The solution isn’t to play the same game. It’s to play a smarter one.

Today’s consumers are not just applicants — they’re shoppers. They explore rates, test scenarios, and self-educate long before they decide to apply. And that means credit unions must shift focus from just capturing applications to creating smart, helpful experiences that guide members earlier in their journey.

The New First Impression

A member’s first interaction with your institution might not be with a loan officer or even a rate table. It might be with a calculator.

But not just any calculator.

Smart financial calculators are evolving beyond simple math tools. They serve as interactive guides, helping users explore their financial options in a personalized and transparent way — whether they’re evaluating a home equity line of credit, comparing auto loan payments, or exploring retirement savings goals.

And when done well, these tools do more than inform. They convert passive visitors into engaged shoppers by building confidence and helping them see what’s possible.

Intent Over Applications

Big banks are optimized for throughput: take in as many applications as possible, filter later.

Credit unions, by contrast, have an opportunity to focus on intent. Smart calculators help surface that intent — providing early signals that reveal not only what someone is interested in, but why.

For example, a visitor entering a specific debt amount into a HELOC payoff calculator may be exploring consolidation. Someone adjusting savings inputs repeatedly might be concerned about emergency funds. These behaviors offer clues that can inform how and when to engage.

Rather than rely solely on traditional lead forms or applications, credit unions can use these data points to provide more meaningful follow-ups, relevant offers, or timely nudges — without overwhelming the member.

Turning Digital Interactions Into Strategy

Embedding smart calculators across a website or campaign allows credit unions to understand what prospective members are trying to solve while offering real-time, branded guidance without requiring a login or application.

This approach captures voluntary data at key moments when trust is high and the member is invested, improving conversion quality by letting intent and interaction shape the path forward. In short, these tools create a two-way conversation online, bridging the gap between awareness and application.

Building A Smarter Funnel

Credit unions often rely on application portals that are detached from the browsing experience. Smart calculators help bridge that gap, acting as front-end tools that not only educate but feed into the broader sales and service process.

By embedding calculators into landing pages, product pages, and even outbound campaigns, institutions can guide users through product exploration in a frictionless way. This shortens decision-making time by helping members self-qualify while positioning themselves as a trusted source of advice, not just a lender.

In a world where financial decisions are increasingly made online, this kind of guided experience builds both confidence and loyalty.

Competing With Scale, Not Size

Community financial institutions might not have the budgets or tech stacks of national banks, but they do have the opportunity to be more personal, more helpful, and more intentional in how they connect with potential borrowers.

That means bringing in digital tools that reflect those strengths — tools that are simple to use, transparent in their design, and focused on helping the member, not just capturing their data.

Smart calculators are one of the most accessible ways to make that shift. They don’t require a core conversion or massive budget, but they can have an outsized impact on how effectively your digital channels engage and convert.

A New Way Forward

As credit unions look to grow membership and deepen relationships, it’s not enough to wait for applications. Winning the digital game means being present earlier — when members are still exploring, still unsure, still deciding.

With the right tools in place, institutions can turn casual visitors into confident shoppers — and ultimately, long-term members.

Sponsored by Appli — Smart Financial Calculators for Credit Unions and Community Banks.

Learn More

The post From Applicants To Shoppers: Using Smart Interactions To Understand Intent And Drive Conversions appeared first on CreditUnions.com.

The chances are unlikely because credit unions have a new front door: Their online brand presence.

Brick-and-mortar locations have historically served as the primary way members and potential members learned what the credit union was all about. For marketers, controlling the credit union’s image and ensuring consistency across locations was a finite endeavor.

Then the internet entered the game, and corporate websites became the new front door. Again, though, marketers had a single focal point to consider. Images, selling points for products and services, contact information, and more all lived in one location.

Today, social media and ever-evolving search engine optimization (SEO) standards are changing the whole concept of brand management. Gone are the days when marketers were in complete control. ContentMiddleAd

Members as well as strangers now influence the way potential members interact with credit unions. When someone has a negative experience with a loan officer, they go on Facebook and complain about the interaction. It doesn’t matter if the poster’s gripe is legitimate it’s out there for the world to see. So, too, is other content and images that credit unions have not posted or approved.

I often use Yelp to research local businesses. For my role as director of marketing and engagement at Callahan & Associates, I recently searched banks with free checking. It’s a common enough search phrase and I wanted to see how credit unions fared in the results.

Check out my search results.

Even with little information, the star ratings and reviews tell people a lot about these institutions. These at-a-glance snapshots help searchers decide what they want to learn more about.

Reviews make up approximately 13% of the Google search algorithm. Reviews help search engines determine what results to return and are a major consideration for potential members. Reviews mean credibility and credibility is everything especially when it comes to financial services.

But, there are a lot of financial institutions in Frederick, MD. And many are missing from this search result. Why is that?

Most multi-location companies set up an online presence under their corporate headquarters. In this case, Google wouldn’t list a Frederick branch for a credit union based in Columbia, MD, with Facebook, Google, Yelp, etc. pages attached to the Columbia address. Google might not know that Frederick branch location exists. Or, Google might have found an unclaimed listing page for Frederick, but that page does not contain enough consistent information with the corporate pages to deem the branch page a legitimate business.

The problem with this is members are looking locally.

If websites, social accounts, and listing pages only reflect a credit union’s corporate branch, how will members find other branch locations?

The short answer is: They won’t.

A better answer is: They won’t until the credit union builds a local presence for each branch on every social media and search engine outlet.

In many cases, those outlets have already created pages for local locations. These pages exist, unclaimed, on the internet. Unclaimed listings appear real to members. These outlets can review the credit union, allow members to check in, and even provide false hours. This is a real reputational threat.

To further illustrate, the below Facebook results for Congressional Bank are all unofficial pages.

Congressional Bank has not claimed these pages and has no control over their content and images.

A savvy potential customer might recognize these pages are unclaimed and question their validity. But they’d have to be pretty savvy. Even on pages like this, negative images and reviews will still do damage.

