When Marketing Doesn’t Talk To Development
Several months ago, when I was unhappy with my current bank’s online payment system for my car loan, I decided to shop around; but I did not take action on that resolution until last weekend. Friday I opened my mail from the week and I had a direct mail offer from 3 financial institutions where I currently have accounts, and all were asking me to refinance my car for a lower rate.
Competition amongst financial institutions is fierce and offering the right person, the right offer at the right time and in the right way is tricky business. The marketing department’s job is to hook the recipient. If they can get someone to take action and contact the financial institution they have done their jobs, right?
I would have to say no, they have not done their job if the action they drive you to take does not help you achieve your goal, and PNC Bank’s marketing department recently failed in a huge way.
The legal sized, full color letter I received from PNC directed me to call, visit a branch or visit their website to get the refinancing process underway. Remember, my end goal is to find a bank with better online services so I chose to visit the website.
I was directed to PNC.com/auto where I noticed the title said “Apply For An Automobile Loan”. I would have expected letter to send me to a page specifically for refinancing, but not to be thwarted I continued the application process and clicked the link on the right to apply online.
The first screen of the form asked me for general information which I easily filled out. The second screen asked for the purpose of the loan, and from the dropdown I chose “Refinance vehicle”. Continuing down the page I was asked to enter my vehicle’s information and the information for my trade-in. I thought entering the value of the car I traded in a year ago was odd, but I diligently filled the form (pictured below) and clicked to continue.
The error I received read “The requested loan amount must equal the vehicle selling price less the total of your trade-in allowance and cash down payment.”
This error made it obvious that the form was not meant for refinancing a car loan, only applying for a new loan. Good job, Marketing Department! You sent out a costly directly mail offer about refinancing my car loan and directed me to a page where I could only apply for a new loan. In fact, I can’t even find a form on your site that I can fill out to refinance my loan and apparently customer service can’t either because I emailed them asking for a new link and they told me to call a 1-888 number.
IRONIC, don’t you think?
Obviously Marketing needs to check their information, test the actions customers will take and most importantly talk to the development team. From the start the Marketing Department should have been asking for a customized landing page and form they could direct customers to. Also, if you want to look at the bigger picture, PNC is currently offering a service that is not advertised or supported by the website. I bet this could be remedied in a single work day by a developer. Building a cooperative relationship between the two departments might take a little more work but it undoubtedly it would be worth the effort.
PNC's form to "refiance" an auto loan.