EverythingCU.com is thrilled to announce an innovative new breakthrough in making it easy for your new members to switch their previous accounts over to your CU! Our new eSwitchKit makes switching incredibly easy via secure email and organized with a personalized online checklist that both your member and your credit union can monitor for real-time status updates.
Making the switch to your credit union has never been easier with our new eSwitchKit!
The eSwitchKit makes it easy for your member (or your MSRs to help your members) switch their previous accounts over to your credit union. The member’s information only needs to be entered one time, and the correct information is then sent to each vendor involved in the process, including Employer for Direct Deposit, previous Financial Institution for close account instructions, and for every ACH/Automatic Payment vendor as well as any vendors making automatic withdrawals via Debit Card.
The member is in control every step of the way, being able to decide which of these organizations are to receive account numbers, which organizations are to receive secure email communications, and which organizations are to receive printed and mailed letters.
The most innovative switch kit in the industry brings the member an active, real time checklist with email alerts keeping the process top of mind and organized
The member and credit union can access a Switching Checklist providing an up-to-the-second look at each step of the switch
Member is alerted via email whenever a vendor responds with switching updates
Full admin controls enables you to help your members through any sticking points
SSAE 16 compliance and industry-standard 128-bit encryption
Vendors can send messages back to the member in regards to switch status and details
The eSwitchKit is the latest innovation from the same company that brought you the original Online Switch Kit in 2004 and Premium Online Switch Kit in 2011. More than 100 CUs nationwide employ these Switch Kits that have helped more than 23,000 members switch to their credit union
If you are currently using the Original or Premium Switch Kit and would like to upgrade, please contact me for your prorated upgrade pricing; via email: morriss@everythingcu.com or call me direct at 413-535-0621. For more information about the eSwitchKit or to place an order, visit the eSwitchKit Info/Sales page.
Initial feedback has been positive; feel free to let us know your thoughts and comments about this new concept in helping members make the switch to your CU!
I’m in the process of writing an article for CUES’ CU Management magazine, about KickStart Online Lending Generator and Holy Rosary CU’s results. Editor Lisa Hochgraf had some excellent questions for me which prompted me to do a little bit more research into the universal conclusion that removing barriers and streamlining online forms from the user’s perspective leads to better results and increased sales.
So I thought I would share with you some of the eye-popping research that I discovered (and thus why Carol and Holy Rosary CU are getting wonderful results with KickStart – i.e. 10.49% growth in their loan portfolio over the past 6 months):
In addition to the above research on the importance of streamlining the user/member/customer experience to improve sales, we’ve done some streamlining of our own. One item that proved to ourselves that we get better results when we make things easier online is that when we took the step of pre-filling out our own Online Switch Kit demo for you, dozens and dozens of you tried it out, compared to nearly no one trying it out when it was not pre-filled. It seems simple, but often times the little things can make a BIG difference!
So in our continuing quest to make our own forms and demos even easier to try out, we’ve now also pre-filled out the already-simple KickStart Loan Request form to make it even easier for you to test that for yourself. Kick the tires on KickStart yourself right here: KickStart test site
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this – did you find you got better results when your streamlined your online processes, forms, applications, and navigation? Was there ever a time when making things easier for your members online was a bad thing?
Many of you may know the Madison-based musical duo of Christopher Morris and Chad Helminak, better known as The Disclosures. In addition to their busy touring schedule, they have also been recording some new songs for a forthcoming album.
It’s not too often that my primary job of EverythingCU.com intersects with my side project of music engineering and remixing, but when I heard that Chris and Chad were working on new songs, I jumped at the chance to mix their new album for them. They have been thrilled with the results.
Their first single, Thank My Piggy Bank was just released on YouTube, iTunes, Amazon, and CD Baby yesterday, in honor of National Financial Literacy month. Here is their fun video:
Carole Wight, CEO of Holy Rosary CU in Kansas City, Missouri, recently shared with us an email exchange she had in regards to an inquiry into her use of EverythingCU.com’s KickStart online loan application:
Question:Once they fill out the on-line app, what is the process/member experience from there?
Carole: Usually we are able to match the account number with the online application. We pull some quick loan data and promptly call the member back. Usually we have the information we need to move the loan to closing when we call so we are WAY AHEAD on the process.
Question:How has the process/member experience changed from before the on-line app?
Carole: Before online application, they either didn’t call us because they were at work by the time we were open, or the process dragged on. They would call us initially and we would have to pull their credit and get back to them. All this took time and many times the loan was lost. Either because they never called or we didn’t have the jump we needed to catch the loan.
