In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, credit unions are seeking efficient and user-friendly solutions to meet the needs of their members. While HubSpot has established itself as a platform that delivers these essential qualities, convincing board members of its worth can be a challenging endeavor.

As dedicated HubSpot Diamond Partners, we are committed to empowering credit unions to maximize the potential of their digital marketing efforts through this platform. That’s why we recently moderated a webinar with our HubSpot Digital Success Panel — a group of credit union marketers that have successfully implemented HubSpot into their digital marketing strategy.

This blog post is your gateway to a wealth of insights derived from the webinar, where these experts shared their experiences in utilizing HubSpot to achieve remarkable success within their credit unions. The panel discussion primarily focused on addressing critical pain points, strategies to secure buy-in across the organization, and the myriad ways in which credit unions can derive significant value from HubSpot.

• Participated in Our HubSpot Success Panel?
• Now: HubSpot Digital Success Panel
• Did These Credit Unions Start Using HubSpot?
• These Credit Unions Achieved Using HubSpot
• Did They Get Vertical and Horizontal Buy-In for HubSpot?
  • Lessons for a Successful Buy-in
• These Credit Unions Are Getting Value from HubSpot
  • Unlocking the Power of Marketing Automation and Boosting Conversions
  • Empowering Onboarding Workflows for New Members
  • Data-Driven Insights for Smarter Marketing
  • Shifting Perceptions with HubSpot
• Other Examples of Credit Union Marketing Automation
  • Attracting New Members
  • Existing Members - Retention and Increasing Share of Wallet
• Conclusion

Who Participated in Our HubSpot Success Panel?

We've had the privilege of delving into the experiences of three distinct credit unions, each characterized by its unique features and scale.

Our panel comprises experts with a wealth of experience spanning across credit unions of varying sizes. They have navigated the HubSpot journey from securing buy-in from the board for implementation to exploring HubSpot’s extensive feature set and executing sophisticated strategies. Among them, we have representatives from small, mid-sized, and large credit unions, providing a well-rounded perspective on the versatility of HubSpot.

Allow us to introduce our panelists:

• Kristin Romero, Vice President of Marketing at BR Telco Federal Credit Union with $425 million in assets and four branches. She leads a dynamic team of three and is also in charge of their contact center.
• Adam Remshifski, Vice President of Analytics and Digital Marketing at American Heritage Credit Union, boasting $4.7 billion in assets. He guides a six-member team where he ensures that their digital marketing strategy is aligned with the credit union's goals.
• Robin Tooms, Chief Marketing Officer at Members Choice Credit Union with $715 million in assets. She uses HubSpot for both acquisition and nurturing, bringing a wealth of expertise to the discussion.

Watch Now: HubSpot Digital Success Panel

Why Did These Credit Unions Start Using HubSpot?

Some of the reasons why our panelists started using HubSpot are:

• Tracking Dropped Applications: Many credit unions faced a pressing issue. Despite having some automation tools in place, these tools fell short when it came to identifying individuals who initiated loan applications but didn't finish them. This created a significant headache, as credit unions lacked the means to convert these anonymous clicks into actionable member data. Without such information, it was nearly impossible to effectively target these potential members and entice them to return and complete their loan applications.
• Consolidation: Many credit unions have multiple platforms and vendors to fulfill all their digital marketing needs, from social media management and landing pages to tracking and reporting. These institutions now desire a platform capable of consolidating multiple systems, simplifying and streamlining their marketing efforts.
• User-Friendly Platform: One common pain point that resonated across the panel discussions was the demand for a user-friendly platform. Credit unions often operate with small marketing teams, making it impractical to outsource every task. As a result, they seek a solution that is not only easy to train on but also adaptable to their unique needs.

• Efficiency: Credit unions with small marketing teams are challenged when it comes to delivering the personalized digital experience members expect from them. They often have to choose between providing personalized communications vs. being efficient. HubSpot presents the opportunity to enable small teams to overcome these hurdles and cater to their members effectively.