So, how do credit unions take control? How do marketers manage the brand of the new front door?

By using these five steps:

1. Search the major providers Facebook, Yelp, Google, and Yellow Pages for the credit union’s name. Look for rogue pages. They can be difficult to find.
2. Once you find those rogue pages, claim those listing pages. You might be surprised to learn Google uses sites like the Real Yellow Pages to authenticate locations. This isn’t solely a way to find the pizza delivery number anymore.
3. Add listing pages for the credit union’s remaining locations. You want all your locations to compete locally!
4. Build out listings pages to include photos, accurate NAP (name, address, phone) information, categories, updated office and more. Members and potential members need the most updated information.
5. Develop a review policy internally. Who responds to reviews and when do reviews need to be escalated to management? Remember, members look at responses, so respond to ALL of them.

It’s like the Wild, Wild West out there on the internet, and it is constantly changing.

Getting, and staying, on top of the credit union’s online brand reputation can be time consuming, but it’s worth it in the long run. This is the way to preserve the institution’s brand and ensure when a member opens the front door, they’ll be seeing the best representation.

The post The New Front Door appeared first on CreditUnions.com.

• Element FCU is building on a long record of innovation by offering customized banking portal pages for business members.

• The first business to take advantage of the service was a state agency that wanted specific digital fee payment functionality.

CU QUICK FACTS

ELEMENT FCU
Data as of 06.30.20

HQ: Charleston, WV
ASSETS: $53.3M
MEMBERS: 4,396
BRANCHES:3
12-MO SHARE GROWTH: 57.6%
12-MO LOAN GROWTH: 0.2%
ROA: 0.93%

Element Federal Credit Union($53.3M, Charleston, WV) has launched a simple but effective, and easily replicable, way to better serve its business members: Customizable landing pagesthat serve as a portal into the credit union’s business banking services.

The landing pages feature direct links to credit union contacts, online banking services, e-sign and other forms, and whatever else the SEG might want that Element can provide.

The first business member to take advantage of the new offering is a state agency that already is an enamored user of its portal. The agency is new to business banking at Element and needed a way to digitally handle fees for a new service. It got that when the page went live in July.

They love the portal, says Linda Bodie, Element’s CEO since 1998. It allows them to find everything they need in one place. They were pleasantly surprised at how customized it was and even provided input on the content they wanted.

Element uses a sample landing page to show businesses how they can customize their portals with easily added or deleted links to products and services.

A Record Of Innovation

This is not the first time Element has creatively served members and in doing so differentiated itself from much larger competition. For example, Bodie’s shop then named WV United Federal Credit Union became the first financial institutionto accept checks deposited via iPhone when the $11 million operation nudged out USAA as first to the finish line with mobile RDC in 2009.

Linda Bodie, CEO, Element Federal Credit Union

We were offering electronic check deposits before smartphones were a thing, Bodie says. Members could use a flatbed scanner to scan and send their check image to us for deposit. When the iPhone and app store were invented, we took it to the next level and deployed the world’s first remote deposit capture app.

Having an innovative mindset and competitive spunk and actually trying things are traits that separate us from others, Bodie adds. Small numbers don’t matter; just doing it’ does.

That Was Then, This Was Easy

Although customizable, the business banking portal pages are not tech-intensive.

I think I spent two hours creating and designing the page, Bodie says. It’s just a web page. If you can create a web page, you can do this.

Element already had created custom landing pages for some market segments and SEGs, but the new portals take it to a new level of customization for and engagement with the member.

If you plan to create something like this, definitely involve the business in the planning process, Bodie says. It’s critical to identify their needs, their employees who will be involved in the relationship, and all of the pieces to plug in for the business as well as the credit union.

Dont reinvent the wheel. Get rolling on important initiatives using documents, policies, and templates borrowed from fellow credit unions. Pull them off the shelf and tailor them to your needs. See what we have for you in the Callahan Policy Exchange.

Pushing The Portal Pedal To The Metal

Bodie plans to pitch the portal idea to existing as well as potential business members and SEGs. There are several reasons doing so would benefit members and the cooperative alike.

It’s a great way to keep communication and information simple and well organized for all parties involved, the CEO says. And, it helps us differentiate from others.

Along with simply improving service, that quest for differentiation also helps drive innovation at Element. It might be easier to follow the road muchtraveled, in this case by simply offering a website with the standard links and resources, but that’s not always acceptable at Element.

I look for ways to solve problems and create value, to do things differently and exceed expected norms, Bodie says. After all, if we’re just like everyone else, why would people want to join our credit union?

The post Stand Apart In Business Services appeared first on CreditUnions.com.

Read about the finalists by clicking on the links below.

VINCENT BEZEMER, BACKBASE ASHISH GARG, ELTROPY DREW SIEVERS, HARVEST SAVINGS & WEALTH TECHNOLOGIES

Presented by CreditUnions.com and sponsored by Callahan & Associates, the Innovation Series gives four suppliers 10 minutes to impress a captive audience of credit union decision-makers. Suppliers pitch their cutting-edge solutions. Attendees vote ontheir favorite.

And it continues to grow. The 2018 Innovation Series spotlighted solutions of the Mobile and Lending variety while the 2019 Innovation Series included Mobile, Lending, and Member Experience. This year is no different. The 2020 Innovation Series includesMobile/Digital, Payments, Member Experience, and Business Services & Lending. From vendors large and small, products and services featured in this years Mobile/Digital category are advancing digital banking platforms, goals-based savings solutions,and text functionality.

Top-Level Takeaways

• Bay Federal replaced an array of ancillary software with a single platform in 2015 and gauges member reaction to new digital experiences via daily surveys.

• The credit union upgrades technology when necessary but avoids change for the sake of change.

CU QUICK FACTS

Bay FCU
Data as of 12.31.19

HQ: Capitola, CA
ASSETS: $1.1B
MEMBERS: 78,163
BRANCHES: 7
12-MO SHARE GROWTH: 10.1%
12-MO LOAN GROWTH: 14.0%
ROA: 0.85%

Bay Federal Credit Union($1.1B, Capitola, CA) is four years into a new digital presence that it continually upgrades by listening to the Voice of the Member.

