All You Need Is Love

The Beatles knew it all along and wrote a song about it: “All you need is love.”  Yes, there can never be enough of it in the world. If only a business could pass that on to their customers. For sure a client whose heart has been touched would remember this treasured moment and will be loyal forever. But wait! There is actually one institution that succeeded in that mission. The Toronto-Dominion Bank, in short TD, North America’s sixth largest bank that serves worldwide more than 25 million customers.

You are probably wondering: A bank giving love? How is that even possible? Don’t they normally have calculators instead of hearts, a general lack of compassion and the attitude of a robot? Well, don’t be so quick to judge. TD already knew that great customer service is not fully covered by saying a friendly ‘Hello’ and giving out free coffee, they knew it needs a deeper emotional connection.

In 2014 they hired MARU/VCR&C, a research and consulting group, to conduct a survey with nearly 1,100 Canadian adults.  They found out three important facts:

1. Canadians are more likely to say thank you when offered unsolicited help (41%) compared to when they receive a compliment (14%).
2. Canadians appreciate the power of personal (90%) versus digital (49%) when it comes to being thanked. For example, they like to be thanked in person (85%) rather than through text or emoji (22%).
3. Canadians thank friends (60%) more than their partner or spouse (50%). They thank customer service professionals (48%) and colleagues (36%) more than children (30%) and parents (29%).

With this information in mind, TD started the #TDThanksYou campaign. Valued customers, that just wanted to do some quick banking at the ATM, were surprised with a personalized greeting and a touching thank-you gift. The video capturing customer reactions went viral (24 million views), and gave TD’s social media profile a huge boost.

And it didn’t stop there. The financial institution followed up with the campaign “TD Thank Account”, where the love concept was preserved, but the execution slightly different: instead of a talking ATM machine the customers received the message through a card reader.

“We know the greatest customers in the world, and we wanted to do something to thank as many of them as possible. Through this campaign, we used ‘TD Thank Accounts’ to deliver personalized gestures to customers to let them know that they are appreciated each and every day.” Teri Currie, group head, TD Canada Trust

 

Two more campaigns under the same “TD Thanks You” umbrella raised a lot of attention as well. The ever so touching #UltimateThrowback, where long-term customers have been invited for a chat in the office and were surprised by seeing pictures of their lives on display on their way out. The other one was the #MakeTodayMatter campaign, where 24 selected customers in North America were surprised with a cash amount of up to $30,000 that they had to give to the community right then and there.

“This is a way to pay it forward and make a difference in a way that [customers] wouldn’t have otherwise had the opportunity.” Chris Stamper, SVP, Corporate Marketing, TD Bank Group Canada

 

Having developed a knack for touching people’s heart and sending a clear message of appreciation, TD uses social media for more than just posting moving videos. They respond to posts faster than any other bank, for example the average response time on Facebook is just slightly over one hour, a Twitter response takes on average 46 minutes – compare to JPMorgan Chase who takes about 10 hours. This makes TD Bank the No. 2 for best customer engagement rates, according to Engagement Labs, who did an analysis on how TD excels through social media presence.

Lessons for Others

Giving love and appreciation moves and builds relationships. Love is at its best when shared and spread, and TD Bank gave a wonderful example of doing that. With these activities they created positive emotions and made a difference to both people and community. Not only did TD secure the loyalty of their existing customers, but surely attracted new ones. Or wouldn’t you rather set up your account with a bank that has proven to possess a heart?

If you have concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site, please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Program Director, Social Media for Business Performance.

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