Well, no, don’t actually grab them. That would be weird and disruptive and potentially harmful.

In the months leading up to graduation, young folks are preparing for some major life changes – first job, college, grad school – and choosing the right financial institution can be a big part of all of those changes. Better that you reach out to graduates now than try and entice them to come back and give you a try. With so many other changes to be made, changing banks can be a big deal for a new grad, and one that benefits them and you. Here are some thoughts on getting their attention:

1. Offer college-bound grads an “off to college” pack, including a folding laundry hamper, a nylon string backpack (for gym visits), a first-aid kit, some laundry detergent, a set of shower sandals…the list goes on, but one thing that should be included is a starter credit card or student checking account. If you go with the checking account, talk about some possible benefits and, if you’re part of a shared branching network, talk to that grad about ways to withdraw cash without penalties and get money when they need it.
2. Offer workforce-bound grads a choice of “office pack” or “outdoor pack”. Office-bound grads could benefit from aspirin, mouthwash (for those after-lunch business meetings), a small sewing kit (for rips and missing buttons), some computer screen cleaner, a pack of paper and pens, some instant stain remover pens, and maybe a soft lunchbox with your branding on it? For the grads who will be working outside, consider a hard lunchbox with a thermos, sunscreen (skin care matters!), hats, hand sanitizer, and a car care kit complete with: dashboard cleaning wipes, air fresheners, a tire pressure gauge, and key-chain. In both cases, talk to these work-bound grads about affordable auto loans, home ownership goals and retirement saving.
3. Got a grad who’ll soon be carrying a lot of student loan debt? Think about offering that grad a bit of encouragement with a “Just Out of School” pack. Offer them a pack of calming herbal tea, a gift card to a local grocery store, coupons to local businesses, a calculator and a specialized budget packet they can use (with your help) to come up with a cost saving plan. If a debt-laden grad is feeling especially nervous, sit with them and examine options for debt reductions and payment plans.
4. Not all grads are fresh out of high school or college – some are folks who went back to school years later. These folks deserve a special treat for summoning the courage and the smarts to continue their education down the road. Send them a handwritten “you did it!” note and talk to them about how to pay down debt and prepare for a new income bracket as they move up thanks to their advanced degree.

They might seem silly or tough to produce, but these thoughtful gifts could mean the difference between a lifelong customer or member and one that walks away when they change locations for their next big life stage.

“But wait!” you cry, “how will I know when these folks are graduating?”

What, you mean you don’t have that data on-hand? You haven’t surveyed your members and customers about their current life stage? You haven’t done some simple math based on date of birth info? Ask questions, record the answers, make connections. It’s easier to do than ever.

Now, go grab those grads!

But, once again, not literally.

A December 2011-January 2012 survey by the Federal Reserve looked at consumers’ use of mobile technology; essentially, its role in accessing financial services and making financial decisions. Among the 87 percent of mobile phone owners in the United States, 21 percent say they have used mobile banking in the past year, with another 11 percent reporting they plan to use it.

The survey also found that mobile banking is most often used to check account balances and recent transactions (90 percent of users), followed by transferring money (42 percent). But, perhaps surprisingly, only 12 percent of mobile phone users report making a mobile payment in the past 12 months.

Why the hesitation? Maybe it’s the result of lingering concerns about mobile banking’s security and limited usefulness on some devices – 42 percent reported that security doubts keeps them from using mobile payments. Further, more than half of respondents (58 percent) felt traditional banking adequately met their needs, so they had no need for mobile banking. More than a third said they either don’t see a benefit in making payments by mobile device or they find other payment methods easier.

So, despite mobile’s growth, it’s clear that safety fears and ease of use have created hurdles to growing consumer adoption.

Armed with this knowledge, credit unions can develop more effective mobile banking programs or reexamine their current mobile programs and make adjustments. Here are some ideas:

• Increase the focus on member education to address ease-of-use issues.
• Add incentives to strengthen the perceived benefits for members making mobile payments versus traditional payments.
• Promote security measures that work to keep members’ financial activities safe.

