DigitalMailer has found a new way to save credit unions money by cutting out print and postage, reducing man-hours and increasing customer response.
As mentioned in the CU Times article "Northwest FCU Cuts Delinquencies, Costs With E-Mails", DigitalMailer helped Northwest Federal Credit Union come up with a new way to reach members who were behind on their loan payments.
From the article:
The credit union had over 55% of its member’s e-mails on file and implemented a new policy that required members taking out a loan to provide a valid e-mail address.
The credit union works with DigitalMailer on other digital communication products, so [Cindy Cherry, Northwest’s collection manager] approached the provider with the problem.
"I listened to the problem and thought with that number of e-mail addresses, they could stop or knock out a lot of the accounts before they got to the 15-day mark," said Ron Daly, president/CEO of DigitalMailer.
"This is technology that bank and credit card companies have used for years, it’s just about getting credit unions to start using it."
Northwest’s success was self-evident. Of 1,605 collection e-mails sent, 845 members have paid before the 15-day delinquency mark. They were able to find bad e-mail addresses and follow up with members who had missed their notification. Even though the number of delinquencies is still high for Northwest, the process of dealing with them is getting faster, more affordable, and more effective.
DigitalMailer can do the same for you!
Are you dealing with a high volume of delinquencies and limited collection resources? The DigitalMailer Automatic Relationship Builder can give you:
Accurate reporting of e-mail opens, click-throughs and forwards
Easy-to-use template creation system
Easy list management
Fast, reliable delivery
DigitalMailer is offering a new FREE webinar: Just a Reminder...How to make collections faster, easier, and more affordable
Special Guest Dan Schoenherr on "Closing the Loop"
Dan Schoenherr is an experienced credit union consultant. He has expertise in strategic planning, process improvement, board governance, and website strategies. He is President/CEO of Schoenherr Consulting and has led several credit unions in their process improvement programs and creating member delight. Most recently he has been helping credit unions with their Net Promoter® Score programs. He may be reached at dan@schoenherrconsulting.com.
Net Promoter® Score, a loyalty measurement, has been adopted by many credit unions. However, many are not "closing the loop." A Net Promoter® Score survey asks the question: "How likely is it that you would recommend (the credit union) to a friend or colleague?" Customers respond on a 0-to-10 point rating scale and are categorized as follows:
Promoters (score 9-10) are loyal enthusiasts who will keep buying and refer others, fueling growth
Passives (score 7-8) are satisfied but unenthusiastic members who are vulnerable to competitive offerings
Detractors (score 0-6) are unhappy members who can damage your brand and impede growth through negative word-of-mouth.
To calculate the credit union's Net Promoter® Score (NPS), take the percentage of members who are Promoters and subtract the percentage who are Detractors.
Closing the Loop
Most NPS surveys ask a second question: What is the primary reason for the score you just gave us? This is the beginning of the feedback process that allows the credit union to improve the member experience. Digital Mailer's eSurvey system will send an email to a designated credit union employee on any survey received with a Detractor score of 0-6. This allows the credit to contact the member (generally within 48 hours), to understand their concerns in greater detail and resolve any issues.
An internal review of the results should be conducted to identify key drivers of loyalty and establish process improvement plans. The last part of the "loop" is informing members what you did with the information provided.
Email Surveying
About one-third of the credit unions sharing their NPS scores on the CU-Processes website do phone surveys. While this approach provides excellent feedback, it is very expensive. The largest majority are doing mail surveys. This approach offers little chance to immediately "close the loop" with the member, or to delve deeper into the core reasons for the member's dissatisfaction.
Email provides fast surveying (especially if event-driven), and the opportunity to immediately "close the loop" with the member. It also allows you a simple way to survey various segments - a specific branch, the contact center, online users, etc.
If you are considering a Net Promoter® Score program, make sure it includes the steps to "close the loop." Otherwise, you have missed the opportunity to truly improve the member's experience with the credit union.
by Ron Daly It's June, 2009 - do you know where YOUR capital is?
Odds are you've been coping with your minimized budget and your overall losses for these last eight months and you've had to forgo talks of better things - more hiring, membership drives, company functions, employee appreciation, raises, etc. Maybe one of the things you've minimized is your "Green" initiatives. It's easy to move away from an initiative that's mostly voluntary when you have imperative financial issues to tackle.
