The days between Christmas and New Years can sometimes be a bit lackadaisical. Offices may work with a skeleton crew or completely send their employees home for family time, last-minute holiday celebrations, and preparation for a swift January start.
Other times, the work businesses do during those last hours can alter the course of their success for years to come. Alloy Labs’ most recent case study follows the story of a bank that has done exactly that.
Three days before 2023, American State Bank, a western Iowa-based bank as well as an Alloy Labs Alliance member bank, signed a proof of concept to work with a young fintech called The Postage. A 2022 Concept Lab alumni, The Postage’s digital wisdom and wealth platform marries several key components of how people navigate death: Will and estate management, small business succession planning, event and user permissioned document storage, and creating a private family network.
More than that, it helps users create a legacy they want to leave before it’s too late. American State Bank, which was looking to provide unique, irreplaceable value to its customers, knew it had found something special.
“We wanted to show our customers that we really care about them: To show children that we care about their parents, their grandparents,” says Tamra Van Kalsbeek, digital banking officer at American State Bank. “To show that for every milestone in a customer’s life, the bank is going to be there every step of the way.”
Forty-two days later, a two-year contract was signed.
In the months following the partnership’s launch, the bank has seen 4.7% of its monthly digitally engaged customers create a Postage account. Those users have also generated a 30% referral rate through network effects.
This case study covers more than a partnership between a bank and a fintech. This is a story of a bank that, by combining empathy with innovation, has positioned itself to be a multi-generational, resolute family financial institution.