With the large majority of the U.S. population having mobile phones, credit unions have a good opportunity to grow their mobile-banking programs. But the key is to know your audience, including their mobile preferences and their concerns about “going mobile”, and then create your program accordingly.

[This article originally ran in the DigitalMailer Newsletter. To sign up for this free, monthly email newsletter, visit our newsletter page and subscribe with our easy-to-use webform.]

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Are you a credit union or bank that really values “green business”? We’d like to hear from you. Drop us an email at blogs@digitalmailer.com and tell us what you’re doing to promote planet-friendly initiatives at your place of business. 

So you’ve taken our advice and decided to invest in a proper backup strategy. Cool! But have you actually backed up your computer yet? What’s keeping you?

I wanted to try and show the skeptics out there that backing up a computer isn’t that tough – in fact, you can get it going in less than 60 seconds. And what better way to show a process moving quickly than with Vine?

Here are a few less-than-six-second videos I shot of me backing up my computer.

First: the equipment.

Second: the process.

And…that’s pretty much it, really. After the disk backs up (which, yes, takes a little while, but it can run while I’m just sitting here working), I unplug it and put it away in my locked drawer to wait for my next scheduled backup date.

Why not invest in a process that takes so little effort and is so important to your data security? It’s so simple, I figured I’d make a little mini-movie while I was waiting. Here’s “The Curse of DogShark”, staring me and my Westie stuffed toy from the NWFCU Foundation.

It’s our 13th anniversary. We’re officially a teenager!

We can’t tell you how thankful we are to our staff, our partners, our board, and most importantly, our clients, for the past 13 years in business. We’re so happy to be here after these 13 years and we’re excited for all the years to come. We are working hard, even as you read this, to develop newer and even more exciting technologies designed to help financial institutions connect, communicate, and grow.

Like most teenagers, we’re looking to stay  connected, so feel free to drop us a line on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.  And thanks again to everyone who made this milestone possible!

I’ve been on the lookout for good articles to share for the World Backup Day on March 31. I’ve been trying out the tips and tricks offered by these articles and I’ve found a few of them quite useful.

This article, “The Computer Backup Rule of Three” by Scott Hanselman, is a good read. Much more than telling you what a backup is, the article tells you what a backup isn’t. Namely, a backup is not a copy of the file stored in the same storage space as the original. Backing up your photo library to another place on your computer hard drive is NOT backing up your library, for instance.

Have I committed a few of these sins? Yes. And MAN, have I been burned for it.

I backed up a copy of my old photos and moved them off my computer to organize the newer photos…and the .zip file got corrupted. Who knows where those images are now. Do I have another copy? Can I undo what’s been done? I’m honestly not sure. I wish I could go back in time and smack the younger me in the head. Alas, we can’t look back – only forward, to a future where we don’t make such foolish mistakes.

From the article mentioned above, a practical guideline for backups – how, how often, and how important:

Here’s the rule of three. It’s a long time computer-person rule of thumb that you can apply to your life now. It’s also called the Backup 3-2-1 rule.

• 3 copies of anything you care about - Two isn’t enough if it’s important.
• 2 different formats - Example: Dropbox+DVDs or Hard Drive+Memory Stick or CD+Crash Plan, or more
• 1 off-site backup - If the house burns down, how will you get your memories back?

After I read this, I went home and gave it a try. I already have external backup disks (about 1TB apiece, one for each computer in my home), but I wanted to look into the other ways to store my important stuff.

One easy way to store a few gigs worth of files? Thumb drives and DVDs. Fewer computers are coming with optical disk drives nowadays, but my computer burns DVDs which, on average, hold about 4 GB worth of data. Thumb drives, once an expensive convenience, are now cheap, cheap, cheap and come in many sizes. Moore’s law is your computer’s best friend and makes the once-hard-to-get 8 GB thumb drive a thing of beauty and thrift (they’re about $8 at your local Walmart).

