CSCU, one of the country’s leading CUSOs with 2000 members, announced successful first-year results for its new Optimize Portfolio Growth Solutions for credit unions. For 2016, one -year credit card program revenue growth for participating credit unions reached an average 14% or 6 to 7 times greater than the average revenue growth of non-consulted credit unions.
“We are thrilled at the results and how our credit unions have embraced Optimize,” says CSCU Optimize Marketing Consultant, Kristen Herrick-Feazell. “Our members asked CSCU to deliver everything they need to build and maintain a successful card program without the hassle and resource drain they would face by doing these campaigns on their own,” she explains. “Optimize is a soup to nuts program that provides credit unions with everything they need to be successful from a comprehensive product suite to educational and marketing resources,” Herrick-Feazell says.
Fifty-eight credit unions signed up for an Optimize consulting service in the 18 months since its launch and CSCU anticipates 80-90 will participate in 2017. “Based on the outstanding results, we expect continued growth for Optimize and the on-going success for the enrolled credit unions,” Herrick-Feazell says. In addition, 96% of the initial Optimize enrollees will return in 2017 indicating a very high satisfaction rate.
Portfolio growth solutions features a planned 12-month marketing calendar that CSCU coordinates and implements on behalf of the credit union. In 2016, credit unions signed up for Optimize achieved their results by participating in seven core products including credit line management, acquisition and activation programs, Skip-a-Pay, StatementChecks, statement messages and Visa Checkout. They also participated in core promotions to support and stimulate portfolio growth. These included a balance transfer campaign, three usage sweepstakes and two employee account acquisition promotions. In addition to the traditional statement inserts and in-branch kits, credit unions were provided social media toolkits and other digital assets to support their marketing efforts.