The most sought after process for Credit Unions when it comes to marketing is sending the right message, to the right person, at the right time, and in the right place. In this article, we discuss how close Credit Unions can get to this holy grail of marketing while promoting the financial health of members and driving revenue at the same.

How can you achieve the accuracy of the right person receiving the right message at the right place and time? How can you develop a higher personal sense of community? As we discuss the answers to these questions, we refer to the insights provided by Brian Knollenberg, VP Digital Marketing, and Analytics, BECU.

How do you get started?

Credit Unions are member-centric, and hence targeted marketing proves to be the most effective tool. Here is how you can align with reaching the right person, with the right message and at the right time.

• Right person- Who is eligible for which offer/product and how do we talk to them? Depending on the range of products you want to offer, determine, and segment who you want to reach out to, and the kind of message you want them to receive.

• Right place- What is the right medium or channel to reach the target member? For example- Email, onsite, in-app, paid media, direct mail, SMS, which one should be used? The medium should be easily and conveniently accessible to the member.

• Right time- In an age of always-on connectivity, how do you optimize your chance of being heard and seen? What is the right time? You should target for a time when people are likely not only to receive the message but also respond to it.

Here is a good example of how the BECU Credit Union has been working on designing and delivering the right message, at the right time, in the right place and to the right person.

At the right time-

• Emails are highly measurable, and for most credit unions they are a primary outbound channel. Understand the preferences of the members and design messages with the right context.
• BECU through machine learning, Built and deployed functions based on 3 general timeframes i.e. morning, evening, and afternoon.
• The processes are real-time optimized, and the emails are sent to different segments and clusters of members. This increases the possibility of cross-product selling and adoption.
• This also helps in creating a positive member experience and also ensures financial health.

In The Right Place – 

To reach the members at the right place, creating segments based on a cluster model that includes all channels through which customers interact with you, is the most advised action step.

• BECU created the following segments- Omnichannel, Online banking and mobile, Mobile and email, mobile, Online banking and email, Online banking, Minimal usage, Email, Direct Mail.
• They run their cluster model on a regular basis. Inputs include logins and sessions, open and click , number of transactions etc.

Right message and Right person-

To achieve the target of reaching the right person with the right message, determining eligibility for various products has often proved to be beneficial. This also helps in targeted messaging.

• BECU has partnered with Amplero, and their automated message optimization platform, through machine learning, is able to discover new segments and determine messages for each segment. They currently send about 50,000 emails per day across nine KPIs. These KPIs can include indicators like – Member financial health, engagement with current financial products, etc.

CONCLUSION

It is important to remember that there are no silver bullets to achieve this holy grail of marketing and hence, It is crucial to stay consistent and stay focused. Analytics play a huge role and it is only with time, you learn how to interpret and put them to action while increasing technical capabilities.