Calcubot Turns A Financial Institution’s Facebook Page Into A Lead-Generation System

Shastic, Inc.
Joseariel Gomez-Ortigoza, 408-600-0540
joseariel@shastic.com

Berkeley, CA, Jun 21, 2012 – Shastic, a Silicon Valley tech company, today announced the immediate availability for credit unions and financial institutions (FIs) of Calcubot, the first lead-generation loan calculator for Facebook.

Calcubot on the frontend is the next generation viral loan calculator and on the backend is a powerful lead-generation system. By using Facebook as a development platform many breakthrough innovations are possible. For example, end users can install an FI branded version of Calcubot to their facebook page, thus turning the FI’s followers into a viral promotion network. Calcubot is available starting at under $100 per month.

Calcubot, as the first social networking loan calculator , allows loan estimates to be saved and feedback to be solicited from friends, family and advisors. It also introduces an ‘Alert Me’ mechanism that monitors interest rates and notifies the user of potential savings opportunities via email or text message. Finally, Calcubot directs prospects from Facebook to the FI’s online loan and new member application systems; and, despite all this functionality, according to KayCee Murray from Numerica CU, it’s:

Despite the overwhelming success of Facebook and its nearly complete dominance of social media, financial institutions only make limited use of the social network’s power. The unparalleled viral reach of Facebook into the consumer market can be tapped for lead-generation with the quick and easy installation of Calcubot to the FI’s Facebook page.

Ron Shevlin, Senior Analyst at Aite Group commented “Facebook provides a cost-effective way for financial institutions to communicate with customers and prospects, but most institutions under-utilize the power of the platform to engage consumers”. This was reinforced by a study conducted by Shastic of 200 FIs between 200 million and 5 billion in assets, where only 57% of them have a Facebook Page with an average of 1147 followers. The top 3 uses of Facebook are: posting current promotions (96%), notifications about charity work and events (63%) and collecting member referrals (16%). The most surprising result is that only 10% attempt to drive prospects to their website.

Ariel Gomez, CEO of Shastic added that:

Although small FI’s have higher levels of end user satisfaction, the large banks usually win because of their massive advertising budgets. Shastic Facebook widgets represent an important industry trend by turning the tables against the big banks and making end user satisfaction the decisive competitive factor. Kinecta FCU’s Marketing & E-Commerce Director Shannon Doiron, concurs:

“In the financial industry, David and Goliath compete and Shastic provides the slingshot.” said Ariel Gomez.

About The Company.
Shastic, based in Silicon Valley is backed by Berkeley Ventures, a high-tech incubator in Berkeley, California. They are partners with mobile banking solutions provider Access Softek, which works with over 200 financial institutions. Shastic clients include industry leaders such as Numerica CU, STCU and Kinecta FCU, one of the top 40 credit unions in the U.S.

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