That’s the name of the program the Silicon Valley cooperative uses to gauge how members feel about their cooperative’s website and mobile apps.

Chief experience officer Ryan Cash says the new platform rose from the ashes of its old system in an effort called Project Phoenix, which replaced separate software deployments for money movement, account aggregation, and budgeting tools.

Cash joined the credit union not long after the new platform went live. He’s been overseeing the member experience since as Bay Federal grows functionality and adoption.

Digital transactions now outnumber branch transactions, and mobile usage has quadrupled since the October 2015 launch. Currently, nearly three-fourths of Bay Federal’s 40,000 active online bankers use the mobile apps available in Apple or Google versions.

They don’t care what’s going on behind the scene with all your systems. They just want it all to work and be easy.

We think that’s really good engagement, Cash says.

For their part, members have given the credit union’s apps high scores. On the Apple App Store, which the credit union tracks closely, members have given the app a rating of 4.8.

We’re literally over the hill, maybe 25 miles away, from the Apple campus, Cash says. That app accounts for 90% of our mobile use.

That’s the kind of score the big bank competitors earn for their apps, Cash says. That feedback comes unsolicited, but the credit union also proactively seeks input from end users.

The Voice Of The Member

The credit union’s Voice of the Member program revolves around touchpoint surveys that go out every day to a statistically significant portion of members who had a key interaction with the credit union the past 24 hours. Questions, which focus onease of use, are intended to generate actionable data that Bay Federal can use to understand how members feel about what they’re experiencing through all the delivery channels.

Ryan Cash, Chief Experience Officer, Bay FCU

We try to do two things with that information, Cash says. First, if there’s an issue with an individual member, we seek them out and address the problem. If we’re getting consistently negative feedback about something,we use that information to make design changes. As examples, Cash cited wording that members might find too complicated or digital functions deemed difficult to complete.

The Bay Federal CXO adds that one of the most persistent sources of frustration for members is the hundreds of possible combinations of security and other settings for the multiple web browsers members use for banking.

Working with its platform provider NCR Digital Insight Bay Federal placed a digital button on its website that automatically checks whether the user’s settings are optimized for online banking. That helps members facilitate a fix,whether they do it online themselves or call into the credit union’s contact center for additional guidance.

So, What Now?

Bay Federal is continuing to develop its member experience. Right now, that includes preparing to launch a smartwatch app in the next month. It also is working to integrate card management features into the mobile app.

We have limited experience at this point with that kind of integration, Cash says. This is one the first times we’re really going beyond the standard products decks with our supplier. We’re hopeful about this new direction.

Cash says data flows seamlessly and in real time between its core processor and its digital functions, including mobile and online chat, but work also remains to be done on creating a unified CRM approach.

We have different CRM systems that give us various versions of the contact record, the CXO says. We need something more unified. We’re working on that now and would like use that to go beyond the nuts and bolts into all ourinteractions with members and deepen how they experience different channels.

Let Their Fingers Do The Talking

A senior systems administrator at Bay Federal takes care of internal needs while the credit union’s technology supplier does the heavy lifting in designing and deploying the changes in the digital platform.

4 Tips For Member Experience Digital Happiness

Ryan Cash, chief experience officer at Bay Federal, offers insight into how to manage digital technology from the perspective of the end user.

• Listen to members. You have the ability to track and measure their actions. Let what members are saying and doing guide the credit union.
• Listen, plan, and create. Make sure the credit union has the vision to create the experience it’s trying to cultivate for members.
• Be methodical yet flexible. From a project standpoint, don’t try to fit a round peg into a square hole just because that’s how you thought it should go.
• Listen to others, too. Your vendor partner can do a lot of good things for the credit union. That’s why you selected them in the first place.

Such changes have been many and are driven both by member feedback and technological improvements. Biometrics is a good example of that. Bay Federal first offered retinal scans, which quickly gave way to touch and then facial recognition, the momentit was offered on iPhone, Cash says.

That said, Bay Federal doesn’t leap to offer every new feature that comes along.

We live and breathe this stuff and can get fixated on, say, a new button that comes along that our current platform doesn’t have, Cash says. But, our surveys and app scores are positive and our enrollment is growing, so there’snothing that say our members need or want it. That’s when it’s important to pause and consider how much that change is needed.

Cash has seen what happens when other financial institutions jump on features users aren’t crazy about, such as adding budgeting tools to transaction details. In that case, the app scores of the financial institution dropped because it was underminingthe user experience, Cash says.

The Bay Federal CXO credits his technology provider both for driving and accommodating changes in his shop’s digital offerings, but stresses that the member remains in the driver’s seat. He’s got a tip for how to keep that in mind.

Look at it from the member’s point of view, he says. They don’t care what’s going on behind the scene with all your systems. They just want it all to work and be easy.

Read their stories and

MOBILE/DIGITAL: BACKBASE

Vincent Bezemer, Area VP US West and Canada, Backbase

Describe your innovation.

Vincent Bezemer: Backbase is a digital banking platform that unifies data and functionality from traditional core systems and new fintech players into a seamless, digital customer experience across all lines of businesses (retail, business,commercial, wealth, etc.) and channels (mobile, web, branch, call-center, advisory, etc.).

Our platform allows our customers to adopt, extend or build. For instance; we offer money movement, entitlement, identity & access management, workflow, onboarding, origination, etc. Customers can adopt any of these capabilities or continueto use what they already have or will source. This is both in the initial project and during ongoing operationalization.

We believe that superior digital experiences combined with amazing ROI are essential to staying relevant, and our solution enables financials to rapidly grow their digital business.

What opportunity or challenge does it address?

VB: High level, we help financial institutions with:

1. Delighting their end-customers
2. Enable team members across the enterprise
3. Remove friction between front and mid/back office by digitizing processes like onboarding, origination and self-service.
4. Optionally: Operationalize the platform in a white glove hosting/manage-services offering.

