Unlock the power of financial education
Publisher’s Note: CUInsight is hosting a free webinar Wednesday, April 12th titled, “Unlock the Power of Digital Financial Education”. We hope you’ll join us! Register here.
Let’s face the facts: traditional financial education just doesn’t work anymore. It’s inaccessible, inequitable, and simply unengaging. The lack of effective financial education (or any education at all, in some cases) has led to alarming financial literacy and anxiety rates, which continue to hinder your members on their financial journeys.
But rather than dwell on what doesn’t work, let’s dive into the principles you need to reimagine your current education initiatives to support your members and your credit union itself.
Mobile accessibility
Over 95% of people aged 18-50 use smartphones, and they use them an average of 5.4 hours a day. This provides significantly more time and opportunities to reach your community via mobile device than in traditional in-person settings. Smartphone apps also beat desktop-based materials like PowerPoints or dense web pages in engagement metrics. By optimizing personal finance lessons for mobile engagement, you can reach more people more often with more effective education.
In addition to making education more accessible for users, mobile-enhanced education can also highlight your credit union by utilizing hyperlinks, widgets, or pop-ups to showcase your products and services related to personal finance skills.
Long-term learning techniques
Too many financial literacy tools and services are just focused on “checking the box” of providing education. At best, they try to maximize the reach of how many people receive education, but almost never do they focus on the true impact and efficacy of the education. What’s the point of providing education to impact members’ financial wellness unless we can yield long-term knowledge retention and financial confidence?
It’s mission-critical to leverage behavioral science and curriculum research takeaways like microlearning, the testing effect, and gamification. These techniques lend to creating effective education that your members will both enjoy and remember.
Even better, by investing in the long-term impact of the education you offer, your credit union will reap long-term benefits like increased member loyalty and satisfaction, too.
Active learning outcomes
Financial education isn’t just about accumulating IQ points and passing a financial literacy test — it’s about changing financial goals and behaviors. It’s essential to implement action-oriented education that incentivizes responsible financial behaviors once foundational principles are learned.
One exciting, innovative way to execute this is to directly embed financial education into your mobile banking experience. For example, after your members complete bite-sized lessons on money management strategies, you can incentivize them to deposit money into their savings account via the mobile banking app. This works best when leveraging the long-term learning principle of gamification.
Unlock education’s limitless potential
Financial education is a game-changer for your members and your credit union itself. Want to learn how Zogo can unlock its power to transform your credit union? Register for our webinar, or contact us through the form below!
Don’t forget to join CUInsight and Zogo for our free webinar titled, “Unlock the Power of Digital Financial Education“, on Wednesday, April 12th. Register yourself and a colleague here.