What These Credit Unions Achieved Using HubSpot

Here are some of the wins our panelists achieved after implementing HubSpot:

• Recovered about 8% of abandoned applications for unsecured loans. HubSpot allowed the marketing team to send personalized communications to those members who started but didn’t finish their loan applications. These resulted in recovering about 8% of those abandoned applications. But these didn’t only apply to unsecured loans, as the team saw similar results for abandoned applications on other products.
• Consolidated multiple platforms into one. HubSpot allowed credit unions to consolidate various systems and vendors previously used for different aspects of digital marketing, such as social media management, landing pages, and tracking. This consolidation streamlined their marketing efforts, reducing complexity and enhancing efficiency. 
• Being able to implement automation without help from IT.  A crucial pain point addressed was the need for a user-friendly platform. HubSpot's intuitive interface made it easy for small marketing teams to operate efficiently. Its adaptability to unique needs and ease of training provided credit unions with a platform that they could readily utilize, even with limited resources.

One of the standout features of HubSpot is its robust automation capabilities, allowing credit unions to communicate with members based on their actions. This level of personalization is now an expectation, not only from financial institutions but from all companies. Similar to how users expect to get an email from their favorite retail business when they abandon their online cart without checking out, they expect to hear from your credit union when they abandon an application.

Are you ready to learn more about how HubSpot can help your credit union?

How Did They Get Vertical and Horizontal Buy-In for HubSpot?

All the things that you could do at your credit union using HubSpot may sound wonderful to you, and you may ask - how can I get approval to implement this tool? Our panelists had three different approaches:

• The buy-in process is consistently happening: Robin explained how the buy-in process is a continuum. Every time she has to approve a subscription renewal, she has to remind everyone how HubSpot is helping to drive production. The lead generation emails other teams get when people fill out the forms on their website are key to showing other departments how HubSpot helps them bring results.
• Show every department how HubSpot can make their work easier: During the pandemic, resources were stretched, so Adam needed a new way of doing more with the resources they had. Before he even mentioned anything about HubSpot, he asked every department what they were doing manually. Then, we put together case studies of how HubSpot automation could make their lives easier by eliminating those manual activities. 

He ultimately achieved the buy-in by explaining that HubSpot could eliminate all those manual activities and automate them, making everyone’s life easier. 

• Don’t ask for permission. Let the data show HubSpot’s value: Kristin wanted to try HubSpot for a very specific use case that didn’t involve other departments. That, tied to the fact that she manages her own team budget, allowed her to implement HubSpot without vertical buy-in. After she got all the data showing what she achieved using HubSpot, she shared it with her CEO, and they were astonished with the results. With this approach, it was way easier to expand HubSpot use cases to other departments by showing them how it could help them. Similar to what Adam did. 

One of Kristin’s tips is using a custom report for the board to make conversations easier - breaking down the percentage of applications that come from marketing influence. Her way of reminding the board what each metric means is creating a marketing glossary that’s attached to the report. Now, she doesn’t get questions like “Why do we spend this much money on digital advertising?” because they can see the ROI of those ads in the report.

Key Lessons for a Successful Buy-in

• Emphasize how HubSpot will assist your credit union's leadership team in achieving bottom-line goals. Explain how it’s going to make things more effective, taking pain points from fulfillment teams.
• Avoid limiting the discussion to marketing alone; instead, highlight how it can simplify operations for all teams.
• Clarify that it's feasible to effectively utilize HubSpot without relying on IT resources. If you have control over your budget and resources, you can employ it and demonstrate its viability.

How These Credit Unions Are Getting Value from HubSpot

Marketing at credit unions is still perceived as brochures and pens, but by using HubSpot tools, you can give visibility into what marketing actually does. What’s more, the versatility of the tool makes it useful for small, medium, and large credit unions.

Our panelists mentioned they love quite a few different features:

• Emails and CTAs built-in campaigns - it allows them to see where users are coming from then they get enrolled in a workflow. Then, you can track loan originations back to the CTA where it all started.
• Workflows, reporting, emails, social, ad audiences, and microsites - they’re also testing their AI features. 
• Workflows, automation, landing pages, and social planning tools, with a special love for campaign tracking - assets get a UTM code so they can see whatever got more clicked through the journey. 

However, they’re seeing value that goes way beyond the tools we mentioned above. According to them, the main benefits of HubSpot for credit unions are:

Unlocking the Power of Marketing Automation and Boosting Conversions

When it comes to optimizing your credit union's performance, automation is a game-changer. We've found that a remarkable 7.5% of abandoned applications can be transformed into funded loans through the magic of automation. It's a powerful tool in your arsenal that can significantly impact your bottom line.

