PLANO, Texas — Banks and credit unions may be putting too much emphasis on attracting new customers and members while overlooking potentially stronger growth opportunities among existing account holders, according to a new analysis from Marquis.
Marquis’ inaugural 2026 Financial Institution Marketing Trend Report analyzed 2,989 marketing campaigns conducted by 90 banks and credit unions during 2025. The campaigns collectively reached nearly 2 million account holders through email, direct mail and coordinated multichannel outreach, according to the company.
The analysis found campaigns targeting existing account holders generally produced substantially higher response rates than campaigns designed to acquire new customers.
The Highest Response Rate
Onboarding campaigns recorded the highest average response rate at 8.84%, followed by cross-selling campaigns based on existing product relationships at 6.74%, Marquis said.
By comparison, loan-acquisition campaigns generated an average response rate of 1.59%, while deposit-acquisition campaigns averaged 1.18%.
The overall average response rate across the campaigns studied was 4.17%.
Marquis said the findings suggest financial institutions could be overlooking opportunities to deepen existing relationships as they devote resources to acquiring new customers and members.
Where Strongest Growth Opportunities Lie
“Banks and credit unions are under tremendous pressure to attract new relationships, but our data show that some of the strongest growth opportunities are already inside the institution,” Satin Mirchandani, CEO of Marquis, said in a statement. “The institutions achieving the highest response rates are not necessarily those with the largest marketing budgets. They are the ones using their data most intentionally to recognize what account holders need and reach them at the right time.”
The analysis also found combining traditional and digital marketing channels produced stronger results than relying on either channel alone.
Email-only campaigns generated an average response rate of 3.34%, while direct-mail campaigns averaged 3.83%. Campaigns combining email and direct mail had an average response rate of 5.13%, Marquis said.
Better Than Generic
Marketing tied to customer behavior, existing product relationships and lifecycle events also performed better than more generic outreach.
Cross-selling campaigns averaged a 6.74% response rate, while campaigns tied to birthdays and account anniversaries averaged 5.08%. Both exceeded the 4.17% average for all campaigns in the study.
Marquis said the results indicate banks and credit unions could improve marketing performance by using existing customer and member data to identify needs and deliver relevant offers at appropriate points in the relationship.
The company said the findings also challenge the idea that financial institutions need to choose between digital and traditional marketing, with coordinated email and direct-mail campaigns outperforming either channel individually.
