Driving deposits higher than the Rocky Mountains

There is a difference between today’s digital marketing and the old-school approach. Back in the day, you simply asked members over and over if they needed a car loan or wanted to open a new certificate. And it worked, at least on paper.

Today’s members demand more. That repetitive, generic approach doesn’t play well with brand strategies, nor does it improve member satisfaction scores. So, when Credit Union of Colorado needed to boost deposits, they took a new tech-driven approach that has changed everything at the community-minded, $2.5 billion dollar credit union.

Tech brings success

When they needed to boost deposits, an incredibly competitive CD offer was planned using both conventional, in-person account openings alongside a new self-service model to reduce friction and encourage members to deposit more money—especially outside funds.

By using their marketing automation technology, which was already connected to their existing tech stack, Credit Union of Colorado realized that without any special programming skills, they could create the solution themselves and shorten implementation time.

Here's what the agile solution looked like:

• Digital integration between Prisma's marketing automation and the credit union's digital banking platform made the offer visible through banner ads.
• Ticket generation began once a member made a request. Using web service processes, the credit union worked with its member service and support ticketing system to automate the processing.
• Backend automation between the member service and support ticketing system, their platform to connect applications and data, and their core, helped open the accounts and process transactions.
• Automated Alerts let the members know that the CD was open and funded.

Empowering business teams

Promising a 15-month CD with some of today’s best rates, opened and funded in under a minute was, and still is, a roaring success. In four months, the credit union opened 5,502 new CDs totaling $186 million in deposits.

In all, 10,100 leads were generated with a 15% conversion rate and 32% of new CDs opened using self-service. The campaign continues to draw new members and new money into the credit union.

There’s a lesson here

By combining targeted member engagement across multiple channels and a streamlined conversion process, the credit union adeptly overcame industry-wide challenges. The agility and rapid development afforded by this integrated ecosystem reduced time to market and provided an adaptable platform to address a wide range of needs and changing scenarios.

Bottom line: Real breakthroughs can occur when business professionals are equipped with the technology that enables them to get things done.

Advancing financial innovation together

Credit Union of Colorado has enhanced its marketing agility and reduced time to market with an adaptable platform designed to meet diverse needs and adapt to changes.

Collaborating with Credit Union of Colorado underscores our commitment at Prisma Campaigns to support and enhance credit union capabilities by filling gaps in tech stacks to implement communication campaigns, text messages, omnichannel marketing, and more.

What about your credit union? Here are some questions to consider when evaluating your current capabilities:

1. How many communication channels are you currently using?
2. How many campaigns can you run simultaneously?
3. Do you have ‘eternal’ campaigns that are always on and can be updated to fit new data?
4. How much collaboration do you have with your vendors?
5. Are you using daily-refreshed data?
6. How automated is your access to that data?
7. Are you using automation outside of marketing?

CLARA HORI is head of growth at Prisma Campaigns, a CSS alliance provider. This article is placed in partnership with Prisma Campaigns and CSS, and doesn’t represent the views of or an endorsement by America’s Credit Unions.