3 Easy Must Haves to Increase Credit Union Members

In our day-to-day business dealings with credit unions we are often asked, “Now I have this CRM system how do I use it to increase new members?”  My answer is almost always the same:

1. Use the data you already have about your members
2. Start using event triggers
3. Digitally communicate to generate interest

Use the Data You Have

Take the data you have about current members and bring that data together into CRM for a single view of a member. The data may be contained in older legacy computer systems or databases, making it hard to make strategic business decisions. Then, take the member data and group them into lists based on specific user traits. This is called segmentation. Segmentation criteria can be simple.

For example, members that have:

1. Mortgages and/or
2. RESP and/or
3. RRSP and/or
4. Other products

Then, with this data you can do outbound digital campaigns (email, text, social).

Use Event Based Triggers

A way to increase your success is to use event triggers. Never heard of event triggers? Here is an example.

Imagine you are a member of ABC Credit Union. Mom and Dad convinced you to join the same credit Union they have been a member of for your school loan. You are a 28-year-old female and you recently got engaged (congratulations!!). Mom and dad took out a loan to help pay for your wedding. This information was captured by your friendly member care person at ABC Credit Union in their system, to better serve you later.

8 months before your wedding, you receive a friendly email from ABC Credit Union congratulating you on your engagement. They are offering you a session on purchasing your new home and the how-tos for a first-time buyer. Choices are a webinar or face to face event. They also offer you an incentive discount if you attend.

You attend with your fiancé. The presentation is very educational and helpful. You meet your member management representative and really like them. When you go shopping for a new home with a pre-approved mortgage, you know all the right questions to ask thanks to the session. You are so happy your joined the credit Union. Sure beats your experience with the bank J

What did you need to do this?

Use Digital Communications

When you rely on the data that you have, as well as event based triggers, you can set up targeted email campaigns. Here’s what you need:

1. Your data – in the example above, two member records
2. Trigger information – recent activity (or manually entered triggers “engagement”)
3. Digital communication tools – CRM and marketing automation

This may sound like a dream for some Credit Unions. It is much easier and more cost effective than you think.

Contact us today to see how you can do this for your Credit Union.