Two exercises to help your credit union tell a better digital story

Take a few minutes today and ask those who work with you the following question: In 30 seconds, tell me why I should open an account at our financial institution.

First, ask your executive team and record their answers.

Next, ask everyone on the front line, including those in lending and the call center, and record their answers.

After you complete these surveys, look for patterns in the responses and identify the three most common answers.

Finally, ask the same question to other financial institutions in your community by giving them a call or walking into their branch.

Is the story they are telling you any different from the one you are hearing from your colleagues about your financial institution?

The Problem: People Are Not Coming Into Branches

This exercise you have completed has not been done in vain.

The issue is that by the time a consumer talks to a person at your credit union, if they decide to at all, the consumer is already pretty far down in their buying cycle for making a purchase decision. At this point, they are simply looking for the last bit of confidence they require to make their purchase decision.

But before the time they speak to someone, the consumer has already used 8-10 different resources in their buying journey to help them gain the confidence they need to move forward to open an account or apply for a loan.

These resources might include:

  • A Google search
  • Your website
  • A competitor’s website
  • Online consumer reviews
  • Asking for recommendations via social media
  • Talking with their friends and family

Considering the critical role your website and other digital channels play in helping to guide a consumer to open an account or apply for a loan, I would now like you to conduct a second exercise.

Review your website’s key product page copy, including:

  • Checking accounts
  • Auto loans
  • Mortgages
  • Credit cards
  • Small business products

Copy and paste the text on these pages into a blank document and remove any mentions of your brand.

Now, repeat this same process for your primary competitors.

Once again, what common patterns do you find in the stripped-down product copy examples?

When using these exercises in our engagements with clients, the same patterns emerges. After asking the question from the first exercise (in 30 seconds, tell me why I should open an account at your financial institution), we hear the same responses:

  1. We have great rates.
  2. We have amazing service.
  3. We offer some great products with FREE __________.

During the second exercise, we find no differentiation between our client’s product page copy with their competitors. In fact, many people cannot even identify their own financial institution’s product amongst the competition.

At the conclusion of these exercises, we rhetorically ask, “If you cannot even distinguish your credit union from your competitors, what makes you think a typical consumer can tell the difference?”

We understand how hard it is for your bank or credit union to stand apart when you are promoting the same things as everyone else. But there is a better way to tell your story and rise above the commoditization of financial services.

The Solution: Tell a Digital Story That Sells

I recently spoke about the importance of Digital StorySelling to over 500 financial marketers at the CUNA Marketing and Business Development Council Conference.

And in under seven minutes, I outlined how credit unions can grow by going beyond the traditional narratives they are currently telling.

In a digital economy, where financial services are commoditized, banks and credit unions can no longer play the role of the heroes in the stories they tell.

This unconventional approach to marketing and sales does, however, require a radical shift in the way credit unions position themselves. And we have found this change makes some executives very uncomfortable.

But we believe that those who lean into their discomfort will be the ones who discover a new way to lead their credit union into future digital success.

Download our Ebook How to Tell a Digital Story that Sells and we’ll guide you through the Digital StorySelling process.

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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