TO BUSINESS EDITORS:

  Stemming Account Attrition Helps Generate 400% Return on Investment in Six
                                 Months' Time

BILLERICA, Mass., Dec. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE: HHS), a worldwide, direct and targeted marketing company, today announced that Fifth Third Bank, a diversified financial services company, has been named as a recipient of the third annual 1to1 Innovator Awards presented by Peppers & Rogers Group. Fifth Third was selected for its vision, focused approach and success in implementing customer-based business strategies using Harte-Hanks Allink(R) Daily Deposit Builder (Allink DDB) solution. Fifth Third Bank, located in Cincinnati, OH, is one of only 14 companies being honored out of more than 70 entries submitted.

The 1to1 Innovator Awards honor companies that have set in motion outstanding customer-driven solutions for their businesses. The panel of 19 judges, consisting of leading CRM [customer relationship management] luminaries, selected Fifth Third Bank for its proactive approach to customer service and support and for its use of Harte-Hanks Allink DDB solution to lower account closures and diminish account attrition.

"Fifth Third recognized that it was much easier and more profitable to retain and up-sell existing customers than to acquire new customers," said Gary Skidmore, corporate officer and senior vice president, Harte-Hanks, Inc. "In just six month's time leveraging the Allink Daily Deposit Builder solution, ROI on the initiative is 400 percent including investments in technology, training and opportunity costs."

Allink DDB has been rolled out to more than 900 Fifth Third Bank locations where it is used to spot account anomalies. Once noted and alerted, customer service representatives or branch officials can contact the account holder and conduct a service call to determine if there is a problem that needs to be corrected or an opportunity to provide further services. Through the use of this program, overall customer attrition has been reduced by 25% as measured by improvement in historic retention rates. Other results include: -- New account attrition cut by 50% -- Household attrition cut by 31% -- Generated additional $16 million in deposits/investments -- Implementation of a Web-based lead distribution system increased leads called from 60% to 91%

"Maintaining and growing customer relationships is a core competency at Fifth Third," said John Zugschwert, vice president and database research manager, Fifth Third Bank. "The Harte-Hanks system enables us to do what we do best: provide excellent service to our valued customers. It is gratifying that Peppers and Rogers Group has recognized our focus on customer service with a 1to1 Innovator Award."

The 2003 1to1 Innovator Awards winners and their stories are featured in the December issue of 1to1 Magazine and on Peppers and Rogers Group's Web site, www.1to1.com.

About Peppers & Rogers Group

Peppers & Rogers Group is a management consulting firm recognized as the world's leading authority on customer-based business strategy. Founded in 1993 by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, Ph.D., the firm is dedicated to helping companies compete and win by identifying differences within their customer base, and using that insight to maximize the value of each and every customer relationship. Led by 1to1(R) Magazine, Peppers & Rogers Group's independent media division extends its thought leadership and client experience to more than 250,000 readers every week, through a broad array of print, interactive and custom publications. Peppers & Rogers Group is a Carlson Marketing Group company, with headquarters in Norwalk, Connecticut. www.1to1.com

About Harte-Hanks, Inc.

Harte-Hanks, Inc., San Antonio, TX, is a worldwide, direct and targeted marketing company that provides direct marketing services and shopper advertising opportunities to a wide range of local, regional, national and international consumer and business-to-business marketers. Harte-Hanks Direct Marketing improves the return on its clients' marketing investment with a range of services organized around five solution points: Construct and update the database -- Access the data -- Analyze the data -- Apply the knowledge -- Execute the programs. Visit the Harte-Hanks Web site at http://www.harte-hanks.com or call (.

Harte-Hanks, the Harte-Hanks logo, Allink and Trillium Software are registered trademarks of Harte-Hanks, Inc.

Media Contacts: Chet Dalzell, Harte-Hanks (

     Michelle Boockoff-Bajdek, Harte-Hanks
     
     

     Brenda Menard, Horn Group, Inc.
     
     

SOURCE  Harte-Hanks, Inc.