Empowering Onboarding Workflows for New Members

An effective onboarding process is essential for attracting and retaining members. HubSpot allows you to seamlessly guide new members through the onboarding journey, all while having the ability to showcase additional products and services that align with their needs and objectives. By offering this tailored customer experience, you can witness how these workflows lead to achieving goals.

Data-Driven Insights for Smarter Marketing

Beyond just tracking dollars and cents, HubSpot equips your team with invaluable insights. These insights not only help in allocating funds to members but also transform your team into smarter marketers. By understanding what strategies are working and what isn't performing well, your team can pivot and adapt. It's all about transparency, encouraging your team to break free from the mindset that they must stick to traditional tactics just because they have always done that, even if it’s not yielding results.

Shifting Perceptions with HubSpot

Before embracing HubSpot, marketing was often seen as synonymous with branded messages. HubSpot has been instrumental in shifting this perception. It has allowed marketing teams to demonstrate return on investment (ROI) and campaign performance. This shift positions them as true business partners within the organization, giving them a voice and influence in strategic decision-making. Now, they can back their suggestions with data on actual campaign performance, ensuring that no opportunity is missed.

Other Examples of Credit Union Marketing Automation

HubSpot was one of the first true inbound marketing platforms, making it simple for users to add SEO rich content to their websites to attract and nurture potential customers searching for their products and services.

However, there are other popular marketing automation platforms for Credit Unions, including ActOn, Active Campaign, and Marketo.

No matter what marketing automation platform you use, it’s clear that a more organized, structured approach with more digital touches to new prospects and customers will lead to new members, increased assets, loans, and a greater share of wallet from existing members.

Let's walk through some examples of how Credit Unions can use marketing automation techniques to grow.

Attracting New Members

• Obtain an email list of potential members and send them information on member benefits, special offers, community service activities, and financial news updates. 
• Lists can be segmented based on Buyer Personas to improve the relevance of your messages. Personalization is a big deal - $756 billion was lost by retail companies due to poor personalization in 2017, and it's the number one improvement request from financial services customers.
• Follow up with new member prospects periodically by sending them information tailored to where they are in the sales funnel.
• Per HubSpot, only one in five emails should be about selling.
• HubSpot's CRM can track where a prospect is in the sales funnel and your sales team can monitor status, add follow-up dates & maintain notes on all the conversations with the prospect. They can also send one-off emails from the platform.
• If you add additional marketing technology to your website, such as a Chatbot, Pop-up or customized forms, you can connect your website to HubSpot and have prospect information populated in the CRM.
• Dashboards and Reports can be designed to capture any information stored in the CRM including how many calls were made, and the number of emails sent, opened and responded to.
• Build custom landing pages for specific promotions to increase conversion rates, and conduct easy-to-use A/B testing to further optimize conversions.

Existing Members - Retention and Increasing Share of Wallet

• Send welcome/onboarding emails to new members with instructions on the next steps
• Offer incentives to refer new members
• Thank them for being a member on key anniversaries
• Offer targeted promotions based on segmentation. For example, a member with an auto loan may be a good candidate for a credit card, equity loan or mortgage. There are multiple cross-sell opportunities that can be automated.
• Invite them to auto shows and other special or community events
• Ask for reviews. We've found the more positive online reviews a Credit Union has, the higher they appear in Google Search rankings.
• Utilize emails segmented by demographics and products for share of wallet digital advertising opportunities on Google and Facebook. 

For both attracting new members and engaging existing members, you can organize your marketing campaigns within the HubSpot platform to include email marketing, blog articles, and social media posts, as well as tracking ad campaigns. 

Conclusion

With HubSpot, your credit union can elevate its performance, nurture onboarding workflows, gain data-driven insights, and transform the role of marketing within your organization. This dynamic platform is your key to unlocking new opportunities and propelling your credit union to unprecedented success. Embrace HubSpot, and watch your credit union thrive.

We’ve helped many credit unions using HubSpot unlock the value this tool offers. If you have any questions about how to make the most of HubSpot, feel free to reach out to us.

Note: This post was originally published on August 14, 2018, with updates on December 6, 2023.