The Mindset of Laziness and New Members

Excuses I use to not do something: It’s hot. Twitter demands my attention. There are only three more episodes of “Somebody Feed Phil.” I wonder if this cheese sandwich would be better if I added sriracha? (The answer was yes, by the way). I’m going to Google all known types of olives.

Some of us are really lazy people. And that’s OK some days. When it comes to getting new members to switch from their long-time bank, like Wells Fargo, to your credit union – that can be a big ask, especially if there are new episodes of “Westworld” to stream.

When I first became a credit union member 20-something years ago, I never left. The credit union was merged into another credit union, and that credit union rebranded and renamed itself into what it is today. And at no point did I have to do anything. Which was a huge plus, because apparently I’ve been pretty lazy for the last 20-something years.

I think about consumer and/or member experience a lot when it comes to pretty much everything, like mobile banking, mobile check deposit (and I actually time how long it takes for a check to officially show up in my account), loan applications, change machines located in a credit union, suckers at the teller counter, the condition of chairs located in the lobby, and just the overall experience of being and becoming a credit union member.

I do this when I’m at Best Buy, at the grocery store and even on Amazon. What is the overall experience? From there, I decide if I want to become part of that brand or not.

And that brings me back to my original thought: What is your credit union’s onboarding process?

When it comes to landing new members – and I’m putting long-time credit union members to the side for this process – I think it really starts with Google.

If you put enough money and effort into SEO marketing goals, you’ll be in a much better position to land those new members who’ve just moved into town and/or who are sick of dealing with their bank. According to my marketing contacts inside and outside of the credit union space, anywhere from 2% to 13% of the total organization’s budget goes to marketing efforts. Of that amount, about 1% is used to meet SEO goals – buying AdWords and such on Google.

But, here’s an incredibly low-cost, if not almost free, idea for you to help increase your visibility on Google: Create handouts asking current members, or anyone who comes in, to rate your credit union on Google. On that handout you can say something like, “In order for us to serve you and our community better, please rate us on Google <include simple instructions and the name of the teller or CU staff member who helped out>. We are here for, and because of, you.” Or something like that … you marketing types can figure that out. The point is, I’ve experienced this exact technique three times in the past two weeks. And each time, I reviewed the business because they were so nice and helpful, and I wanted to show my appreciation because life is hard and these places didn’t add any extra challenges. To those businesses, I’m your brand ambassador now. Dawn and Keith from the storage unit company, thank you – five stars!

After Google, it’s about transferring that SEO into real foot traffic through your doors. I’m a nut when it comes to being in clean places and feeling comfortable. I’ve slept in my car multiple times after walking into a dirty hotel room. The onboarding visual of your credit union is really important (especially to my Clorox-filled brain) when checking in to speak with a new-member specialist; and so is some good free coffee and nice chairs to sit in while waiting. Members do sit there and look around at the branch and even smell it. I had a brief conversation with a lady at a credit union a few days ago and she said, “I already knew they had good rates and the smell of coffee the first time I came in is what I loved. I’m here a lot.”

We sipped our coffee and just sat there.

Once a potential member meets with your staff, I’d suggest starting out by asking them why they are there. After that answer, briefly explain the historical roots of your credit union without going into a full-grandpa-long-winded story. “This credit union started out as the financial provider for our local teachers.” Again, whatever it is, it gives your credit union true local roots, unlike a corporate bank.

Let’s say you are successful in signing up that new member. Congratulations! Now, if you can figure out a way to simply explain, and even walk the new member through, the online and mobile banking account set up process, you’ll have this member hooked all the way. I don’t believe that this online/mobile convenience is just catered to the younger generations. My 70-plus-year-old mom wants to know exactly how to do it. And she feels great when she learns something new to do with her phone. Also, she likes wine. So just let her do her drink-banking in peace at home.

From my perspective, it really comes down to personal and online/mobile banking convenience. Can I easily pop into the branch when I really just need to speak to someone? Can I get a replacement debit card immediately or do I have to wait five to seven business days? How simple is it to connect my credit union debit card to Apple Pay or Google Pay?

The last thing with onboarding really is that nice credit union folder to take home. While we are a more paperless society, that folder is still some weird memorabilia that gets filed into some box and is pulled out once every few years if I need some specific bit of private banking information that I cannot remember. That credit union folder I got 20-plus years ago? I’m too lazy to throw it away.

Michael Ogden is executive editor for CU Times. He can be reached at mogden@cutimes.com.