The results are in and overdraft users chose direct mail as their #1 choice for receiving their overdraft opt-in notification.

This is very important information for any bank or credit union relying solely on email and a website to accomplish Reg E overdraft opt-in.

In its just-released results of a nationwide survey of U.S. banking customers, ACTON Market Intelligence (AMI) found that 45% of debit card users prefer receiving their opt-in notification via regular mail.

Receiving an email with a link to a secured website was preferred by 29%, while responding via email came in third at 15%.

When you think about it, preferring direct mail makes sense. The U.S. Postal Service has a long history of delivering personalized mail. It’s a communications channel trusted by millions of Americans. Unlike electronic email, regular mail arrives at the same time every day. It’s tangible…giving people the option of setting it aside for reading later. It can be tucked into a briefcase and taken to the office to be completed at work. Regular mail provides consumers with a great degree of flexibility in reading and responding.

Another major benefit of traditional direct mail is the choice of formats available for delivering both the original opt-in solicitation and follow-up notices. Among the choices available to financial services marketers are the standard #10 window envelope package, self-mailers, double-postcards, and single postcards. Such a variety enhances the chances of grabbing the attention of overdraft users and getting them to say “Yes” to opting-in for overdraft protection.

This preference for direct mail doesn’t preclude you from also using the Internet as a message and information delivery channel for overdraft opt-in. As mentioned above, some form of email notification is preferred by a sizeable number of your debit card customers.

At a minimum, every overdraft opt-in direct mail piece should include a link to your bank’s or credit union’s website where customers can learn more about your overdraft protection options and costs.

The information about debit card users’ direct mail preference is just one of the many critical pieces of data to emerge from the AMI survey conducted in February and March.

The fact that the majority of actual overdraft users said they will likely opt-in means that 73% of overdraft revenue is safe. This means the dreaded free-fall of NSF revenue earlier predicted is unlikely to materialize. Of course, you can’t take this 73% number as a given. Achieving it requires that you create and implement a robust opt-in solicitation program that grabs the attention of your debit card customers, convincing them to say “Yes” to opting-in.

AMI’s proprietary 115-page overdraft study includes 98 pages of easy-to-read charts and graphs. The data is presented at the national level and by the four census regions – Northeast, South, Midwest, and West.

In addition, the data on debit card users who overdraw their accounts one or more times a year is provided for light users (1-4 times a year), moderate users (5-9 times a year), and heavy users (10+ times a year).

You can learn more about the AMI study by clicking on the link in the sidebar to the right.

And for those of you not planning on using direct mail as part of your overdraft opt-in notification strategy, there’s still time to reconsider and include it in your opt-in marketing campaign.