How does it increase member value?

VB: There’s a lot of value to attain from this platform for members; not only delightful experiences but also reducing friction in dealing with the credit union.

We focus on topics like financial well-being, minimizing predatory lending, and using machine learning and artificial intelligence tools to help you understand how products can benefit the member.

In the end, a credit union will have access to the same technology as some of our largest customers, like Citibank, HSBC, RBC, KeyBank, etc. The way it is architected and offered, you can go as deep as you want or your budget allows you to. Weenable you to compete like a national bank!

What differentiates it from competitors?

VB: Two main reasons:

1. Backbase is a private company and not interested in changing strategic course, inclusive of being acquired for the foreseeable future. We will stay independent and truly allow our customers to remain in control of their digital strategy.
2. We built all solutions ourselves, according to one single architecture, all based on open standards. There are no proprietary technologies or generated code that can create a lot of issues in maintenance, security, and flexibility.

   There’s no hodgepodge of technologies that competitors acquired over time. We offer a clean architecture that everyone loves to work with, and you can attain skillful resources in the market quickly.

Watch the Mobile/Digital finalists pitch their leading-edge solutions.

MOBILE/DIGITAL: ELTROPY

Ashish Garg, CEO, Eltropy

Describe your innovation.

Ashish Garg: Eltropy enables credit unions to communicate with members over text messaging in a secure and compliant way. Using Eltropy’s technology within the credit union’s core system Lending, Collections, Sales,Marketing, Contact Center, and other teams can leverage text messaging to increase member engagement and receive relevant member insights via analytics.

What opportunity or challenge does it address?

AG: With Eltropy, credit unions can:

Navigate Complicated Compliance Regulations: Engage directly with members without wasting time tackling regulation. Eltropy closely follows FCC//TCPA and other regulations and adjusts its software features as compliance requirements evolve.

Integrate Seamlessly: Integrate text messaging with existing workflow. Eltropy mirrors the workflow that different departments at credit unions already have in place, so that integration and adoption of text messaging as a new communication channelis seamless.

Increase Engagement & Improve Overall Member Experience: Eltropy’s detailed engagement metrics determine what content is resonating most with member. Eltropy sends an alert immediately after a member clicks on content so credit unions canpromptly follow up on the opportunity.

How does it increase member value?

AG: With Eltropy’s world-class solution, credit unions can engage with members purposefully on their preferred platform texting. Credit unions gain insights needed to compose highly targeted messages and get the most fromtheir member communication.

Credit unions can engage with members across messaging apps such as Text/SMS, iMessage, LINE, WhatsApp, WeChat, etc. Eltropy’s analytics dashboard provides valuable insight so credit unions can reap the benefits of highly targeted communication.

What differentiates this innovation from competitors?

AG: Eltropy is passionate about helping credit unions follow and keep current with strict compliance and security requirements so they can solely focus on growth. Eltropy is also tirelessly committed to serving all credit unions, regardlessof asset size. We provide a one-size-fits-all solution that allows credit unions to deliver continuous innovation and impressive experience for members.

Watch the Mobile/Digital finalists pitch their leading-edge solutions.

MOBILE/DIGITAL: HARVEST SAVINGS & WEALTH TECHNOLOGIES

Drew Sievers, CEO, Harvest Savings & Wealth Technologies

Describe your innovation.

Drew Sievers: Goalkeeper from Harvest Savings & Wealth Technologies is a goals-based, automated savings platform that allows credit union members and bank customers to easily open an unlimited amount of goal accounts with no balanceminimum and no monthly fees. Inside of mobile and online banking, users name their goal, assign it a picture, set a target goal amount, perhaps start the goal with a small deposit, and then set a method for funding, such as smart algorithm or fixedtime-based deposits. Users are notified of their progress along the way, and upon completion, users transfer money back into their traditional checking or savings account.

Goalkeeper is the only hosted goals-based savings solution that runs inside of a credit union’s mobile app or online site. The white-labeled software is easy to implement and customizable per credit union’s branding, enabling credit unionsto deliver an exceptional member experience.

Goalkeeper’s intuitive interface is simple to use, free for credit union members, accessible on any mobile device or desktop, and runs automatically so that people can save money without having to think about it.

What opportunity or challenge does it address?

DS: Credit unions and their members both benefit from Goalkeeper. Members use Goalkeeper to automatically save money for their goals and develop smart savings habits. When it comes to paying off an emergency expense, 40% of Americanscould not come up with $400. Savings apps like Digit or Qapital can help people prepare for financial disruptions, but they cost money and require users to share their precious banking data with a third party.

Since Goalkeeper is conveniently integrated within a credit union’s online portal, members can simply access Goalkeeper when logged into their digital channel of choice, and skip the hassle of downloading and setting up another app. Members remainwithin the secure portal of their credit union, whom they love and trust with their data.

Goalkeeper allows credit unions to deliver their members all the similar benefits and functionality of fintech-powered savings, but for no monthly fee. For credit unions, Goalkeeper helps to improve their member experience, gain member loyalty, retaintheir deposits, and deliver more valuable member relationships.

On average, financial institutions are losing 5% of their deposits each year to micro-savings, micro-investing, and robo investing solutions, and that number is only growing. Goalkeeper enables credit unions to provide the same fintech-powered micro-savingsfeatures to retain deposits that would have otherwise been lost to a micro-savings fintech competitor and significantly lowered their net interest margin.

How does it increase member value?

DS: Credit unions using Goalkeeper can increase member value by gaining insight into their members’ savings activities. Goalkeeper provides credit unions with data they have never had before: member intent. Understanding membergoals and intent is the best way for a credit union to provide real value.

Because Goalkeeper runs within existing digital systems, credit unions know exactly what their members are saving for and when they are close to achieving their goals. This data is extremely valuable, as it gives credit unions the ability to serve theirmembers with additional relevant services based on where they are in their personal financial journey. Credit unions will effectively be able to create a member experience that is personalized, relevant, and timely.

