A social media ROI success story

Online loan generation tool taps into power of Facebook.

by. Adam Mertz

Tracking the return on investment for social media efforts can be a tricky proposition, marketing professionals acknowledge.

Recently, however, Alliant Credit Union in Chicago documented clear and promising results with an online loan generation tool.

The $8.1 billion asset credit union adopted Shastic’s Calcubot Cloud in November 2013 to align social media and digital efforts with its lending products. Alliant aimed to improve its Facebook engagement metrics, attract younger members, and, of course, generate more loans.

Calcubot offers a branded social media tool that guides prospects through an interactive buying process tailored to a credit union’s loan products.

Consumers can select mortgage and auto loan durations and down payments, set up alerts for interest-rate changes, share estimates with family and friends, and trigger the loan application process.

Alliant, which promotes Calcubot on its website home page and its Facebook page, tracked leads through a promo code that users entered when applying online for a loan.

In the first four months, Alliant’s Calcubot attracted nearly 6,400 visitors, 82% of whom obtained an auto loan estimate. Calcubot drove 478 qualified prospects to Alliant’s online auto loan application, representing a 9.1% conversion rate from interacting with the tool to landing on the loan application page.

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