bigger players, their communications are supported by directory listings and ads, print and outdoor advertising. Increasingly, more are looking toward digital as a communications platform, with many setting up an online presence, but with varying degrees of service and sophistication (for example, from mere listings or a simple web page to direct customers to their stores; to more service-oriented microsite that provides tools like loan calculators and online application forms). MaxCredit however is a category leader that operates solely online.
While understanding that traditionally, the mentality is to have a storefront where there can be face-to-face customer interactions, MaxCredit’s vision is to provide fast, convenient and easy means for customers across demographic groups to secure loans, and recognises that storefront operations are not necessarily the right or only answer. Besides wanting to stay true to their brand promise, their impetus for setting up an online loan business is also to reduce overheads and improve business efficiencies.
Strategy: The consumer insight and communications strategy
Customers take out loans for a variety of reasons at various stages of their lives. The challenge is that in this business category, there isn’t a clearly defined customer profile. They range from cleaners to bankers. However, the motivation is clear. They need financial assistance. Fast. Many loan companies as such shout about ease, quickness in approvals, availability of cash and peace-of-mind in their communications.
For MaxCredit, they understand that customers prize these. They also understand that some might prefer anonymity, particularly if they have bad credit history. Some are first time loaners and are unsure how loans are structured. Some like to shop around for the best rates and terms. More important, they knew that Singaporeans are spending more and more time online. Understanding these, and to complement their core business proposition – which is online – MaxCredit adopted a pure digital communications strategy.
The Execution
Upon receiving the brief, PurpleClick immediately recognised that loan is not a need that you can create as an advertiser, but a need that you can fulfill as a service provider. No amount of advertising can spur someone who does not need a loan to approach MaxCredit. Instead, they recommended search engine marketing, to allow MaxCredit to target customers at the right place and the right time with the right frame of mind; banking more on a pull, rather than push, strategy.
In looking at how to drive qualified leads to www.maxcredit.com.sg, PurpleClick studied a loan consumer’s motivations, matched that with MaxCredit’s business and brand propositions, and built in keywords like “low personal loan Singapore”, “cash advance”, “instant cash loan”, “quick cash sg”, “low interest loan Singapore”, loan interest rate Singapore”, and “loan plan sg” into the search parameters.
PurpleClick also recommended buying into Yahoo! search engine, which provides a more cost-effective CPC platform, yet giving them a broad enough, targeted demographic, and built in phrases such as “Flexible Personal Loan Repayment Plan. Fast Cash. 5% p.m. Interest.” and “Instant Personal Loan Within 24 Hours. Lowest Interest Rates 5% p.m.” into the ad texts that would appear prominently on the search engine. These too were written specifically to appeal to the customers’ mindset of wanting something fast, easy, and with low interest rates. True enough, a post-campaign report showed that phrases like “quick cash”, “instant cash loan” and “low personal loan” actually garnered the highest average position.
The Results
When a customer lands on www.maxcredit.com.sg, they are able to find out information about the company, apply for a loan, check their eligibility, “talk” to an online salesperson, or call their hotline. The key performance indicators – as briefed to PurpleClick – were therefore to see an increase in sales enquiries and revenue.
Within three months of campaign roll-out, MaxCredit saw a 100% increase in sales enquiries; receiving 70 email and 10 SMSes each day, and 15-20 phone enquiries per hour. More important, MaxCredit saw 50-60% revenue increase, higher than their original projection going in. These results can be directly attributed to the SEM campaign, seeing as it was the only advertising activity MaxCredit ran and they do not have walk-in customers.
Additionally, by virtue of SEM, MaxCredit pays for click-throughs, not ad impressions. There is no wastage in ad dollars. They received an average CTR of 10.46% (946% overachieved from industry average CTR of 1%) and an average CPC of $0.16 (400% lower than loan industry average of $0.80. This creates great bang for their buck (freeing up more of it to loan out!).
