January 23, 2012

This is bonus from “On the Fast Track” in the January 2012 issue of Credit Union Management.

There’s no doubt Bank Transfer day resulted in a noticeable uptick in new credit union memberships. But Jim Benlein, owner of KGS Consulting, Silverdale, Wash., reminds credit unions that they will need to work to retain these new members. He suggests that the masses who joined on or around Bank Transfer Day may need a little extra TLC.

“Whenever we make decisions, there’s always some anxiety and hesitancy about whether it was the right thing to do,” he says. “So credit unions need to make sure that on an ongoing basis, they reaffirm the positives of the person’s decision. Some credit unions try to follow up after a couple of weeks with a phone call, just to thank them for being members and find out if they have anything that we can do for them.”

Some of the Bank Transfer Day people may have banked at the same institution their entire adult lives, and may be unfamiliar with credit unions’ way of doing business, he says. They may feel pangs of worry or discomfort. They may have questions, too – things they didn’t have time to ask on the busy day they signed the paperwork. Any kind of friendly contact will help them acclimate; even surveys and cross-selling can help reinforce a sense of belonging.

In Benlein’s view, one of the greatest unintentional effects of Bank Transfer Day may be that it gets a few credit unions to think about the way they make new members feel comfortable and welcome.  

“At every credit union, you have members that join, members that leave,” he says. “What the credit union wants to do is have a long-term strategic plan to minimize this membership churn by keeping an ongoing relationship and reaffirming the credit union’s value.”

Jamie Swedberg is a free-lance writer based in Georgia.