[Editor's Note -- Ron Daly is away this week, so Greg Crandell, DigitalMailer's Executive Vice President, will be sharing some insights on our family of blogs.]
This great article from BAI.org came across my desk the other day. Titled “Making the Cross-Sale in Difficult Times” by Katie Kuehner-Hebert [click here to read], it outlines the benefits of cross-selling for financial institutions that need more income and a deeper relationship with their members.
Some key takeaways from their article:
• Two things to overcome – product cannibalization and silo mentality. Just moving money from one account to another isn’t cross-selling. Encourage the various departments in your organization to know a little about another department and make smart, helpful referrals to members/customers.
• Get a taste for the term “needs based” – don’t waste time and effort chasing a consumer who’s not interested.
• Are you offering something that’s useful to consumers? Read the article to find more about Fifth Third Bancorp and their “Goal Setter” accounts.
• Regulation changes [like Reg E] are a hindrance to “big tent” marketing. Some target marketing isn’t just more practical, it’s essential, because certain consumers can’t/won’t qualify for every product.
• Objective Business Services, Inc recommends measuring the amount of money a consumer brings in, not just the number of products they use. A member with five accounts might be more profitable than a member with ten - it all depends which services they're using and which they're in the market for later on.
The article really is worth a read, and reemphasizes what we try to tell new email marketing clients and potential clients every day – target smart. Don’t be afraid to market to people who already know your value and are willing to buy. Go back to the well, there's still plenty of water.
"What about new members?" you ask. Yes, recruiting new members should still be a focus for you, but don't hesitate to bring new members in with a bang - look to onboarding campaigns to help you fill in the gaps in their financial picture. Maybe they just came in for a cheaper loan or a balance transfer to your credit card. What's stopping them from switching other services to you? Talk to them and find out. Making each member a repeat consumer is vital to credit unions' survival.
We can walk you through some of the finer points of email cross-selling. Join us for “Do You Want Fries with That?”, our free webinar. Click here to see our events list and sign up.
When DigitalMailer got started, things were a little different in the online finance world. Most folks were still saddled with dial-up access (about 80%, according to this article). Only 17% of Americans were banking online, according to this study from Pew Internet , a number we’re glad to say has grown significantly.
Over the past ten years, we’ve helped credit unions across the country save money on eStatements, eLerts and email marketing, and those savings speak for themselves.
In ten years, we’ve served 15 million eStatements. At an average savings of $.90 apiece, that’s $13,500,000 in operating costs that we’ve saved credit unions.
We’ve sent 24 million email messages on behalf of credit unions via the ARB email engine. If the average mailed marketing collateral is $.70 each and the average marketing email is $.07, a difference of $.63, we have saved credit unions using the ARB $15,120,000 in direct mail marketing costs.
With our recent addition of the collection email series, we’ve saved credit unions thousands of dollars in labor and production costs. One credit union has cut their collection-call workload by over 70% for two consecutive months.
When I started this company, it was after years as a CFO at Northwest FCU. I knew firsthand the cost of running a credit union, and wanted to bring my experience into a new cost-saving solution for credit unions everywhere. Ten years later, I have one of the most reliable teams in the industry working every day to make things better for credit unions – their members, their employees, and their bottom line.
Thanks to all of our clients for ten amazing years, and we’re looking forward to many more. Happy Birthday, DigitalMailer.
Many companies worry about their involvement with social media (or lack thereof). We've talked about social media before, but we've never really given a list of "getting started" instructions. Hopefully, this will help your business get its feet wet.
STEP 1: Sign up, Get going
No more of this "will we, won't we?" business. Get moving! Start turning out those blog posts, recording messages from the CEO to upload to YouTube, twittering, facebooking, emailing...whatever fits your member's tastes. Don't know what members are interested in? Hit them with a quick survey to sharpen your focus.
More importantly, make this new communication channel someone's job. Make them track results and feedback. Stay on top of it.
Best Practice - Set a bar and meet it. What do you WANT out of Social Media? Before you get going with anything, read this from thefinancialbrand.com about ROI and social media.
STEP 2: Learn to Share
If you are running a blog or sending out a monthly email newsletter, you can make individual stories or pages shareable via the major social networks. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and most other networks provide links that, when set up properly, allow readers to share your content via their own account. Most blogging services provide a widget for sharing this information around. If you are a DigitalMailer ARB user, we can get you set up with the proper links and icons for sharing.
You've probably seen buttons such as these before. When readers/members/users click these buttons, they're sharing your content and information with other people. Encourage them!
Best Practice - Worried you don't have enough followers after a week? Don't. Building out this new way of talking to members and customers can take time. Read the CU Soapbox article "Follow-and-Friend Freeze Out" to give yourself and your organization a realistic idea of a "healthy" follower count.
STEP 3: Refine and Realign
Don't get comfy, social media trends and usage are changing day to day. Know which methods and messages are working and which aren't. Keep an eye on your stats and your referrals and make note of which method/network is giving you the best response.
Best Practice - Don't just talk, listen. If you have followers or friends eager to speak with you, address them and meet the need. You'll find that you can help users and members in a way that's simple, light and smart. You may also pick up new members and customers as a result.