By helping their members create smart savings habits today, Goalkeeper deepens connections between members and their credit unions and makes it easier for members to move upward to their larger financial goals. As members move along their financial journey,the credit union can more easily transition members from savings to wealth or trust offerings and ultimately deliver high-value, cost-effective digital savings and wealth solutions to their entire member base.

What differentiates this innovation from competitors?

DS: Goalkeeper is the only software that can connect to a credit union’s existing systems and enable them to deliver a white-labeled, free, and easy-to-use savings solution to their entire member base. No other B2B technology providershave a similar solution. Competitors of Goalkeeper include fintech micro-savings apps that are competing directly with credit unions and siphoning off their deposits. These nimble upstarts are offering modern features and services outside of a creditunion’s traditional scope of products.

To effectively compete with the direct-to-consumer fintech startups that are taking credit union and bank deposits, progressive financial institutions use Goalkeeper to improve their member experience and deliver more value, increase member loyalty, andhelp their members improve their overall financial wellness.

Watch the Mobile/Digital finalists pitch their leading-edge solutions.

MOBILE/DIGITAL: JACK HENRY & ASSOCIATES

Lee Wetherington, Director Of Strategic Insight, Jack Henry & Associates

Describe your innovation.

Lee Wetherington: The Banno Digital Platform enables credit unions of all sizes to provide personal, member-centered online and mobile experiences. It’s a single platform for a credit union’s complete digital needs, allowinginstitutions to more effectively manage their digital interactions, content, security, data-driven marketing, and more.

The Banno Digital Platform online and mobile apps mirror one another with identical functionality and world-class UX design to create a seamless digital ecosystem. And, the Banno Conversations feature of the platform designed like today’smessaging apps provides secure, encrypted, fully authenticated chat in real time, enabling credit unions to better, more easily serve members at the moment-of-need. This messaging channel translates true live and local personal service intodigital banking for the first time.

Connected directly to the core and integrated natively inside the digital platform, Banno Conversations does not rely on third-party chat solutions that cannot support candid conversations or contextual attachments to resolve problems. And, credit unionsneed not wait for a member to initiate contact; personnel can proactively reach out with customized offers and discussions, creating unlimited possibilities for service, support, marketing, and more.

What opportunity or challenge does it address?

LW: Credit unions have long staked their success on superior service and support; i.e., people helping people. To deliver great member experiences today, credit unions must be able to translate their personal service effectively and meaningfullyinto digital channels in real time. Doing so creates opportunities for credit unions to renew and extend their ability to sell in the context of service and to differentiate themselves against megabanks and big techs that can’t or won’tscale live, local, personal service.

Banno Conversations is a fintech breakthrough because it reverses a 50-year trend of using technology to de-humanize and commoditize banking. Not only does it translate true, live, local, secure, personal service into digital banking for the first time,it bridges branch and digital strategies literally by porting digital to staffed channels and vice versa.

How does it increase member value?

LW: Digital solutions should empower credit unions to optimize their critical competitive distinctions such as service and trust. Digital is not about eliminating human involvement; it’s about offering convenient tools to more effectivelyhelp members at key moments-of-need. By making the digital experience more personal and meaningful, the Banno Digital Platform is helping make credit unions go beyond delivering a superior UX.

Our platform allows credit unions to better know their members’ personal preferences and recognize and support their needs as they happen. This enables credit unions to be more personal, proactive, and authentic within the digitalchannel, restoring their ability to meaningfully engage with members and to sell in the context of service.

This is possible because the Banno Digital Platform provides credit unions with a comprehensive view of users including account details, recent transactions, transaction search, notifications, and more. It equips credit union employees with amodern back-office tool to build empathy for each member situation and have a quicker resolution of the need. It’s the perfect blend of digital technology and human support seamlessly woven together.

What differentiates this innovation from competitors?

LW: The Banno Digital Platform features Banno People and Banno Support which are beautifully designed, 100% API-enabled backend administration consoles. These tools consolidate feeds from disparate systems, givingcredit union staff a single view of the member’s history and activity, as well as the means to answer and resolve member questions and concerns without having to log in to numerous, separate applications.

Because Banno People and Banno Support are fully API-enabled, the credit union has the option to integrate the back-ends of other third parties or fintech partners of choice in the future so that supporting members and providingsuperior personal service and front-end UX are not compromised by the complexity or number of partnerships and integrations the credit union implements in the future.

The Banno Digital Platform is also completely open giving credit unions the option to open or publish the platform’s APIs on their own websites (for consumption or integration by third parties and fintech partners of choice). This type ofopen strategy helps credit unions innovate within the unique needs of their community while getting new products and services to market faster than ever.

Watch the Mobile/Digital finalists pitch their leading-edge solutions.

All interviews have been edited and condensed.

Read more about other Innovation Series finalists by clicking on the links below.

The post Member Experience Drives Digital Dealings At Bay Federal appeared first on CreditUnions.com.

• The user experience begins by answering questions about financial goals. That begins a matching process to products and services.

• After a mid-2018 launch, refinements are now focusing on making the mobile app where most prospective members initially engage more balanced between form and function.

CU QUICK FACTS

Patelco Credit Union
Data as of 03.31.19

HQ: Pleasanton, CA
ASSETS: $6.9B
MEMBERS: 350,055
BRANCHES: 37
12-MO SHARE GROWTH: 9.1%
12-MO LOAN GROWTH: 13.4%
ROA: 0.95%

Patelco Credit Union ($6.9B, Pleasanton, CA) is a year into its new digital presence, built around helping members map their credit union journey by matching financial products to financial wellness.

The big idea is to provide a needs-based user experience that allows members and prospects to choose a guided experience tied to their goals, such as paying for an education or a home.

The home page journey begins by filling in the blanks to an I want statement that then directs the user to loans and saving products, along with calculators and educational information and the ability to talk or text with a member service representative.

