James highlights a key perspective on the new Wachovia product that is getting lots of accolades.

Javelin Strategy and Research » Rewards and the Economy: Timing is Everything

Wachovia’s way2save(sm) program is receiving peak promotion at the right time, given all the economic uncertainty.

Ron notes Wachovia’s high customer satisfaction ratings.

1) What’s Wachovia doing right? As banks’ index dropped 3.5%, Wachovia’s score increased
by about the same percentage. In the ACSI study, banks as a group scored 78. Excluding the  five largest banks — of which Wachovia is one — the score was 80. Wachovia’s performance  flies in the face of other firms’ declining scores, and is in sharp contrast to the other large banks which dragged the industry down.

Not necessarily co-relating those two things in isolation, but clearly Wachovia is doing something right.

I located this 2006 piece, suggesting a shift in the way that Wachovia were measuring customers, moving towards a lifetime value approach.

“Consulting companies are saying you should be interested in customer lifetime value, and  they’ll give you an average value for those customers,” said Dan Thorpe, senior vice president,  and statistics and modeling director of Wachovia’s Customer Analysis Research and Targeting (CART)  Group. “We are calculating individual estimates for each of our households. We really think  households drive customer value.”

Relevance to Bankwatch:
Its always intriguing when it appears someone is moving ahead of the pack in some way. Any comments or observations from those in the US, on Wachovia, and what they are doing right?