Citibank Optimizes Retargeting Campaign to Drive Credit Card Signups in Malaysia

Citibank increased conversions by 42 percent in a recent retargeting campaign to generate new platinum card applications in Malaysia, which used DG Mediamind’s creative optimization tool.

The ad management firm uses Smart Versioning technology, which allows marketers to manage multiple creative ad banners and serve up targeted messaging to specific audiences.

Nicholas Goh, associate director from MEC Malaysia, says the Citibank campaign has combined retargeting with DG’s feature to optimize more than 80 banners based on user behavior to drive better conversions.

Citibank’s direct response campaign started early this year to promote its new Reward Platinum credit card to online users in Malaysia.

MEC and Splash Interactive had to develop workflow, retargeting sequence, and strategy for the three-month long campaign that was executed in two phases.

In the first six weeks, consumers were exposed to banners from various categories such as dining, travel, and entertainment, which featured different creatives and messages.

For instance, if a user clicked on a travel-related banner but did not convert, she would be retargeted with another travel ad in subsequent impressions.

In the second phase, the team conducted a mid-campaign analysis to retarget users that have signed up for the platinum cards.

Post-conversion banners were served on the bank’s website to communicate other benefits, reward points, and rebates for the card.

As a result, DG said the campaign attracted 42 percent more requests for credit card applications compared to a previous retargeting campaign that did not include a behavioral component.

The ad management firm also claimed that overall production time was reduced as creative agency Splash only took three days to produce 87 banner versions using an Excel feature from its tool.