Strategic Online Banking Tactics
Two weeks have passed since the last CEO Tickler newsletter was published. What did you discover about your roadmap? While thinking through this set of questions you might have devised ways to expand boundaries beyond your current product base. Similar to travel using an updated map, you may have discovered creative marketing techniques to alter your course of presence in the community your credit union serves.
What products and services can you promote to lower credit union postage expenses?
While the question suggests products and services, what does your mind naturally gravitate to when you consider 'lower postage expense'? of course - eStatements, eAlerts and eNotices. Because those are printed, physical documents, for which you pay postage, receive if they are returned and have to be mailed again. What else?
eProducts and eServices have value only when they become part of a member's financial picture.
Instead of mass mailing, use the eMail channel throught Member Connect to suggest new services. When self-service members come to your branch, does every member of your staff know your product lines so well that cross-selling comes naturally? When members ask about services how long do they have to wait for someone to contact them by phone, mail, or email? Each contact has resource costs involved, and waiting could mean a lost sale.
What is the best way to encourage an online banker to surf your web page?
What is it that catches the attention of a web surfer? There are as many answers as there are Internet users. Couple that with changing interests and emerging developments. Change is constant, but even in a changing environment, these valuable tools can help you help your members. The CU*Answers website http://cuanswers.com is open to everyone, with a diverse catalog of resources to choose from. Need more ideas?
Look for RSS on sites of interest. If you like it, feed it to you own website. Use snippets and other resources of WescoNet. http://ws.wesconet.com. Just one of their many offerings, the IRA Advisor link.
Here's more:
http://cusecure.org: Educate your members about data security, social media, computer viruses, scams
Online Banking Community [OBC]: In short conversational text, http://www.itsme247.com is full of tips.
For your own website, list your products, rates, services, introduce your staff, refresh content often but be consistent in your message.
Travel on!
What are the five best practices for encouraging member participation with bill pay?
Here are 5 ideas we came up with. Add them to yours and hit the road with the Bill Pay product.
1. Go green - This goes beyond paper. This is trees cut down, fuel to transport them, energy to process, emissions released into the air, more energy to produce statements, more fuel to deliver them, not to mention the hours of effort in and between processes. Add it up! Green is lean.
2. Less exposure in mailboxes - Everyone gets mail in their mailbox, all addressed to them personally. Bills carry added enticement because they have account numbers, family member names, purchase history, and many credit card statements are sent with convenience checks attached. If your members are using Bill Pay and have requested eStatements for those credit card accounts, their risk of identify theft is reduced.
3. Save time - There is no bonus award that gives us more time. Bill Pay saves time. Using Bill Pay means no checks to write, envelopes to stuff, or trips to the mailbox - and by the way, make sure you do all this at least 7 days before your statement due date. As a side benefit, save your stress level too.
4. Save money - How much could you save if you didn't have to pay for checks or postage? What about late fees that could occur because you were on vacation when a bill came due. With Bill Pay you can schedule bills to be paid automatically on the date and in the amount you specify.
5. Here's a benefit you may have overlooked - This one is especially meaningful to those who appreciate organized, tidy record keeping. Bill pay stores your payee/biller information, keeps a record of all payments, even allows you to notate payments with details you want to remember. Historical data can be retrieved within seconds of the electronic request.
How can you encourage members to buy a product on-line?
In short here are a few tips:
Be present on-line. Your members will grow to trust what they see over and over as an indication of stability and confidence.
Grab attention. Realize that attention is random. It's impossible to stay top of mind 100% of the time. So be creative and make products pop on your website to create eye-appeal and get noticed.
What things can you promote online with the same compelling drive as those inside your brick and mortar walls? CDs,higher interest savings accounts, club accounts, lower interest loans, ability to add new accounts online, gift cards, A2A transfers, what else?
And don't forget to encourage communication with your members - always check the online Contacts queue daily, use eMail - remember item 1 above. Be present on-line.
What are the tricks in making a member service team responsive to online members?
That's a trick question. Or is it? In reality, the best ways to make your member service team responsive to online members is to help them identify with this growing market space.
Provide education in techniques of communicating through eMail, telephone, or blogging - if your credit union uses blogging as a venue. Enhanced communication skills are required to answer questions and address issues, especially those which in the past have been discussed in person with a visual advantage.
Online banking, online products, online services, online discussions, online - well, you get the picture. It's growing. It's not leaving. Find your roadmap and drive!
Where's your roadmap?
Envision a roadmap where all roads lead to a diverse product portfolio, lower costs, higher efficiency, and gliding through transitions from full service to self service members. Now is the time to instill confidence in your staff while strategies are built around increasing online banking products and services.
Your roadmap will look very different from that of your peers. Just as there is no perfect road to fit the destinations of everyone, there is no perfect answers to fit the plans of all credit unions. This newsletter is full of ideas. Where is your roadmap taking you?
