Independent Banker - September 2020 - 38

PORTFOLIO
Encore Bank in
Little Rock, Ark.
How Encore Bank put marketing
automation to work
Like many community banks today,
Encore Bank in Little Rock, Ark.,
found itself trying to solve the
data dilemma. The bank wanted
to know how to consolidate
information across system silos,
cleanse customer data and
integrate existing customer data
with its prospect lists.
The community bank partnered
with FI Works, an ICBA ThinkTECH
Accelerator finalist also based in
Little Rock. The fintech offers a
software solution that combines
customer data with predictive
analytics and sales and marketing
automation.
FI Works spent eight weeks
implementing the system
at Encore Bank, and, in the
process, identified its top growth
opportunities. To accomplish
that, FI Works loaded data from
the bank's core and then provided
it with an integrated view of
bank customers. Based on the
predictive analytics obtained
through the platform, the
marketing team then determined
what campaigns to run.
During that analysis, FI Works'
system identified shareholder
opportunities for Encore Bank.
The community bank went to
work, contacting the 400-plus
shareholders on the list. The bank
also assigned every shareholder
a banker dubbed a " concierge
banker. " Encore Bank then asked
its bankers to reach out to
these shareholders, introduce
themselves and talk with them
about opening an account at
the bank, which they did with
impressive results.
The campaign resulted in an
89% acceptance rate, which,
the community bank admits,
is not typical. Encore Bank
attributes the success rate to
multiple factors, including the
existing relationships it had with
stakeholders. Other campaigns
run by the community bank,
including an electronic statement
campaign that resulted in a
20% acceptance rate, score
well above average and deliver
consistent results. Outcomes like
these are driving growth, helping
Encore Bank exceed its strategic
business goals.
focus: managing customer data; using
predictive analytics; and driving high
performance through targeted work
queues, scorecards and dashboards,
all of which are accessible to bank staff.
According to Hicks, Encore Bank
relies heavily on the platform to initiate
campaigns, generate business and drive
sales. The software makes it easy to
track and analyze campaign effectiveness,
which helps the bank determine
next steps. There are other pluses, too.
" One of the benefits we've received is
not just a system that can do what most
of these systems can do, " Hicks says.
" We spend time with the CEO of the
company, who helps us think through
ways to reduce costs and capture new
business. We get to pick his brain and
ask what types of campaigns make
sense in the market and what campaigns
align with the bank's strategy. "
FI Works CEO Keith Henkel says the
company's platform pulls data daily
from the bank's systems and applies
machine learning analytics to predict
what the community bank's customers
are likely to do next, with impressive
results. For example, email marketing
campaigns generated by the platform
typically have a 20% to 40% response
rate, whereas the typical rate is in the
single digits, according to Henkel.
How does it work?
Tonya Gossage, president of Gossage
Performance Consulting, LLC, in Little
Rock, Ark., partners with Encore Bank
in managing the system and training
staff. She explains how it works.
FI Works loads the data it captures
from the core system to its
system daily. Every morning when
bank employees log in, they see a
dashboard that includes a scorecard of
key performance indicators, or KPIs,
built around goals set by the bank. The
other side of the dashboard consists
of an activity queue, which showcases
new opportunities and tasks that have
28 Q ICBA Independent Banker Q September 2020
Independent Banker - September 2020

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