Question:How has it helped the staff in getting or processing a loan? What % of your loans go thru the on-line app comparative to the traditional process?
Carole: That is a very interesting question. I don’t have a fancy system that captures numbers for me like this. I wish I did and I am getting ready to go there but I am searching for solutions. I would say 10%-20% of our applications come from KickStart. That is just a guess. NOW, if you ask me which of the most have the most successful close rate, I would say that KickStart helps us get closes. My staff like it because they have tons of information when they start to talk to the member. We have more loans because of KickStart.
If you have any questions in regards to KickStart, please feel free to email me at any time!
We here at EverythingCU.com are constantly looking for ways to help credit unions and their members, and we are so proud of our KickStart Online Lending Program and the results that Carole Wight at Holy Rosary CU are getting with it, that we’ve decided to make it even more easy to try it out at your CU. We are so thrilled that day after day, Carole is regularly getting quality loan apps brought right to her team’s email inbox, and we’re amazed that KickStart is largely responsible for the 10.49% increase in their loans over the last two quarters.
Matt came up with a promotion idea that we’ve decided to implement, and it goes like this:
Starting March 1, 2013, and running through March 1, 2014, EverythingCU.com is offering a FREE SIX MONTHS of KickStart for everyone who renews their EverythingCU.com Executive Membership OR for anyone who purchases a new Executive Membership.
Why are we doing this? Because we are seeing Holy Rosary CU get incredible results with the product, and we want every CU to know that this product is a can’t-lose proposition. While we can’t guarantee your loan portfolio will also grow by 10.49% over two quarters like Carol’s has, we think it’s worth a try. Once you develop results with KickStart, we think you’ll be as thrilled to continue it as Carole and Holy Rosary are.
If you’ve been considering getting into online lending, now is the time. If you’re unhappy with how cumbersome your current online lending process is, and think your results could be better with a more member-centric process, then give it a try during this limited-time free period.
As with many promo offers, we have a few disclaimers:
Promo runs from 3/1/2013 to 3/1/2014.
You must contact us that you want to have KickStart implemented for your CU after you order or renew Executive Membership; enrollment in KickStart is not automatic.
After six months; unless you choose to discontinue KickStart, it will renew on an annual basis at the regular price.
Custom programming for further functionality is not included with this offer, however we will match your web site’s look and feel.
EverythingCU.com reserves the right to post your NCUA 5300-report lending portfolio increase and use it as testimonial for the effectiveness of KickStart.
If you’ve been thinking of getting into online lending, this is your chance. To take advantage of this offer, simply order or renew your EverythingCU.com Executive Membership, and then send an email to Matt that you would like to get started with KickStart at no cost for 6 months.
If you’re not looking to implement or improve your online lending right now, but do know of a CU that doesn’t have online lending yet, we’d be grateful if you directed them to this article so they can climb on the KickStart train!
KickStart is EverythingCU’s new online lending product. Carole Wight, President of Holy Rosary Credit Union in Kansas City, MO is using KickStart, and is thrilled with the results.
With the release of the latest 5300 NCUA report through the Third Quarter of 2012, we now have some hard numbers that show Carole’s outstanding loan growth improvement with the help of her new KickStart Lending tool.
Holy Rosary’s Total Loans (Acct 025B in the 5300 report) over the last several quarters looks like this:
Dec 31, 2010: 4,758,649
Mar 31, 2011: 4,647,966
Jun 30, 2011: 4,623,701
Sep 30, 2011: 4,719,143
Dec 31, 2011: 4,918,250
Mar 31, 2012: 7,623,506 <– Merger with a smaller CU
Jun 30, 2012: 7,607,091
Sep 30, 2012: 7,906,605 <– 1st full qtr w/KickStart
So as you can see via the numbers above, aside from their merger, KickStart has helped them see significant growth in the loan portfolio for the first time in quite a while. Besides the 4Q of 11, and the merger in 1Q 12, loan growth has been almost non-existent or even negative. Now armed with KickStart, Carole and her staff are able to serve members who want loans who can’t make it into the branch for whatever reason, or who want to apply for a loan during non-business hours. This most recent quarter represents loan growth of the portfolio by $299,514, which is a 3.94% increase. If that rate of growth continues, the CU will see a $1.2 million increase on a yearly comparison basis, which translates to a 15% increase on a starting loan portfolio of $7.6 million.
You can understand how excited we are for Carole to be having such fantastic success with KickStart, and for her members that are being served even better than they were before. It’s a joy for us to see Carole’s happiness with the service backed up by the proof of the NCUA 5300 report.