I think it's time to kill two birds with one stone..not literally, of course. Part of saving the environment is not throwing rocks at birds. I'm talking about using your green initiatives as a means of saving money.
Green-vangelist Andrew Winston wrote on the Harvard Business blog:
Not only should companies not put their green efforts on hold, they should accelerate them in targeted ways to save money quickly and prepare for the future. Those who navigate these tricky waters the best will emerge from the downturn in better shape than their competitors.
And furthermore:
Getting lean, particularly on energy and resources, will save money and reduce carbon impacts (as well as making you more competitive when energy prices inevitably rise again). Thinking through your value chain and getting creative about how you can help your customers manage their environmental impacts and lower their costs will help you grab market share in tough times. And it will likely do much more to address environmental challenges than focusing only on your own environmental impacts. Getting your people engaged around a dual mission — save the company money and preserve our collective bounty and assets — will help boost morale in tough times and keep your company going strong. ("Why This Is the Right Time to Go Green", blogs.harvardbusiness.org, June 2009)
I had this information tucked away in an e-mail and thought I'd share it here on the site. Apparently, trees can be assigned a dollar value based on the amount of carbon dioxide they absorb, the amount of run-off they filter, the amount of oxygen they make, etc. Your average Red Cedar is worth about $120,000/year, considering the price of oxygen it produces (numbers/values from the Kooragang Wetland Rehabilitation institute). That's plenty of money, and that's just one tree.
Planting trees is a great way to drive up member participation and enrollment. Let members contribute a small amount of money from their share accounts and contribute to a tree planting day that you've organized. Or offer it as an incentive for signing up for eStatements, a la "sign up for eStatements today and we'll plant a tree in your name!"
Bottom Line - the economic downturn has tested our structures. If ever there was a time to start changing the game, it's now. Why not implement measures that will save you money overtime, such as optimizing your lighting and power and reducing water flow in your facilities? Why not encourage employee carpooling and create Green-themed giveaways? Make the changes now and enjoy the benefits long after you do.
My Very First Webinar (SPECIAL: The "Jimmy Challenge" Update!)
by Jimmy Marks
Seminars stink.
I mean it, they do. I've been to my share and they're mostly the same. Sure you get to network, you get to eat cheap bagels and find the newest features of your Blackberry, but then you wake up from your nap in the middle of the THIRD slideshow presentation about "boosting ROI" (whatever that means) and you realize you're trapped at a convention somewhere in [INSERT BORING STATE HERE].
Which is where Webinars are awesome. There's no driving, there's no bagels (unless you buy bagels on your own), and the notes are usually provided post-webinar so you don't have to do a ton of writing.
Recently, I sat shotgun on my first webinar here at DigitalMailer. The "Do You Want Fries With That?" webinar (the first in a series, anyway) was a ringing success - lots of attendees, lively conversation, and me as the emcee. Ron Daly, Greg Crandell, and super-awesome Account Manager Carolyn Johnson fielded questions and got to the nitty-gritty of our ARB, which builds relationships with members and cuts down on the high cost of printing/posting/mailing.
It's sort of strange, at first - it feels more like radio than an online seminar. But unlike radio, the people calling in/texting aren't trying to win hockey tickets. They're there to learn about your products, your expertise, and your opinions regarding the industry. So its your duty to put out the best presentation you can and to help people come to an understanding about the subject. I think we can expect more on this front in the future for a few reasons. For one, the rising cost of travel/fuel/space is going to put a dent in seminar attendance across the board. For another, with more and more businesses taking advantage of relatively inexpensive internet communication tools like Skype and GoToMeeting, the ease of this kind of connection is increasing. So why not take advantage of it?
We've got some slots left for the rest of the webinars for this year, so go sign up now! Click the "Fries" icon on the left column to get going!
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THE JIMMY CHALLENGE:
How much have I saved to date?
$256
I think this might disappear soon as I have a car payment coming up, but hey...maybe I'll get lucky. Stay tuned to see how much more I can sock away!
That question is one of the most famous examples of up-selling in American history. Today, credit union executives and marketing teams are striving to create the same up-sell message that will increase their service-per-member ratios. The fact of the matter is, credit unions are not really that good at up-selling when they are not face-to-face with the member. Until now...