Now, these aren’t built for full-computer backups. They are, however, perfect for photo libraries, documents, music, and more. Buy a few and cycle them, backing up your important files every so often on one, then the other. You probably won’t even fill that 8GB every time. DVDs come fifty to a spindle and cost roughly $20, depending on where you shop. 50 DVDs x 4GB apiece = 200 gigs, which is pretty hefty. Use these for files that aren’t going to be updated regularly.

Three copies of things you care about is an achievable goal. Multiple formats? Got that covered, too. Off-site backups? That can be tough. But not to worry, you can achieve this in two ways:

Know for sure. Follow the rules. Back it all up!

Louis Pasteur, inventor of pasteurization and the vaccines for anthrax and rabies, once said “fortune favors the prepared”. If your computer is fried in an electrical surge, or submerged in a flood, or stolen, what would you do? Many people – nearly one-third – have never backed up their computer. Of those that have backed up, more than half haven’t backed up in a year or more. And when a computer disaster hits, whether it’s big or small, you need more than “luck” to get through it. You need a stable, reliable backup to get back on your feet.

That’s why a group of thoughtful techies created World Backup Day, a day to get folks to back up their important files and documents and to convince those that do so to back up more frequently and more reliably.

At DigitalMailer, we’re big proponents of World Backup Day. We hope more folks take part in a proper backup strategy. And backups aren’t just for computers, they’re for tablets, smartphones, email, and so much more. We’ll be sharing important stories and strategies as we find them, on our Twitter feed and our Facebook page. Join us and let’s get “lucky”…by being prepared for anything.

Last night was the State of the Union address. All the big-wigs in Washington, D.C. gathered together to applaud, not-applaud, talk, listen, and pretend to listen to a summary of how America’s doing and what the administration is likely to do in the coming year.

But nothing President Obama said was as stirring or shocking as what I read yesterday in the State of Bank & Credit Union Marketing report from the Financial Brand and Aite’s Ron Shevlin.

[Author's Note -- As this is a "State of the Union" themed post, please feel free to stand up and clap or sit and stare disapprovingly as you choose. Make a real show of it and disturb everyone in your office. That's what I'm doing.]

In the past, this report has been an eye-opener about the world of credit union and bank marketing and this year did not disappoint. Well, it sort of disappointed…because there are a lot of roadblocks for banks and credit unions (and yes, us CUSOs and vendors) to overcome this year.

 ROADBLOCK 1: The “More-with-less” Conundrum

We’ve heard this lament a lot in the past few years. When a marketing department scores big gains with less money, they get even less to use the next year. When they don’t make an impact with a smaller budget, their budget gets cut, almost as a punishment. Darned if you do, darned if you don’t. 33% of banks and CUs surveyed say their puny budget’s a “major challenge”, and some 73% say it’s an issue. What’s more, most respondents say their budget’s going to stay the same in 2013 (41% say no change, up or down). EIC of the Financial Brand Jeffry Pilcher has some pointed words for those who want more money and more man-power — prove your department’s worth the cost.

Reality Check: You’ll get more money in your budget just as soon as you can prove you deserve it. If you can’t demonstrate an ROI, why should your CEO allocate more resources to marketing?

Indeed, measuring ROI is considered a problem for 78% of FIs surveyed. Why? It’s easier than ever to track traffic back to your site and sort out visitors by their point-of-entry. Email marketing still exists (and still works) and you can use it to track opens, click-throughs, bounces…what’s hard about finding the ROI there?

PRO-TIP: Start working smart. Don’t send everyone to your homepage. Send visitors who read a billboard ad to a link they wouldn’t read anywhere but the billboard. Send visitors who get a piece of direct mail a link that they can’t click on the website in any standard menu. Generate offer codes that can be entered during the loan application process for discounts or special offers. Keep track of which accounts were opened and where. Did you get more new members at the county fair or the branch on Main Street? How many people are using their online banking for transfers and new account opening? There’s a way to know all of this. It starts by setting up clear paths between the attention step and the action step.

