This is the fourth in a series of articles derived from “Meeting the Growth Challenge Requires Precision Over Volume,” a white paper produced by Curinos on why the old playbook for retail banking is failing, what the data actually shows, and how the banks winning in 2026 are making decisions differently.
The existing book holds three-quarters of deposit growth, so does acquisition still matter? Very much so — but only if performed with precision and not based on volume one. Precision targeting isn't just about cost-efficiency, it's portfolio protection – keeping low-value relationships out before they dilute the book.
Case in point: Digital display runs about $350 per acquisition; direct mail about $680 — nearly twice as much (see chart). That’s because digital display routes people into digital onboarding, where they fund at lower rates and keep smaller balances. Direct mail pushes toward branch-assisted onboarding, where relationships stick around. For the same spend, direct mail generates 34% more retained balances after twelve months. The “expensive” channel is cheaper per dollar of balance that sticks.
Average Marketing Cost Per Acquisition
Note: 1. Assumes 80/20 mix of digital/branch originations for digital display; assumes 20/80 mix of digital/branch originations for direct mail Source: Curinos Analysis, Curinos Marketing Analyzer
On day-one CPA, digital wins; on relationship quality at 12 to 24 months, the ranking can flip. But digital is here to stay and growing. So the fix isn't to pull back from it but to take activation and onboarding as seriously as acquisition itself, so digital customers convert into durable relationships.
Acquisition is hardly the enemy of portfolio growth; it's the front-end of it. The key is to win more precisely, and to judge the result on what the relationship is worth a year or two out.
Get access to the data that informed this article