How do you seal the deal in a wireless world?
Wikipedia defines Up-selling as a sales technique whereby a salesman attempts to have the customer purchase more expensive items, upgrades, or other add-ons in an attempt to make a more profitable sale.
Not too long ago a member had to walk into a branch to join, add a new service they needed or get a loan for a dream that they had. The face-to-face contact made our jobs easier to up-sell additional products or tell them what was new at the credit union.
Not anymore. Members can now join remotely, apply for loans online, make deposits and withdrawals from free ATMs around the world and hit a shared-branch. Have you ever stopped and considered how many members actually walk into your branches? Wonder if some members even know where your branches are? Or quite possibly what a credit union really is?
Sealing the deal in today’s wireless world is challenging credit unions. Experience has shown that credit unions are really not that good at up-selling when they are not face-to-face with the member.
TELL US NOW:Does your credit union still rely on face-to-face up-selling as its main method of moving products to members?
I took a few days to travel recently and needed cash. Not having any, I did the only sensible thing I could: hit up an ATM.
Now, my CU didn't have any branches where I was (out-of-state and all that) so I had to visit various ATMs in the area. And I was stunned and how much it cost in the long run.
I took two trips and removed $60 bucks each time. Each time, I was assessed a $3 fee from the ATM I visited and tacked on another dollar when I got home (from the CU itself, which doesn't like it when you go out of network).
So that's eight dollars gone. Think of all I could have bought with that! Two chicken sandwiches from McDonald's! A new Gary Larson calendar! 1,600 shares of GM!
I was relaying this problem to Ron, who looked at me quizzically.
"Why didn't you use the free ATM locator?" he asked. "Our credit union's website offers a program that shows free networked ATMs in a search area" (NOTE: That network he's referring to is the Co-Op Network, which is awesome.)
I could've kicked myself. Why didn't I think of that? But the better question is will YOU remember it when you go on your next trip? Banks and ATMs make millions every year in fees...money out of your pocket.
So use your Co-Op locator. Failing that, just go to a convenience store/grocery store and ask for cashback on a purchase. It can be a minor purchase, too, so not only do you get $40, you get delicious gum!
On Greed and Fear: How Credit Unions get the most out of the crisis.
by Ron Daly
Came across an article today written by Warren E. Buffett. Buffett knows money, I think that's safe to say. Read his very good article here.
Anyway, he said something in his op-ed piece that really stuck with me:
"A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful."
This was one of those things that, on the first read, was smart sounding. But reading it again gave me a clarity I hadn't expected. It made me think about our industry and how we SHOULD be looking at the opportunity presented. Now, more than ever, attention is placed on the stability of credit unions versus big banks. In the midst of the big earning days of low-rate loans and bum securities, banks were greedy and CUs were fearful...fearful of loaning and mortgaging irrational sums. Naturally, lending money to people who couldn't afford to pay it back turned out to be a bad idea.
So now comes the time where CUs are thriving and banks are scrambling to make up the difference. Is this the time to drop marketing? Is this the time to be weak-willed when it comes to drawing members? Quite the contrary.
Now's when CUs need to:
1) Market Hard 2) Consider their next round of member rewards and incentives 3) Become the "Bull" of finance, not the "Bear".
You are worthy of attention, CUs - you made the right decisions at the right time and you're getting praised for that. Now's your chance to be greedy when the other financial institutions are fearful.
I get this complaint from Credit Unions and other businesses all the time:
"We don't want to start sending e-mail messages and statements to our clients because we're going to get phished".
It's one of those funny statements like "life isn't fair" that's right and wrong all at the same time. The Credit Unions we serve aren't being phished. No one's asking them for crucial information and taking advantage of it. What happens is this: 1) Some crumb-bum (pardon my French) sets up a website/e-mail address and snags a picture of a CU's logo. 2) They start e-mailing people (members or not) and asking for their social security numbers, member numbers, account numbers, names, addresses, mother's maiden name, etc. 3) Here's where we get a split: 3A] The targeted e-mails drop the phish e-mail in their SPAM folder. End of discussion. 3B] The member gets smart and deletes it. End of discussion. 3C] The member ACTUALLY SENDS ALL OF THEIR CRUCIAL PERSONAL INFORMATION TO A COMPLETE STRANGER WITHOUT THINKING!!!!