And when you’re not sure why someone’s applying or joining? Ask.

ROADBLOCK 2:  ”Let’s Stay Together”

Cross-selling and increase in PPH is the number two priority of all respondents (loan growth was #1, no surprise). Way down on that list? Customer/member retention. It’s like everyone forgot that it’s a lot easier to cross-sell and promote to a current customer or member than to educate and sell to a brand new one. I think these two entries go hand-in-hand. And how do you encourage your current consumer base to get more involved?

That’s right, you talk to them about their specific needs, give them useful guidance and promote the products that make sense in their situation. No more “one size fits all” approach — that kind of marketing just doesn’t make sense anymore for something as intimate and important as financial services. In this Ernst and Young report from 2012, 41% of US respondents surveyed say their bank tailors its promotions to their needs, whereas 42% say they’re “not sure”.

PRO-TIP: Never assume your customers and members know everything they ought to know, and more importantly, never assume they’ll go looking for it and land on your solution. Start talking about how you fill voids and suit needs on a one-to-one basis. Through technology, it can be done.

ROADBLOCK 3: The Left Hand, The Right Hand

Ever heard the phrase “the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand’s doing”? In this telling statistic, 63.3% of banks and CUs surveyed say they want to promote their mobile banking solutions in 2013. I’m not sure if “mobile” is consistently interpreted as “online” or “via smart phone and tablet”, but sixty-three percent want to spread the word and drive mobile services adoption. That’s after those same people said their top three marketing priorities were loan growth, wallet share and customer acquisition, in that order. Weird, right?

And with so many people in the industry claiming that technology will cost banks and credit unions their personal touch, doesn’t this seem counter-intuitive? Shouldn’t the desire to create a friendly atmosphere and have knowledgable frontline staff mean more than strong mobile platforms? Well, it doesn’t. The numbers, they do not lie.

That obviously doesn’t mean that a friendly, smart staff and a dedication to customer/member satisfaction don’t mean anything to banks and CUs. Good people doing good work for the good of the consumer is what makes a business great. But banks and CUs are wising up to the fact that you get more mileage out of making simple banking tasks easy to do and making money more transparent and easily managed.

PRO-TIP: Make the online banking easy-to-use across platforms and always work to keep pace with new technology, not to play catch-up.

ROADBLOCK 4: More Social Media, Less Social Media Understanding

70.5% of those surveyed say that social media is more important to them in 2013 than in years previous and 5% say they seek to hire a social media vendor to help them. 76% already use social media and another 11% say it’s on their radar.

That’s a lot of wishing. Who out there has a plan?

According to the study, 46% of respondents say they don’t monitor their presence in the social space. 21% say they don’t get mentioned. More than half spend ten hours or less per week in the social media scene.

PRO-TIP: No deposit, no return. The FIs that do well on Facebook and Twitter have an active staff that don’t operate in a vacuum. They find community items that mean a lot to members and followers and they really do care about the output. There’s an ocean of difference between “content” and community. Learn it if you want to stand out from the hundreds and hundreds of banks and CUs that couldn’t make it work.

ROADBLOCK 5: Same old, same old. 

What struck me in the “biggest challenges” section of this report was how often I’d heard the same complaints in the past. Some problems just refuse to go away.

“We are risk averse and/or slow to adopt new ideas”.

“Our I.T. infrastructure is inflexible and limiting”

“Limited data analytics tools/capabilities”

“Silos”

Sometimes, the biggest problems aren’t the technology, their territory or the target audience. The biggest obstacle is on the inside and it affects everything on the outside.

PRO-TIP: Find better ways to increase internal dialogue and solve problems. Define goals and see them through. Increase chatter between departments and make sure everyone’s working on the mission. Invest in new technology now so that by the time you’re ready to deploy, it’s not already on its way out in favor of something else.

