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Blog · Wallet share and penetration · Financial services

Tenure and depth: the ten-year customers who still hold two products

How a financial services firm reads product depth against relationship tenure, from the customer master and the holdings: products used by tenure band, the depth a customer of each tenure typically reaches, the long-tenure customers well below it, why they are the cheapest cross-sell in the base and the most likely to be assumed fully served, and the list per relationship manager ranked by the gap.

The short answerProduct depth normally grows with tenure: a customer in year one holds one or two products, a customer in year ten holds five. From the customer master's start date and the holdings, the norm per tenure band within each segment shows what depth a customer of that age typically reaches. Long-tenure customers well below it have been assumed fully served for years and never asked. They already trust the firm, they are the cheapest cross-sell in the base, and the list per relationship manager ranks them by the gap to their tenure band's norm.

A bank's oldest customers are its most trusted and its least examined. Many have held the same two products since they joined, through a decade in which the bank launched eight more, because a long relationship is assumed to be a deep one. The customer master and the holdings, cut by tenure band, show which are not. This guide sets out depth by tenure, the band norm, and the list.

The measures

Per customer:

Tenure = years since first product Depth = products used in the trailing period

Per segment, per tenure band:

Norm = 75th percentile depth among customers in the band

Per customer:

Gap = band norm − depth, floored at zero Value = gap products at the median revenue per product in the segment

The rows you need

  • Customer master: customer, segment, first product date, relationship manager.
  • Holdings and activity: customer, product, activity in period.
  • Revenue: customer, product, period.

Customer identifiers only.

The assertion

Σ customers' product revenue = product revenue in the ledger

And every customer has a first product date. Customers without one are listed as unbanded.

A worked band table

Segment: mid. Depth on use.

Tenure band Customers Median depth 75th percentile
0 to 1 year 310 1.4 2
2 to 4 years 620 2.6 3
5 to 9 years 540 3.8 5
10+ years 410 4.6 6

The list

Customer Tenure Depth Band norm Gap Value at norm RM
4471 12 years 2 6 4 $38,000/yr RM-04
2210 11 years 2 6 4 $38,000/yr RM-11
9034 8 years 3 5 2 $19,000/yr RM-04

Customer 4471 has banked here for twelve years, uses two products, and customers of that tenure typically use six. Nobody has asked, because a twelve-year customer is assumed to be a full one. The relationship manager's list starts here.

Rolled up

Per relationship manager: customers in the 10+ band below norm, and the value at norm. Per segment: depth by tenure band, trended, which shows whether the firm's newer customers are deepening faster or slower than its older ones did.

Where it goes wrong

Tenure assumed to mean depth. The oldest customers never examined.

Depth on holdings. Five held, two used, counted as five.

One norm across tenures. Year-one customers look under-served and year-twelve customers look fine.

List without value. Four products is a gap; thirty-eight thousand a year is a call.

Every quarter, by tenure band

Mapped once, the customer master, the holdings and the revenue produce the band norms, the gaps and the list per relationship manager every quarter. Covirage builds this from the exports as they are. The financial services page describes the setup, and the opened and unused guide covers why depth is measured on use.

Questions people ask

Why tenure rather than size?

Both. Size sets the segment; tenure sets the band within it. A large customer in year one and a large customer in year twelve should not be compared to the same norm. The norm is per segment and tenure band, and the report shows both.

Why are they the cheapest cross-sell?

Because acquisition is done, trust is established, and the customer has been meeting the firm for a decade. The cost of a conversation about a third product with a ten-year customer is one conversation. The same product to a prospect is a sales cycle.

Should depth be on holdings or on use?

On use, where the ledger allows it: products with activity in the period. A ten-year customer with five products held and two used is a two-product customer for this measure, and the difference is its own list.