Sorry, went a little crazy there. But it DRIVES me crazy. People short their members out of essential services in favor of "steering clear of trouble", so they say. Oh really?
I recall the 70s (yes, I was clean-living enough to remember some of it) - people would put boxes in front of ATMs marked *ATM BROKEN, PLACE DEPOSITS HERE*...and people did.
And, of course, we stopped using ATMs altogether.
Then, people started "vishing" - or voice phishing - by calling up people and taking their information or asking for mail-ins.
So naturally, we stopped using the telephone.
Is any of this sinking in? You can't just run away from technology because people start using it for ill. You're cheating the people you serve out of what they need to manage their money and make decisions regarding the use of your business.
Give It Away: How can we make things easy for you?
By Ron Daly
The Wii. A miracle of modern gaming. It's fun for everyone, it's easy to pick up, and it allows my daughter to have something to do on a rainy day.
Anticipating this year's Holiday Party for our office, I purchased a Wii for my employees. Needless to say, they can't wait for the Holidays.
Yes, the Nintendo Wii is awesome. So much so that nearly 30 million units have been sold. It's a hit with parents who want their kid's gaming to be more mobile or with people who aren't "typical gamers" who are suddenly interested in making it happen. Women and seniors, long considered the outliers in gaming, are getting in on the trend.
Which brings me to the topic of this post (took a while to get here). One of our early promotions involved giving away mp3 players to members who signed up for electronic statements. Credit Unions could order inserts which offered a chance at winning an iPod Nano. We charged a fraction of a cent per flyer ($.00162, on average) and saved the CUs over $25,000. The best part? We payed for the iPods with the money gained from the flyers. The CUs simply had to sit back and watch members flock to online statements, a smart, green, money-saving alternative to paper.
So, my question is this: could we do this with a Wii? Would anyone be interested in a "Wii give-away?" Contact me at rdaly@digitalmailer.com or leave a message on our comment section.
Stormy Weather: The Weekend Brings Bad News for the Financial Sector
by Ron Daly
Our Friday post had to do with resources available to Texans who had been uprooted by Hurricane Ike. Even as we put together our list, we were uncertain of exactly what was in store. Thousands of people trapped after ignoring the evacuation mandate, thousands more stranded far from home - the picture is grim. But there are those who try to make it a little brighter, bit by bit.
Click the image above to donate. Special thanks to Brent Dixon at OpenSourceCU.com for breaking the story/providing the source code for the donation buttons. Visit their site to get the code for yourself/your blog/your credit union's webpage.
In a move that some would describe as shocking - and others would describe as the good nature of credit unions shining through in a time of need - Texas Dow Employees Credit Union has offered to delay loan/mortgage payments in the wake of the Hurricane. Their Senior VP of lending, Paul Perdue, put out this video:
But that's not the only big financial news from this weekend. Merrill-Lynch was swallowed by Bank of America, Lehman Bros. filed for bankruptcy, and the stock market hit its worst day since September 11, 2001 (won't link to stories, because they're everywhere already). How are CUs faring in the midst of this? This story from the Times Leader explains the urge for calm and how credit unions view the turmoil.
As someone who was a credit union CFO for a number of years and who has always kept an eye on how the financial industry moves, I'm interested to see what happens next in all these news stories.
From CAN-SPAM to Spam Guards: Can You Still Reach Your Members?
Article by Ron Daly. This article was originally published in the Credit Union Times. Read it here at CUTimes.com.
As if newer, more robust spam filters weren’t enough to pull out the hair of legitimate e-mail marketers, the Federal Trade Commission’s final rule enforcing the CAN-SPAM Act became effective July 7. Is it the end of using e-mail to tell members about special offers?
Not at all. First, we should recognize that both of these consumer-protection measures are really good news. Few people appreciate receiving nuisance or unsavory junk mail, and putting reasonable restrictions on e-mail marketing may actually increase the likelihood of legitimate e-mail marketing getting through. By following the rules and learning what makes e-mail get stuck in spam guards, we can ensure that our promotions reach members’ inboxes.
The new FTC regulation focuses on four areas: unsubscribing, legal mailing addresses, definitions and responsibility for joint promotions. But for credit union marketing departments, the most important provision relates to honoring requests to unsubscribe.
