“A novel idea that allows customers to easily save up money or donate to charity”

Brooke Preston, Customer journey expert ING Australia

For Brooke, ING customers in Australia have been a lifelong passion. Having started her career in 2002 at the bank’s contact centre on the Central Coast, just north of Sydney, she has spent much of her time listening and talking to customers. Now a customer journey expert, Brooke is active in monitoring customer behaviour and sentiment as well as the bank’s product performance, while driving and delivering change for customers.

One product that has particularly caught her attention over the years is orange everyday. After being involved from its inception in 2007, Brooke has stayed close to improvements over the years. One standout is ‘everyday round-up’. A novel idea that allows customers to round up their card purchases and directly donate that money to either a nominated charity or simply have that money deposited into their savings account or home loan.

It is particularly handy given the difficulty these days in finding money for a charitable donation or just saving for a rainy day.

A nice surprise when customers check their balances

“With everyday round-up, customers love that it is ‘instant savings’ that they don’t have to think about,” explains Brooke. “They always get a nice surprise when they check their balances. They can save what effectively is their loose change every time they tap their card without being pushed over their budget.”

Rounding-up to donate to charity

Introduced in 2017, everyday round-up gives Australians the option of rounding up eligible card purchases to the nearest one or five dollars. The round up to charity feature was introduced six years later after research was undertaken to understand the social causes that were most important to ING customers.

“Within each social cause category, customers told us they want some range and choice.Just as society continues to evolve, the charity list might evolve too,” says Brooke.

What Brooke personally enjoys about everyday round-up

“I enjoy that we’re supporting customers to reach their savings goals or paying off their home loan faster, without putting too much pressure on them with a minimum amount that may not be affordable. The new round up to charity feature also allows customers to support a range of worthwhile causes, on a daily basis.”

Everyday round up originally started in ING in Poland in 2013 and has been introduced in other ING countries including Romania and the Netherlands.

About Brooke

Brooke holds diplomas in Project Management, Customer Experience, Frontline Management and Hotel Management. Before joining ING, she worked at Novotel Sydney on Darling Harbour as a Front Office Team Leader through the Sydney 2000 Olympics which was an exciting time. She loves holidaying overseas with her family and checking out new restaurants with friends. Brooke lives with her husband and three children and enjoys cake decorating, a passion she’s built into a side-hustle over the last 13 years.