Many credit unions that have implemented marketing automation are seeing a very positive return on their investment in the form of increased qualified leads and member retention rates, but what does it take to be successful?

And why aren't more credit unions taking advantage of this technology?

I recently hosted a webinar on Credit Union Marketing Automation. While I'm sharing a summary here, you can access the full webinar recording free anytime for more details.

The big news: Organizations who use marketing automation see a 451% increase in qualified leads.

Among those organizations who excel at marketing automation, 91% rank it as very important to their marketing success.

So why wouldn't everyone be on board?

Marketing automation adoption rates are steadily increasing, but remain relatively low for credit unions. While half of all companies overall use marketing automation, only a quarter of financial institutions use marketing automation. Another 21% of financial institutions say they plan to use marketing automation in the future. 

Barriers to entry include compliance concerns and the time investment involved, but those credit unions who making the commitment to advancing their marketing success with automation are reaping the rewards. 

Digital Marketing Trends

2017 was the first year when digital marketing spending exceeded TV media spending, and that gap is projected to continue to widen as digital becomes more and more essential in reaching audiences.

Print and radio spending are also on the decline, especially for reaching younger demographics such as millennials.

We recommend that 35-40% of a credit union's total marketing budget be allocated to digital marketing.

We recommend 12% of credit union's digital marketing budget be allocated to marketing technology (i.e. marketing automation).

What is Marketing Automation?

Marketing automation is software that automates key marketing activities including:

• Email marketing
• Lead nurturing
• Customer intelligence
• Campaign management

Who Uses Marketing Automation?

Marketing automation benefits almost any type of business, but those who will see the biggest impact are:

• Organizations with a lengthy sales cycle
• Organizations with an opportunity to increase customer lifetime value (CLV)

Both of these are clearly very relevant to credit unions.

In our webinar, we show an example of the difference in customer experience when engaging with a credit union that is using marketing automation versus one who is not, and the missed opportunities for credit unions who aren't following up with leads.

Marketing Automation for Credit Unions

Marketing automation can help credit unions in crucial areas including bringing in new members, customer onboarding, and customer retention.

Winning new members

• maintain brand visibility
• provide powerful, relevant content
• empower sales team

Customer onboarding

Many credit union institutions are still using a manual process to onboard members. Providing relevant, personalized communications during the onboarding process can play a large role in building loyalty with new members and increasing their CLV. Using automation enables the delivery of relevant content delivery spread out over an ideal period of time.

Customer retention

Marketing automation can have a significant impact on customer retention as well, potentially deepening their relationship with a credit union by delivering relevant content to current members.

Getting Started with Credit Union Marketing Automation

1. Connect lead generation platforms to marketing automation platform to automate new lead intake and avoid delays in communicating with potential members
2. Define target customer personas
3. Visually map out the experience you want to create with marketing automation- what content you'll send out, the goal of each piece of content, the timing of content being sent, and defining how engaged leads will be handled.
4. Create a project plan for setting up marketing automation and make it an imperative.

Popular Marketing Automation Platforms for Credit Unions

The webinar gives several suggestions for platforms, depending on the size of the credit union, marketing goals and how established the marketing program is, and realistically how well-utilized it will be.

The ROI of any marketing automation platform will be heavily dependent upon the utilization, so it does require a commitment to making it work.

Watch the full webinar for more details on marketing automation for credit unions.

Learn more about Credit Union Marketing Strategies