Avoka, the leader in digital customer acquisition journeys in banking, announced today that First Tech Federal Credit Union, the nation’s premier credit union serving technology companies, has successfully deployed an omnichannel digital platform, using Avoka Transact to create an enhanced member experience for over 40 of their products. The system was designed to enhance service and efficiency for both existing and prospective members, minimizing the input required from applicants to create a more efficient application process.
The award-winning credit union began an initiative to enhance their member experience when applying for new accounts and services, reduce application abandonment rates, and reduce the amount of time required for members to fill out applications. Internally named “Omnichannel 2.0,” the system uses Avoka Transact – a customer engagement platform, purpose-built for banking customer journeys – to capture customer input and drive opportunities in the Salesforce CRM, while pre-filling customer forms from Salesforce and core systems data to minimize input by members and employees.
Omnichannel 2.0 now supports 47 different account openings, including deposit accounts, home loans, vehicle loans, personal loans, credit cards, and insurance inquiries. First Tech’s Avoka Transact-powered applications allow them to easily deliver omnichannel customer acquisition experiences, which enable credit union members to start a product application in one channel and finish in another, or at a later time, with no information lost and no need for login or password creation.
Application abandonment is a challenge for banks and credit unions trying to sell new products and affects the bottom line; an easy and seamless omnichannel experience for credit union members and bank customers is vital to increase conversion rates and revenue. In the initial weeks after launch, an overall completion rate of 65 percent was achieved, far surpassing industry norms in the range of 20 percent. Additionally, using Avoka’s Insights analytics capability, First Tech measured reductions in the time required for members to complete account opening applications in the range of 50 percent.
“The launch of our omnichannel platform has been transformational for us,” said Mike Upton, chief digital officer at First Tech Federal Credit Union. “The new platform helped enable 2,379 applications from all channels go through one platform in the first week. As a result of the new, frictionless member-centric designed systems our new application completion rate is at 65 percent. Industry studies place completion around 30 percent for deposits, and 10 percent for loan applications – so we are delighted with our results. We could not have achieved this without Avoka Transact.”
“The results speak for themselves; the First Tech application completion rates are at 65 percent, way over the industry average, and the huge time improvements for completing applications, which means more applications are being submitted, are unheard of,” said David Gaydon, general manager, Avoka North America. “As far as we can tell, no community bank or credit union in North America has as many product applications available online as First Tech Credit Union. The credit union is a leader in omnichannel account openings and onboarding and serve as an example to the rest of the financial services industry,” Gaydon added.