The downtown branch of $900 million SELCO Community Credit Union, Eugene, Ore., with 80,000 members and 220 employees, didn’t have any trouble publicizing itself on Bank Transfer Day.
“We happen to be right next door to the Bank of America,” chuckles Branch Manager Blake Ramstead. “So we put a big banner up across the front of our building, telling people that we were going to be open. We put the information on our on-hold message for our phones, and we also put it on our web page. But being that we were right downtown, right next to a B. of A. office where there were multiple picketers, we got quite a bit of business.”
Bank Transfer Day was a consumer initiative calling for bank customers to switch to credit unions on or before Nov. 5, 2011. It stemmed from public outrage surrounding Bank of America’s since-recanted announcement of a $5 monthly debit card fee, and it has already had a significant impact on the credit union movement. According to the Credit Union National Association, credit unions gained 214,000 new members in October. CUNA estimates that about 40,000 people joined credit unions on Nov. 5.
There was certainly activity at SELCO Community CU.
“In an average month, we open about 70 accounts,” says Ramstead. “[In November 2011], we opened 160.”
Ramstead notes that Nov. 5 was an inconvenient date for a lot of credit unions because it fell on a Saturday. SELCO Community CU’s downtown branch is usually only open on Saturdays for drive-up business. But the institution also opened its lobby that day for new-member processing.
|
Keeping it on the Low-Down Not every credit union chose to draw attention to itself on Bank Transfer Day. “Except for a couple of credit unions that expanded their hours, most of the credit unions that I’ve talked with … decided not to exploit the situation,” says Jim Benlein, owner of KGS Consulting, Silverdale, Wash. “They had some concerns that it was not as much a consumer movement, [as] it was starting to get very political, and they didn’t want to get dragged into that. Their feeling was that there were connections between Bank Transfer Day and the Occupy movement, and they didn’t want to put themselves into a position where they were seen as being for or against the Occupy movement and what they were doing. So they said, ‘Well, here we are, this is what we offer. If you want to come in, come on in.’ They didn’t run any special promotions, they didn’t do any marketing specifically for the day.” Troy Hall, chief operations officer of $1.3 billion South Carolina Federal Credit Union, N. Charleston, S.C., was skeptical, too, but for different reasons. “Every day is Bank Transfer Day,” he insists. “You don’t have to have a particular day. However, with that being said, I don’t want to misrepresent either the value or the power that we have felt in the marketplace as a result of the conversation that was started. Now people understand what a credit union is. The one thing that we know for sure is that folks now consider credit unions as part of the A list, whereas that was really not possible before. So now we have to look for ways that we can extend the conversation into the future.” |
$122 million San Jose Credit Union, San Jose, Calif., with 12,000 members and 36 employees, also opened special hours on Nov. 5. It advertised a “Be Free” event, featuring free food and prizes, and a new-member raffle for an iPad 2 or $500 cash.
“We were expecting an influx of people,” says Marketing Manager Sara Holtz. “We wanted to utilize the momentum to increase people’s awareness of our debit card, which has always been free, and also to get people to try a credit union. To market it, we used what we call ‘our usuals’—our website, Facebook, in-branch, statements. And then because this was a news event, we were able to utilize public relations. We had newspapers and even TV picking up the story.”
The effort paid off. On Bank Transfer Day alone, the credit union opened more than 52 accounts, 30 of which were new members. Note the subtext of those numbers: Not only did ex-bank customers flock to the CU, but existing members chose to deepen their credit union relationship.
$1.3 billion South Carolina Federal Credit Union, with 140,000 members and 500 employees, did not extend its hours on Nov. 5, but it did offer a $25 matching deposit to people who opened accounts and set up direct deposit. Meanwhile, Chief Operations Officer Troy Hall took the slogan “Every day is Bank Transfer Day” and made it into a branding overlay for a series of ongoing marketing campaigns at South Carolina credit unions.