Elaine Hamann, Vice President of Digital Delivery, Patelco Credit Union

This holistic approach to member engagement is building on a record of strong metrics such as 2.33 share accounts per member (the average for all 5,451 credit unions in the U.S. is 1.91) and an average member relationship of $31,805, compared to the national average of $19,156.

That’s in addition to a score of 93.20 out of 100 in Callahan’s Return of the Member (ROM) index that measures the value a cooperative returns to its member-owners.

Now the big California credit union is polishing its presence. We’re working right now on changing our mobile template, says Elaine Hamann, Patelco’s vice president of digital delivery. It’s all an iterative approach for us. We’re in a continuous assess and iterate’ mode.

Here, Hamann provides the soup-to-nuts story on Patelco’s innovative digital financial service and wellness strategy.

Let’s begin by asking: What’s the driving philosophy, the ultimate strategy, behind digital delivery at Patelco?

Elaine Hamann: We want to make the overall experience easier. We want to fuel progress towards financial health. And we want to show and tell how we’re all in this together.

How do you define digital delivery at Patelco and how does your website fit into that?

EH: It’s about supporting the entire member lifecycle and delivering our products and services through the online channel from acquisition to new member and new account onboarding to service and ongoing member engagement and participation. Think of it as the ability to effectively acquire and support members where we don’t have physical branches.

Our website is the digital face of our brand, and its primary role is to demonstrate our commitment to helping our members build their financial health and well-being, and how we put our members’ interests first in the products, services, and educational resources we provide to do that.

Our online banking site is where our current members engage the most to manage their day-to-day financial needs. Prospective members are a primary intended audience of our mobile presence.

Please describe the strategic planning process as a continuing effort in regard to digital banking at Patelco.

EH: Think of it as a formula: Patelco corporate goals + internal partner priorities + online banking platform vendor roadmap = strategic planning process. Our partnership with our online banking vendor is part of our intentional strategy on how we remain competitive with our online banking services. They have an innovation roadmap for desktop and mobile capabilities.

Please describe the design, and how it ties financial wellness and goals to products and services.

EH: The user experience and content strategy work together to optimize the experience for both direct and guided (needs-based) paths to Patelco solutions. We intentionally designed the guides to enable exploration of our products and services based on prospects’ and members’ needs through what we call the I want to module. We also offer direct paths to that information.

Both the home page and our Explore Services menus support this dual path. The guided experience takes the user through a brief assessment quiz and based on the user’s results, highlight relevant solutions to his or her situation.

For example, if users indicate they want to buy a car, they’re presented with a brief quiz and provided with results that tells them how much they can afford and the relevant Patelco solutions to meet that need.

From this web page, Patelco members can go directly to a product or service, or they can explore based on their personal objectives and goals.

How do you measure success with your website, and what metrics matter most?

EH: Membership growth, deepening participation in solutions and services, satisfaction, with the end goal of increasing members’ financial health and well-being.

All the other goals feed into this outcome for us. We want to bring more people to membership, where they have access to the services and solutions designed to help them achieve financial health and well-being.

Please describe how you integrate the user experience to be the same as possible on laptop, desktop, mobile app, and tablet.

EH: For the website, it’s a mobile responsive design so users get a consistent experience across device types. The mobile app, naturally, has its own app-based experience.

The Snapshot feature on Patelco’s mobile app provides a view-only look at balances and pending transactions without the need to log in.

What have you learned since you launched the new website?

EH: First, the importance of the mobile experience for prospects. More than 60% of our prospects arrive at our site through their mobile device. We’ve learned that there’s a delicate balance between supporting a visual design that focuses on high-impact images and making a human connection and web usability.

To put it tactically, the images take up a lot of space. As much as some say focusing on above the fold is less important in a mobile web experience because people on their phones are used to scrolling, our heatmap analytics are saying differently. So we have more work to do with optimizing the responsive experience for mobile.

For existing members, they’re more OK that the login fields are so prominent in the mobile view of Patelco.org as logging in for online banking is their primary objective. But it’s not optimal for a prospect experience.

How did you get that feedback?

EH: With a combination of site analytics tools, site search user analysis, and user feedback collected through ForeSee’s feedback survey.

What specific changes have you made as a result, and why?

EH: We’re working right now on changing our mobile template. It’s all an iterative approach for us. We’re in a continuous assess and iterate mode.

What third-party partners have you used in this digital journey?

EH: We use Alkami’s digital banking platform. We also work with Financial Health Network (formerly CFSi) on financial wellness.

Also From Patelco:

• How A New CEO Watered The Garden And Watched Her Credit Union Bloom

• Better Hires, A Glassdoor Strategy In California

• How To Succeed In Wellness Programs

What would be a few bulletable best practices/lessons learned/pieces of advice that you can share with other credit unions considering adopting a similar strategy for their digital presence?

EH: Let’s divide it up this way:

• Measurement and analytics. Define your success metrics upfront and make sure you include and implement your digital analytics and measurement plan as part of the project scope. Know what you need to tag and track, and who’s going to create the dashboards and other responsibilities.
• User-centric approach to design strategy and testing. Build in time and budget to test along the way. Resist being heavily influenced by internal design feedback. Everyone internal is unconsciously biased. Test with your target audience (prospects, existing members, etc.). Start with testing the redesign concepts and progress to deeper, more tactical levels of user testing as you progress in the redesign work. Test nomenclature, navigation, top user tasks, and journeys.
• Ongoing maintenance and governance. As part of our re-design, we converted from an inefficient, home-grown website to a new CMS platform. Working with a CMS was new for our internal teams and we had a skills gap with working on the new platform. Additionally, having a CMS changes your governance model as you can choose to fully decentralize content management to different parts of your organization. But just because you can doesn’t mean your stakeholders want that new accountability, because it includes being trained and potentially changing how they work today.
  Bottom line: plan upfront for who will be maintaining the new site, and how they’ll do it, and work through your governance model.

This email interview has been edited and condensed.

The post How Patelco Matches Digital Design To Financial Goals appeared first on CreditUnions.com.

