When it comes to financial transactions, consumers want enhanced services that are easy to use. Credit unions that meet this expectation have the potential to build strong member relationships that can translate into improved financial performance across a range of measures. But offering products and services is one thing; educating members about the availability of a full range of offerings is another. And that’s what this week on CreditUnions.com is all about marrying marketing and technology.
To kick off the week, analyst Sam Taft analyzed the performance of credit unions with less than $100 million in assets that also offer a range of technological options such as mobile banking, remote deposit capture, electronic signature authentication, electronic bill pay, and electronic applications for membership, loans, and share accounts. In 5 Graphs That Show How Technology Offers A Competitive Advantage, Taft compares this core group against similarly sized credit unions without the technology bent as well as credit unions with $100-$250 million in assets. Interestingly, credit unions with strong technology offerings post averages that outperform not only their asset-based peers but also, at times, their larger peers. Read more today.
The members at Tennessee’s Leaders Credit Union represent a demographic mix typical of any Mid-South America region. Despite the many ways in which it is a typical credit union, however, Leaders’ marketing is notably high-tech in both its research and delivery. For example, the credit union promises the ability to open an account online in 10 minutes, using one click from a homepage that is heavy on simple functionality and light on the bells and whistles. It also offers self-made mobile lending apps, responsive websites, and robust online alerts functions and promotional messaging prompts. In this Q&A, Josh McAfee, Leaders’ vice president of marketing, offers a deep-dive look at how the credit union operates. Read Leaders Credit Union Takes The Lead In Digital Innovation to learn more.
Deep diving into data is an art and a science at Charlotte Metro Credit Union, where The Matrix cuts Big Data down to size. That’s the Cooper-Leavell Matrix, devised by Paul Leavell, senior marketing analyst, and David Cooper, the credit union’s vice president of information systems, as a way to define what they can and can’t do with the vast, shifting stores of bits and bytes now known as Big Data. The matrix matches the data’s accessibility with the credit union’s ability to analyze. Conceptually, it divides data into Big Data, Middle Data, and Little Data. In action, it drives creative, tightly targeted marketing strategies that have yielded strong member response and positive ROI.
The matrix was devised to be perfectly scalable, Leavell says. Big Data for us is different from Big Data for Navy Federal. But for either, the moment you’re able to acquire the data and analyze it, it moves from Big Data to Little Data.
Learn more about the matrix and how any credit union can compartmentalize its own data in How Charlotte Metro’s Matrix Makes Big Data Byte Size. Then, head over to the Connect Center on CreditUnions.com to register for a 30-minute webinar about Little, Middle, and Big Data presented by Callahan & Associates and Paul Leavell. Register today.
Attracting and retaining young members has for some time been a brass ring in the credit union industry. The average member age for credit unions nationwide is 48. At 39, the average member age at Altra Credit Union is nearly a full decade younger. How did the Wisconsin-based cooperative achieve that? It struck up marketing partnerships with colleges and sponsored financial literacy programs as well as events and sports teams at local high schools. It offers youth certificates, student loans, and branded student credit cards as well as home-buying programs and products and services aimed at an older set.
We need to stay in front of the members as they transition through life stages, says Mary Isaacs, Altra’s executive vice president and chief financial officer. We need their family relationships, their student loans, their business loans.
Learn more about how Altra uses mobile technology to promote products in How Altra Credit Union Targets Young Members Through Mobile.
When First Tech Federal Credit Union’s Net Promote Score began to drop after its 2011 merger with Addison Avenue Credit Union, the credit union’s chief retail and marketing officer, Stephen Owen, dug into the data and discovered the credit union’s contact strategies post-merger had not kept pace with its rapid membership growth. So starting in late 2014, First Tech’s 12-person marketing team launched a series of largely digital campaigns that include customized member savings report, a 30-day email onboarding program, a member path that tracks engagement and defines messaging, and automated email blasts based on member behavior.
To date, the onboarding pilot has helped the credit union increase its Net Promoter Score by 11%, according to Owen. Read about First Tech’s efforts to provide intelligent, targeted, digital messaging in an online-first world on 4 Ways To Win The War Of The Inbox.
Happy Reading.