Thank you Carole for being such a great KickStart client! We are so thrilled that it’s working excellently for you, your staff, and your members! We are eagerly looking forward to more credit unions adopting KickStart and helping even more members apply for their loans online quickly and easily.
For more information about KickStart, just click here.
Do you ever wring your hands that more people don’t know what a credit union is? You’ve sent newsletters, done radio ads, put up billboards, and still so many people don’t know?
Well, I’ve got a really important idea for how to take care of this.
As marketers, most of know that the number one source of new business is through referrals of existing business. So if you take care of your current members well, they will tell their friends and family. So let’s assume you are already taking care of your members.
Are you taking care of your employees too?
And what I mean is this: Employees are people. They are not bodies taking up space in an organizational chart. What could be more demoralizing to a person than being assigned an email address of Teller1@NotABankFCU.com. I bet YOU don’t have an email of CFO5@NotABankFCU.com or VPMarketing28@
So why do this to a teller? Because you have high turnover in the position? Of course you have high turnover in that position; it’s a hard job with low pay. But when you treat people like numbers, and EXPECT that they will be out the door soon, it becomes even worse. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, and turn over gets worse, not better.
Yes, a big percentage of your tellers will eventually leave. But what about the ones that stay? What about the future CEOs, CFOs, COOs, and VPs of Marketing? Take a look at all the amazing programs going on for the future leaders of the CU movement, such as The Cooperative Trust’s Crash Events and CUES Next Top Executive.
I will offer this thesis: The best way to spread the word about what credit unions are is to treat every single new employee as if they are going to spend their career in the credit union movement, and eventually work their way up to being the CEO of YOUR credit union. If you treat every new hire in that way, sure, many of them will leave someday.
But here is the benefit: Even the ones who leave someday will enjoy their work more thoroughly. They will likely stay with your CU longer, thus reducing turnover. And most importantly, since you have educated them what it means to be a credit union, they will educate your members what it means to belong to a credit union.
AND….. for those one or two special people who grace your establishment for their entire careers…. YOU can feel special knowing that you have nurtured the next generation of credit union leadership. And it all starts with treating your new hires like they matter. Because they do.
Ms. Snell-Cooke’s editorial concludes with, “Get the consumers in the door first, and then explain to them about credit unions. The name on the door doesn’t matter – it’s what is on the inside that counts.”
Here’s the problem with this statement. As Snell-Cooke concedes, most of the general public have no idea what a credit union is. In addition to that, most staff working in a credit union don’t know what a credit union is. So CU staff are even LESS likely to educate people walking in as to what it is when the words are not even over the door.
Here is an imaginary conversation for credit unions who have dropped the words ‘credit union’ from their name:
Customer/member: “Hi I’d like to open a checking account. Do you have those here?”
Staff: “Why yes, certainly, I can open that for you. While we do the paperwork, can I tell you about what a credit union is?”
Customer/member: “Onion soup? I thought you guys were GTE Financial. Why would you tell me about onion soup?”
When the name is not over the door, mentioned nowhere, then starting a conversation about what it means to be a part of a credit union is as relevant to this new member as having a conversation about onion soup, which is what he thought he heard the staffer say.
Therefore I can not see the logical connection between dropping the words ‘credit union’ from an F.I.’s name as being a route to educating more people about what a credit union is.
I’ve written previously about Augmented Reality. I’m surprised that it hasn’t gained much more traction in the past couple of years. I still feel like this could be the next big thing.
An intro to Augmented Reality, or AR:
Examples include:
Yelp’s Monocle
Golf Range Finder
Star Chart
Wikitude
DishPointer
SketchWiz
New York Subways
Soccer
What ideas do YOU have for an Augmented Reality app?
As 2011 comes to a close, we can safely say that social media has become the norm rather than the exception, since Facebook has more than 10% of the world’s population (800 million out of 7 billion) using its site. Even broadcast TV puts twitter hashtags in their show’s title overlays. Because there are nearly as many social media outlets as there are social media users, implementing an effective strategy can be overwhelming. However, a few fundamental principles can help you keep your aim squarely on your marketing and business goals. Join me for this 101-level webinar on how to encourage people to go where you want to take them…back to your CU’s web site.
Attend this webinar and learn:
One of the most important and fundamental techniques to increase social media success
The place to start all social media campaigns that most people overlook
A step-by-step checklist to make sure you have your social media bases covered
The different characteristics of the major social media channels
Two common social media beliefs that are false and what to do instead