If a member chooses to opt out of a sender’s e-mail, that request must be honored within three days (instead of the 10 days allowed under the FTC’s interim rule). Further, senders may not impose a fee on recipients asking to be removed from an e-mail list, nor can they require recipients to provide any information beyond their e-mail addresses and opt-out preferences. And finally, recipients may not be required to take any steps other than sending a reply or visiting a single page on a Web site.
Other provisions of the regulation involve the following:
Sender. The new rule defines who is a designated sender of e-mails and, therefore, responsible for complying with the CAN-SPAM Act’s opt-out requirement. This provision pertains to situations in which two organizations collaborate on promotions or advertising.
Mailing address. The credit union’s physical mailing address must be easy to find on its Web site. Or, if either a USPS or private mail box is used, it must be registered according to postal regulations.
Definition of person. The FTC rule added a clarification broadening the term “person” beyond natural persons to include groups, associations and corporations.
Please note that only promotional–not relational or transactional–messages are affected by CAN-SPAM. For more information on the new regulation, go to www.ftc.gov.
While spam filters have become more complex, ensuring that credit unions’ messages are delivered is a straightforward process. But it may require adjusting systems or working with e-mail service providers, such as DigitalMailer, that know their way around ISPs worldwide.
Credit unions can go beyond the FTC regulation and ensure deliverability by following these tips:
Preference-based e-mail. Allow members to choose the types of e-mail they wish to receive. Not only does this place your credit union well beyond CAN-SPAM rules, it also ensures you are invited into members’ inboxes.
Subject line and content. Stay away from punctuation or words (such as “free,” “save” or “buy”) that could raise red flags with the subject line. In the body of the message, avoid large images, logos or mastheads, which can take up valuable space or cause the viewer to see red “Xs.”
Certification. Make sure your system is certified or safe-listed with leading ISPs. And be sure to remove bad e-mail addresses that ISPs report as not being active.
Spam-check tools. Take advantage of tools that evaluate outgoing e-mail so you can correct messages that could trigger spam guards.
Register. Record your own SPF files to protect against forged sender addresses and to meet the growing list of ISPs requiring this form of identification.
With a few adjustments to make sure your procedures are in compliance and by staying attuned to spam-checker reports, you can continue to provide members with wanted information on special offers or new products.
Ron Daly answers a question that he gets asked a lot.
What you're seeing is a mass e-mailing system utilized by a Credit Union that did not previously use DigitalMailer to get the word out about it's services. The left-most column is a list of ISPs and e-mail providers. The colored bars are the measured success of their campaign. The red indicates eMail that failed to go through entirely. The yellow shows e-mails that were treated as bulk or junk mail by the server. The green bars are the only e-mails that made it to their destination. Only 35% of eMails got through to the customer. Click on the image for further details.
What you're seeing now is the proof that DigitalMailer provides systems that work.
97% of eMails sent by DigitalMailer on behalf of the same Credit Union reached their target. Talk about results you can see.
Ron Daly's new series "Credit Union Tech" goes through the innovations that changed the CU industry - and the world - for the better.
in 1939, plenty of people were dealing in cash. America had been through the financial wringer, with the Great Depression behind and the war in Europe growing larger and more destructive. With the New Deal, people had money again, and a real desire to save what they had in financial institutions that had been newly bolstered by the FDIC.
It was in this year that a man named Luther George Simjian put forth the patents for a machine that would make bank transactions after normal banking hours. At first, the idea was a flop - use of this machine was seen as seedy, with the majority of users being people who didn't want to be seen in a bank lobby. Citicorp thanked Simjian for the idea, but saw little use in further pursuit.
Simjian's idea became the Automatic Teller Machine, or ATM. Today, there is scarcely a bank or credit union without one. In some cases, there are merely terminals where money can change hands and customers can receive statements, make deposits and withdrawals, and manage their money on the go. As time rolls on, ATMs become more sophisticated and cover a wider range of services (i.e., some print maps of nearby locations for customers to use). It's clear now that we should all be thankful to Simjian for his initial effort...without it, we'd all have to get out of our car to handle our cash.
Have a question/idea you'd like us to talk about in "Credit Union Tech"? Write about it in comments.
Just a Reminder...How to make collections faster, easier, and more affordable 