Our member helped us understand the problem and helped us work toward the right solution, says Mark Michaels, the credit union’s senior vice president and chief technology officer.

San Francisco FCU member Marco Salsiccia and potential member Scott Blanks filed suit when the credit union’s post-redesign online application form wouldn’t work with screen reader software. To remedy this, the credit union worked with the non-profit group Disability Rights Advocates to ensure its website, online banking services, and mobile apps were accessible to people who are blind or otherwise visually impaired.

Clearly contrasting text and background colors help bring the current San Francisco FCU website into compliance with accessibility standards.

Now, the credit union makes regular changes to ensure updated pages remain visible and accessible to all members.

This is important in keeping San Francisco FCU in line with the public accommodation requirements for websites outlined in the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Since the 2010 passage of the current website accessibility law, more than 240 lawsuits have been filed, according to a February 2017 article in the ABA Banking Journal. Today, slight changes ? such as incorporating sharp contrast between type and background color ? can make a significant difference in whether a member can use their credit union’s website.

We’re trying to take the lead on making sure our apps and websites are ADA compliant, Michaels says. We’re trying to be socially responsible and set a good example. It’d be nice if our industry could take the lead on this, too.

Click to see the formal settlement agreement between San Francisco FCU and Disability Rights Advocates.

6 Ways To Test Web Accessibility

Are your credit union’s websites up to snuff? Would you know if they weren’t? The updated Techniques and Failures section of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines is 780 pages.

That’s a lot to keep track of. All of it is wonderful information created by some of the most knowledgeable accessibility folks available, says web accessibility consultant Karl Groves. Unfortunately, it presents a sort of barrier-to-entry for folks who just want to know what they need to know to be more accessible.

Thus, Groves offers this list of six tips that require no web development knowledge. Find abbreviated descriptions here; find full descriptions online.

1. Unplug the mouse and/or turn off the trackpad. Can visitors do everything theye need to do using only the keyboard?
2. Turn on the high contrast mode in Windows. How does the site look? High contrast is a crucial tool for the large number of low vision users.
3. Turn off images. Without visual clues, does the content still make sense? Does the site still function?
4. Check for captions and transcripts. Visual options and cues are necessary alternatives to audio features for hearing-impaired members.
5. Click on label fields. Labels connect to forms, so do cursors direct into the right field? Do buttons or checkboxes select the adjacent option? Compliant sites need a one-to-one relationship between the label and what it controls.
6. Turn off CSS. CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, are the preferred way to visually display page elements. When CSS is turned off, actionable elements such as function buttons still need to visible.

The U.S. Justice Department is not expected to issue formal guidelines for website accessibility until next year. Meanwhile, many organizations already are working to adhere to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines put forth by the World Wide Web Consortium, a move considered to hold legal muster with ADA compliance as it stands now.

Commonly referred to WCAG 2.0, the standards include making all functionality available from a keyboard and ensuring text content is readable and understandable. Another requirement is to make web pages appear and operate in predictable ways.

To do all that, San Francisco FCU relies on its digital banking software supplier, Austin, TX-based Q2, whose executives say they’ve seen numerous demand letters sent to client credit unions and banks.

They tend to be somewhat extortive, says Q2 vice president of product design Anthony Ianniciello. They’re not saying, fix it and we’ll be good.’

Instead, according to Ianniciello, companies tend to reach a monetary settlement to avoid going to trial, but the websites remain largely unchanged.

Credit unions, though, don’t have to face litigation or make sweeping changes to ensure their websites are accessible.

Will Rodgers, Q2’s director of web services, suggests adjusting the main navigation bar at the top of the page to meet contrast ratio guidelines and changing text on buttons to black from white.

Administratively, San Francisco FCU has ceded some control of visual features on its website to Q2 to make site management easier without compromising on user experience or cost.

The old site and new site look similar, Rodgers says. We meet accessibility guidelines but most people don’t even notice. It’s the small minority that notice, the people using assistive technologies.

There’s More Where That Came From

A Callahan Media Suite subscription gets your entire team full access to all of CreditUnions.com’s technology-related articles featuring tips, tricks, and best practices.

The post Tips To Improve Website Accessibility appeared first on CreditUnions.com.

That might be the best antidote to a wave of letters and lawsuits sweeping across the movement over compliance with rules for website accessibility for the visually impaired based on the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Industry stakeholders say hundreds of demand letters have been received, numerous credit unions have settled for amounts ranging from a few thousand to up to $100,000 (typically on the advice of their insurer), and dozens of lawsuits have been filed.

A 10-year-old set of standards known as WCAG 2.0 does exist, but it’s only been upheld by some courts as the standard for public accommodations. ContentMiddleAd

Attorneys are now taking advantage of that ambiguity by suing and settling with companies in multiple industries. In the credit union space, much of the activity originates from a single entity, Pacific Trial Attorneys and its founder Scott Ferrell.

Regulatory Or Legislative

The two most obvious avenues for relief are regulatory and legislative.

We’ve been successful in passing legislation in several states that curbs frivolous ADA lawsuits, says Suzanne Yashewski, regulatory/compliance counsel with the Cornerstone Credit Union League.

Unfortunately, these laws are helpful in state courts only, Yashewski says. At this point, what we need is for Congress to amend the federal statute to protect against frivolous lawsuits. Guidance from the Department of Justice would be extremely helpful but appears to be unlikely in the near future.

Indeed, optimism that the DOJ would finalize rules it had first put forth in 2010 faded in December when the DOJ officially withdrew its Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for website accessibility.

Congressional efforts also appear stalled, according to Credit Union Times coverage of a recent hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Looking for guidance? Check out these links for more info on the ADA website issue:

• Kaufman & Canoles webinar with MD/DC Credit Union Association and CUNA Mutual.
• NAFCU’s FAQ for targeted credit unions.
• Dan Berger’s demand letter of Jan. 17, 2018.
• CUNA’s ADA website accessibility page.

That leaves credit unions trying to follow rules that don’t yet actually exist in an atmosphere of growing uncertainty.

