Why VirtualBank should be more like ING Direct

It’s time that the people at VirtualBank rethink their referral program. While on one hand it offers a very nice theoretical payout for converting all of one’s 50 available referrals, $1000, the way the program is structured makes it very difficult to actually receive that amount.

I’m not saying it’s misleading to suggest one could earn $1000 with the program, but it’s set up in such a way to make it nearly impossible. VirtualBank allots each of its customers 50 referral emails, with each referral earning both the referring customer and the new customer $20. Each time you send one of these emails to a prospective new customer, it becomes used up, regardless of whether the prospective new customer actually opens an account. Therefore, if you send an email to someone who flakes out and never opens the account, you permanently lose the potential of earning that $20.

I fail to see the logic behind this. Why would VirtualBank want to handcuff the customers who are participating in the referral program by placing limits on the number of referrals sent, rather than the number of successful referrals?

ING Direct does it the right way. According to its referral program terms, ING’s program limits you to 25 successful referrals, with an unlimited number of attempts. If a referral is unsuccessful after 30 days, it gets recycled into the pool of unused slots. This way, a customer who really promotes the bank realizes the full benefit of the program, and the bank gets the maximum number of new customers. By establishing restrictions on the number of emails sent, VirtualBank accepts that its promotion won’t live up to its potential.

Please, if any VirtualBank brass are reading this, revisit your policy on referrals and place the restriction on the successful conversions instead of the number of solicitations.