I know, easier said than done…but worth saying, I think.

If you haven’t moved over to read it already, go read the Financial Brand’s full rundown and take notes. There’s a lot to cover and a lot to consider before we get too far into 2013 and you can’t make the kind of impact you’re looking to make.

Thank you all, and God bless the USA…and all the bank and credit union marketers working on new ways to make an impact. 

There are some things that are worth the effort. A deep, lasting relationship with a customer or member is certainly one of those things. According to CUNA’s E-Scan, the odds of losing a member who has a checking account, a savings account, a loan and any fourth product is one hundred to one (via Mark Arnold). That means getting the members and customers informed and ready to buy. How?

Step 1: Make the pitch.

Step 2: Repeat the pitch.

Step 3: Repeat step 2.

But why stop there? The National Sales Executive Association has some eye-opening statistics about sales success compared to the number of contacts with a potential customer. The breakdown goes like this:

• 2% of sales are made on the first contact your business has with a potential customer
• 3% of sales are made on the second contact
• 5% of sales are made on the third
• 10% of sales are made on the fourth
• 80% of sales are made on the fifth contact

Astonishing, isn’t it? What’s sad is that so many efforts burn up right between the third and fourth contact. Persistance is key, and it’s not something many financial institutions are used to having.

So, how do you work this focused, repetitive sales approach into your culture?

1. Training - Working with employees to make sure they know these numbers and that they know the value of that precious few seconds they have with the customer or member.
2. Divide and Conquer - Obviously, not all of your interactions with your customers and members are face-to-face. Send emails, write notes, make phone calls – keep digging. Remember, you’re trying to keep that person around for the rest of their financial lives.
3. Know When You’re Done - This isn’t the same as saying “give up after too many tries”. This is a common sense end-point you develop, one that lets you know you’re starting to lose money in a given pursuit. This also covers customers who get the product you wanted them to have…if they buy after the third contact, don’t burn up the fourth and fifth. When you get your “yes”, there’s no more selling to be done.

It’s never too soon to make a lifetime user. Why not the first few weeks after they open their first account? Click here to visit our Onboarding Page.

This post originally appeared in our email newsletter. To subscribe to our free monthly email digest, sign up here at our newsletter page.

Recently, a number of clients have written us emails asking for the “industry standard” of eStatement penetration. While there are any number of results in your typical Google search, we wanted to offer our clients and, in turn, our blog readers a thoughtful answer. So we took the number of eStatement users each of our clients had, compiled our data into an Excel spreadsheet, ran some of the averages and came up with some numbers we think are quite interesting.

Yep, you’re reading that correctly – nearly 80% of online banking users have eStatements. These folks manage their money online and take advantage of eStatements. This number grew twenty percentage points in one year, leading us to believe that more and more people are making the connection between electronic documents and smart money management.

A little more than half of all the customers/members we evaluated were checking account holders. It stands to reason more checking users would be using eStatements just to avoid getting a paper statement that’s weeks behind their online banking reports, ATM receipts, or mobile alerts. Still, that number grew 19 percentage points in a year…that’s a big gain.

Even though this number grew 11 percentage points in a year, it’s still a little low for my tastes. Only 28% of members use eStatements? Why so low? Here’s why:

1. Most financial institutions still have eStatements inside online banking and only online banking members can get them (see the first percentage number we listed, for eStatement/OLB users? Make sense now?)
2. Very few financial institutions have marketing campaigns to increase adoption anymore. Those that do typically see great ROI.
3. Most financial institutions don’t make eStatements the default for online banking users. Reg E says you have to give your users a choice of paper or electronic…but it doesn’t say what the default option must be. Why not start those users with eStatements and make them ask for paper statements?

If only credit unions and banks would make eStatements the default. Most users would never bother to make the switch or make a stink – they’d probably never even think about it again.

Check out our one-click program and see if this simple solution is right for you.