KeyBank · Strategy · Senior · 45 to 60 minutes

Which Existing Customers Should KeyBank Back?

KeyBank is a US bank that serves consumers, small businesses, and commercial clients. Answer this product management case and get it graded line by line against a weighted rubric.

Strategic framing
Segmentation
Market sizing judgment
Prioritization
Executive communication

The situation

The head of business banking strategy at KeyBank has asked you for a recommendation ahead of the next planning cycle. Leadership wants growth from the existing customer base, not a broad expansion, but there is no agreement on where the next strategic focus should be. Some leaders want to deepen relationships with larger business clients, others want to simplify and scale what KeyBank already offers to a broad set of businesses, and others believe a more narrowly defined customer group inside the current base may offer better long term returns. Why now: KeyBank cannot give equal product, service, and sales attention to every customer group, and the wrong choice could lock in cost, risk, and operating complexity for years. The hard part is that attractive segments can look very different depending on whether you optimize for revenue per account, total market size, service economics, customer needs, or competitive fit. Your task is to recommend which customer segment inside KeyBank's existing customer base should get priority, what kind of offer and service model that segment would need, and how to sequence the bet without assuming new facts that are not in the prompt.

What to produce

A 2 page strategy memo.

Your answer must

Define one primary target segment within KeyBank's existing customer base and explain why it should be prioritized over at least two credible alternatives.
Assess the segment using clear criteria, such as customer need, aggregate value, fit with KeyBank, likely economics, and competitive intensity.
Describe the offer and service model principles that would fit that segment's size and needs, without relying on invented facts about current products.
Lay out a 12 to 24 month sequencing plan, including first moves, capabilities needed, and second order effects on other customer groups or teams.
Identify the biggest risks or assumptions and propose how KeyBank could test them early.
Name 3 to 5 success metrics that would show whether the strategy is working.

Constraints

Base your reasoning only on the summary and takeaways provided, plus general business judgment, do not present made up facts about KeyBank as real.
Your recommendation must focus on growth from the existing customer base, not a new geography, major acquisition, or entirely new business line.
You must choose one primary segment to prioritize, not a serve everyone strategy.
Keep the recommendation at strategy level, not a feature roadmap.

Format

Use sections with headers: segment choice, why this segment, offer principles, sequencing, risks, metrics.

How KeyBank actually played it

Describes how KeyBank saw an opportunity in small and mid-sized business owners that larger banks dismissed, and designed a strategy to serve them. It is framed as an example of using strategy to find value others ignore.

Overlooked segments can be big in total
Fit the offer to the segment's size and needs
Strategy starts with who you choose to serve

Built from The Hidden $2 Trillion Opportunity KeyBank Discovered In Its Existing Customer Base by Michael Goitein (Product Strategy Decoded).