“A number of credit unions in the state agreed that they would use the phrase ‘Every day is Bank Transfer Day’ throughout some marketing activities the week of Dec. 5 through 9,” says the CUES member. “It’s a rallying cry, not a campaign. Campaigns come and go. This is an initiative. It is an opportunity for credit unions to use the phrase to actually heighten the conversation and to extend it.”
Holtz says press and online interest in her organization died down after Nov. 5. The news story ended, and people quickly began thinking about the holidays instead. But even so, she says, people are still conversing about credit unions, and there seems to be less public tolerance for ill treatment from financial institutions.
Streamlining the Process
On Bank Transfer Day, SELCO Community CU brought in extra employees
“I had people volunteering like crazy,” says Ramstead. “They were excited—it was different; it was new. We had two of our front-desk-type people there, and then we had three of our new-account/loan people here, plus myself and an assistant manager just in case.”
But it was the credit union’s regular routine for taking in new members that made the day go smoothly. Member service representatives filled out all the paperwork for prospective members on the computer system, so they only had to take pen to paper for signatures.
“It’s all online, so there’s nothing for them to physically fill out, just a couple of signatures,” Ramstead says. “We’re on the Symitar [- A Jack Henry Company and CUES Supplier member based in San Diego] platform, so we have a lot of repgens (report generators), which are basically little [routines] that allow us to do all these things—set up an ACH, set up direct deposit. We just tell the system, and it gives us some boxes to fill in, and it prints us out what we need them to sign.”
Prospective members often find it daunting to switch all their business from their previous financial institution to the new one. They may have to send letters to their old bank and to entities that do direct deposit or auto withdrawals; and they may need to set up their online bill paying anew. To make this less of a chore, Jim Benlein, owner of KGS Consulting, Silverdale, Wash., says many CUs use “switch kits” that they’ve either developed internally or that they’ve gotten from a vendor. The kits walk users through the process and, in many cases, prevent them from having to re-enter the same information multiple times. CUs use these kits in several ways: at member service representatives’ terminals, in kiosks in the lobby and online.
Holtz opted to design a switch kit rather than purchase one. Hers is a downloadable PDF pre-loaded with such data as the CU’s routing number. It’s much easier to use than a paper kit, she says, and is easily changed when credit union information changes.
Morriss Partee, chief experience officer at EverythingCU.com, the Holyoke, Mass., company behind a popular online switch kit available to EverythingCU.com members, says when his company initially created the product, he anticipated that credit union members would use it at home. But his thinking on that has changed.
“The No. 1 success factor for credit unions in actually getting people to use the switch kit is when the member does it with the MSR at the time that they’re opening the new account,” he says. “So what we advocate all credit unions do is to make it part of the new account opening process. After they finish the basic forms to open their savings and checking accounts, right then and there, the MSR should then say, ‘OK, now can I help you switch your accounts over from your previous bank?’”
South Carolina FCU uses EverythingCU’s switch kit. VP/Corporate Communications Jessica Jackson says members can choose where to fill it out.
“If they want to do it at home or if they want to do it in a branch, either way [works],” she says. “But if they do it at home, they can bring their letters into the branch and we’ll mail the letters off for them. That’s another benefit that we like to provide.”
“When we open accounts for folks in the branch, we set up and teach them about their online account too, if they are so inclined,” adds Hall. “We’ll actually help them set up their bill-pay account immediately when they’re in the branch. That can be done very quickly and very easily within that opening process.”
But when it’s all said and done, Ramstead says, what new members really want is not just an efficient onboarding process. What they really want is to be heard, especially if they feel they haven’t been heard in the past.
“If anything, they want to spend more time opening their account, because they want to talk about what their bad experience was somewhere else,” he says. “And then, once they’ve got that out of their system, they want to talk about their grandkids, or the school they’re attending. They want you to be emotionally invested with them in the process.”
Jamie Swedberg is a freelance writer based in Georgia.