DOJ needs to implement requirements that credit unions can use as a benchmark, says John Bley, president and CEO of Compliance Services Group in Olympia, WA, and a former Washington state regulator.

Credit unions are working to make their websites and apps accessible, Bley says, but for now they’re just doing the best they can through best practices to abide by rules that don’t yet exist.

There’s a double-edged sword here, as noted by another credit union attorney, Katherine Weber of The Weber Law firm in suburban Philadelphia.

It’s not a matter of trying to escape compliance, she says. Credit unions are hesitant to execute on a major, costly website overhaul before knowing what the regulatory requirements will be. Unfortunately, this hesitation has made credit unions vulnerable to the risk of lawsuits.

Andy Keeney of the Virginia-based Kaufman & Canoles law firm knows that vulnerability well. He’s helping with three of the lawsuits that have been filed in his home state.

In 40 years of representing credit unions I’ve seen very, very few lawsuits against them, he says. The whole ADA situation is unique and most troubling to credit unions.;

Fighting Back

One way credit unions are responding is by asking Pacific Trial Attorneys to stop sending its demand letters. NAFCU president and CEO Dan Berger sent one such missive this week. The letter challenges the legitimacy of the complaints, including whether the complainants have actually been affected by the websites involved or even have standing to successfully sue, since they might not be members or even eligible to join the targeted credit union.

The Pennsylvania Credit Union Association also sent Ferrell a cease-and-desist letter, noting the same sort of issues and stressing that the PCUA membership supports accessibility.

In fact, many (PCUA credit unions) already have taken steps to implement measures that will greatly improve and enhance the accessibility of their websites, the letter says.

Informing credit unions is another response. CUNA reports a webinar it is hosting this week is filled to capacity and the big trade group has added a breakout session on the threats during the GAC on Monday, Feb. 26.

How To Make Your Website Visually Accessible

Whether opportunistic legal eagles are circling or not, credit unions can take action to make their websites more accessible to the visually impaired.

Here’s what CUNA Mutual says: Credit unions should conduct a thorough risk assessment of websites and mobile applications to identify any accessibility issues. Some common barriers are incompatibility with speech recognition or screen reading software; lack of text-based alternatives to media content; poor color contrast or small text size; and transaction timing requirements that do not take into account intellectual disabilities.

one California credit union did just that in Tips To Improve Website Accessibility.

Mike Wishnow, the PCUA’s senior vice president of marketing and communications, says approximately 55 of the league’s 390 or so credit unions have been contacted, and they’re not alone.

We find ourselves on the same side of the fence with our banking friends, he says.

Although Wishnow recognizes the federal government is following through on promises to roll back regulations that make doing business more difficult, he says more regulation is better in this case.

Examination Help

Examiners also might prove to be a friend. Bley credits Washington state’s lead regulator Linda Jekel for making websites an examination priority for state-chartered credit unions there.

As a result, I think there will be fewer chances of claims against Washington credit unions and plaintiff lawyers specializing in these claims will find more fertile ground elsewhere, Bley says.

Indeed, they might even plow some of the same earth. Without legislative or regulatory clarifications, credit unions that have already settled once might hear again from other firms copying Pacific Trial Attorneys’ success. Keeney sees that happening.

If this feels like d j vu, the ADA websites do sound much like the ATM disclosure sticker situation of a few years ago, when opportunistic trollers made hay before Congress acted. But there are some key differences.

To some degree, ADA website accessibility concerns are more significant, says Brian Godwin, interim CEO at PolicyWorks in Des Moines, IA. He says ATM fee claims were based on exploiting a clear rule within Regulation E. That’s not the case here.

The website accessibility concerns are based on a rule that does not technically apply to credit unions, making them much more subjective, Godwin says.

The post Can We Get Some Help Here? appeared first on CreditUnions.com.

And I did just that.

Am I Eligible To Join?

You’d think finding this information would be easy, but it wasn’t. The general membership requirements most credit unions use live, work, worship, or attend school in a certain geographic area were easy to find. But when membershipis more nuanced, I found some credit unions do not make eligibility easy to determine.

The average attention span in 2015 was 8.25 seconds

Three of the eight credit unions I considered use census tracts to determine fields of membership, but my census tract was not easy to find on two of the credit union sites. In these cases, I visited the American Fact Finderthrough the U.S. Census Bureau’s website and looked through census tract maps to determine if I was eligible for membership. It took me approximately 20 minutes to sift through the maps on the websiteand select the right data to determine my membership eligibility.

One of the credit unions that used tract data listed all the qualifying tracts in a drop down menu and left it up to me to go to a government geographic data maptofind out my census tract numbers. I then had to cross reference my result with the drop-down menu.

Although other credit union sites I visited didn’t require me to be a professional geographer, some were still unclear about membership requirements and required me to browse several tabs just to discover I was NOT eligible.

Who’s going to go through all that? Not this millennial. And not my boomer senior writer, either, he points out.

According to StatisticBrain.comthe average attention span in 2015 was 8.25 seconds. It took 20 minutes to figure out my membership eligibility. Do you see theproblem?

The Right Idea

I went to greater lengths than I normally would to find eligibility information. In reality, and not for the sake of an assignment, I would have moved on to a more convenient financial institution.

But there is one institution that does an excellent job in its display of census tract data. South Carolina Federal Credit Union($1.2B, North Charleston, SC)provides an interactive mapthat shades the eligible areas in a blue hue. This is how credit unions need to displaytheir membership eligibility data.

Yet, I still have a complaint. There is important information for potential members that isn’t effectively highlighted. For example, to get to the map, I had to click on a tiny qualify link at the bottom of the membership page. Thatshould be at the top of the page and in bold font. Better yet, including the map link on the page with the qualifying information would alleviate the need to redirect prospective members.

Overall, the existence of this map puts Carolina FCU ahead of the pack. I can easily determine my membership with two to three clicks of my mouse. The credit union does the work for me, so all I need to do is click to join.

That’s how you’ll hook me and my boomer colleague he’s not that patient, either.

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