Is checking account acquisition your credit union’s “holy grail” marketing campaign?

When credit union marketing departments set their growth and member service goals each quarter, they are often faced with a bewildering array of strategic options regarding the product improvements, distribution channel enhancements and campaign ideas that they can pursue to bring those objectives to fruition. But inevitably one reality becomes starkly clear: The wish list of creative tactical campaigns always exceeds the marketing budget, no matter how generous it may be.

That’s why “Can you help us maximize our marketing dollars?” has become a familiar request for our team here at Advisors Plus Marketing Services. In the course of helping credit unions create the kind of multi-faceted programs that optimize marketing dollars, we have also noticed something else: Even the largest, most sophisticated credit union marketing departments are searching for the “Holy Grail”—the one, single campaign idea that will result not only in membership growth and lift in balances but increased member satisfaction as well.

The ONE Campaign Every Credit Union Needs: Checking Account Acquisition

In response to that need Advisors Plus has created that “one, single campaign” and we call it Checking Account Acquisition. The growth success that our credit union clients have experienced over the past year and a half demonstrates the unparalleled power of the humble checking account to:

• Attract and convert new members.
• Create deep, satisfying, “sticky” member relationships.
• Provide the lynchpin for highly effective, long-term onboarding and cross-selling programs.

Research has shown time and again that checking accounts do more to bind individuals to their financial institutions than any other product, including 30-year mortgages. And because of that, Advisors Plus believes that all credit unions should put checking account acquisition efforts at the core of their marketing programs.

The Seven Key Factors that Create a Winning Checking Offer

But just like credit unions differ in size, geography and mission, not all Checking Account Acquisition Campaigns are created equal in terms of the short and long-term results they achieve. Based on our consistent ability to achieve industry-leading results, Advisors Plus Marketing Services believes that the following factors are vital to creating a Checking Account Acquisition Campaign that achieves outstanding growth in membership and balances:

1. Begin with a comprehensive competitive analysis to identify and understand your credit union’s market, its key financial institution competitors, their market shares, their differential strengths and weaknesses and any unique economic or geographic challenges. Such an analysis forms the basis for setting and achieving aggressive but realistic campaign objectives.
2. Utilize cutting-edge predictive analytics to identify and precisely target not only your prospects and but existing members as well who are to receive the offer.
3. Commit to crafting and delivering the most appealing offer possible, ideally a state-of-the art checking product that includes a debit card, direct deposit, and mobile and online banking with remote deposit capture, as well as enrollment in an attractive CURewards® program of redeemable purchase points.
4. Treat the offer itself as a highly visible opportunity to advertise your credit union’s WOW factor by developing an overall look for the mailing that integrates the graphic identity of the direct mail piece with your credit union’s overall branch and digital identity.
5. Create multiple channels for responding to the offer, including branches, contact center and website. Be sure to enable prospects to open accounts directly through the website.
6. Minimize financial risk by partnering with a marketing expert such as Advisors Plus whose expertise and economies of scale allow the campaign to be structured on a “pay-only-for-performance” basis where upfront analytics and marketing expenses are covered and your credit union is responsible only for incentives provided and checking accounts actually opened during the timeframe of the campaign—usually three months.
7. Put onboarding and cross-selling strategies in place to deepen and broaden the member experience, especially during the first 90 days, but ongoing as well.

But Wait, There’s More!

Following these steps to a well-crafted campaign will most likely lead to improved membership and account growth from targeted prospects alone. But it is a thrilling bonus for most credit unions when they realize that new checking accounts from new prospects represent only the tip of the iceberg for the member and deposit growth opportunities they can expect from their campaign.

That’s because when Advisors Plus conducts a Checking Account Acquisition Campaign, dramatic growth in membership and profitability also come from:

• Existing members who open new checking accounts in response to the offer.
• Prospects who open additional accounts (such as CDs, credit cards and loans) in addition to their new checking accounts.
• Recipients of the mailing who do not open checking accounts during the course of the campaign but do open other accounts.

Take the Risk-free First Step

Carefully adhering to a disciplined onboarding and cross-selling strategy—aided by comprehensive back-end campaign tracking reports—puts most credit unions on a strong path toward sustained membership, balance and account growth. Understanding where future opportunities lie and partnering with Advisors Plus Marketing Services to systematically pursue them truly makes Checking Account Acquisition the single most important marketing campaign every credit union—especially yours—can plan.