The Path to Digital Lead Generation Begins With People, Product and Process

As credit unions and consumers continue to evolve in an ever increasing digital world, there will be substantial changes in the way credit unions align people, product and process.

by James Robert Lay, PTP New Media and CU*Swag

I recently spoke at the CUNA Marketing and Business Development (BD) Council conference in California.  My session was to inspire credit union marketing and BD leaders to view credit union BD as more than just donuts. To make the session more “real time,” I used a pre-conference survey that was completed by 1/3 of the 500 attendees. I was also able to incorporate tweets from attendees sitting in on other sessions to tie thoughts and ideas from the conference together.

As credit unions and consumers continue to evolve in an ever increasing digital world, there will be substantial changes in the way credit unions align people, product and process. However, some things will not change. For example, the goal of credit union BD has been and will always be to generate leads for loans and new accounts.  Yet, the way credit unions develop business and generate leads in a digital world will be very different than what many credit unions are used to. It has to go beyond touting “great rates and service.”

Map Your Credit Union’s Consumer Path

With the end goal of lead generation in mind, credit unions can work backwards following a path of people, product and process. Once a specific market of people has been defined through a consumer persona exercise, start mapping the path of the experience, which is created by a well-defined and refined processes, that you want to create for a consumer.

As you begin to map the consumer’s path, it is important to remember that this journey may initially start offline at a SEG or community event, or maybe even by watching a TV spot. It could even begin through a conversation with a friend. No matter how a consumer’s journey begins, their path, sooner or later, will lead to a digital channel (desktop browser, mobile, tablet).

For this reason it is critical your credit union’s lead generation process humanizes the digital experience and aligns people and product together. Otherwise, the consumer’s euphoric feelings they enjoyed when meeting your credit union’s brand offline will quickly erode to frustration. For example, how easy is it for them to apply for a loan online? How many clicks does it take to reach the application? Is it mobile or tablet friendly?  Taking time to map out the consumer’s lead generation experience can help reduce and eliminate the friction that may otherwise cause them to abort and leave the desired application.

Many credit unions have not been able to effectively align people, product and process together to generate leads for loans and new accounts via digital channels because they have not mapped out the consumer path for each experience a member can have.

Make CRM the Cornerstone of Your Credit Union’s Lead Generation Initiative

Another missing element for a successful lead generation via digital channels is a CRM (customer relationship management) platform to centralize and store consumers’ actions. According to my pre-conference research and survey, 48% of respondents did not have a CRM in place at their credit union. This echos research done by The Financial Brand as he found “64.1% of financial marketers noted they have inadequate MCIF/CRM database(s) as a challenge for 2013.”

A CRM should be the cornerstone of any digital lead generation initiative as it allows your credit union to be able to “pay attention to the details” from conversation, actions and behaviors that build a consumer’s digital profile. Through the insight gained by analyzing these details, a credit union can offer the right people the right product at the right time at the right place… all on a 1:1 basis.

Unfortunately, according to my pre-conference survey, 57.5% of respondents currently use a manual tracking and follow-up process on individual basis. This process includes sticky notes, spreadsheets and good ole’ brain power; none of which are effective for sharing information and details across the credit union.

Credit Union Member Referrals Matter More Than Ever

Another powerful, tried and true resource for lead generation is member referrals. However, the rules of yesteryear regarding referrals no longer apply when planning for digital marketing and lead generation. It’s time to kill the “download and print this PDF” to refer your friends and family tactic.

Credit unions must look at referrals beyond being just another checklist item, but rather as an important lead generation source worthy of an investment of time and resources in order to develop a well-defined and refined referral process. According to Nielsen’s “Truth in Advertising” report, “78% of consumers say recommendations from other consumers are the most credible form of advertising.”

There is an untapped opportunity for credit unions to build upon referrals and the insight they gain from measuring Net Promoter Score (NPS).  According to my research, 1/3 of the survey respondents noted they track NPS, of which 71% say that it helps them know what members think. However, who cares what members think? This does not help generate new business. Knowledge is not power. Action is. NPS is just a feel good, happy number. So a credit union has a NPS of 9.2. Great! How many new loans or accounts are we opening with this data?

If you are measuring NPS, and members score that the likelihood of recommending your credit union to a friend as an 8, 9 or 10, provide a call to action to put their feelings into action with an actual referral. Referrals can and should be built into the lead generation and BD processes for credit unions as they are an effective way to align people and product together.

However, many credit unions are not ready for this as my research found that of the 2/3 who have run referral programs, 34% noted they run campaigns only once a year with just 23% running an ongoing program.

Destroy the Box to CU Grow

To be successful in developing a successful digital marketing and lead generation strategy, credit unions must destroy the box in regards to the way they allocate time and resources to the digital channel.  Imagine the return on investment if your credit union was to develop a highly efficient digital lead generation strategy instead of building a new branch. At the end of the day, credit union executives must ask themselves which will get more traffic over time: digital channels or a physical branch?

Another important area to rethink is how sales and marketing align with each other. In short, sales and marketing must not only work closely together with one another, but should also align with operations and IT to remove the departmental silos that have been created overtime. By tearing down the walls and aligning cross departmental goals, your “digital engagement team” can work closely to share thoughts, ideas and resources including budgets.

Many credit unions view digital marketing as an item that should be pulled from just the marketing department’s budget.  However, this limited viewpoint can also limit your credit union’s success in digital lead generation and growth as true achievements will be found when tying in sales (BD), operations and IT.  Many credit unions are not at this point, yet they are struggling in digital with no real long term strategy or vision for digital engagement. Bringing on RDC, mobile banking and the latest app does not count as these are just tools and checklist items. The bigger question is, how do these align with one another to generate leads for loans and new accounts?

Your Thoughts and Ideas

What is your credit union doing to find success in generating leads for loans and new accounts through the digital channel.  Are you finding success? What challenges are you facing? Share your thoughts and ideas below.

James Robert Lay

James Robert Lay

JAMES ROBERT LAY is one of the world’s leading digital marketing authors, speakers, and advisors for financial brands. As the founder and CEO of the Digital Growth Institute, he ... Web: https://www.digitalgrowth.com Details