customer-retention

‘Checking Customers’ Drive Credit Union Revenues & Profitability: Member Retention

‘Checking Customers’ Drive Credit Union Revenues & Profitability: Member Retention

It is found that an increase in member/customer retention by just 5 percent leads to an increase in profits by 25 to 95 percent. ‘Customer Loyalty’ is what differentiates the member-savvy credit unions from those that ignore the member needs.  This is the last episode of the Credit Union series that focuses on answering ‘how to retain existing members?’. While tackling the existing member base may seem easier than acquiring new ones, it is not. Member attrition cannot be defined by the number of members who reduce, but by the number of members those who stop using the services of a credit union.  Even before you start implementing your well-researched member retention program, you need to benchmark your efforts against some tangible metrics. How do you measure the success of Member Retention? Before implementing a member retention program, loyalty campaign or influencer campaign, design your marketing campaigns to achieve the following outcomes. Increase the member lifetime valueIncrease member engagementReduce member churnIncrease profitabilityIncrease loyalty indexIncrease Net Promoter ScoreIncrease member participation But truly, here is your template that can help you get started with a retention program. How can credit unions improve their penetration within their current member base? Positive member retention efforts result in deposit growth, loan repayment, referrals, and purchase of another service from the same credit union.  Member retention begins with providing members with good financial advice, personalizing the customer experience, building an in-person relationship, and application of technology to improve voice banking, mobile banking, etc.  Influencer Marketing Implementation of personalization or any other marketing begins with ‘knowing the customer’. Using the existing data and finding intelligent ways to extract supportive third-party data becomes the foundation of any further marketing activity. A lot of saving and spending habits are driven by a person’s lifestyle and cultural motivators. And, this affects the patterns of deposit and loan repayment. Many influencers such as celebrities, therapists, employers, friends, and family form the member’s ecosystem. Your brand’s resonance among these influencers enhances your relationship with every single member. Most of such data is anonymous. However, holistic influencer marketing campaigns cater to gather influencer data too.  Another trend that brings a different set of influencers to handle is deposit displacement. Here funds that are kept in a bank or credit union checking account are diverted to health savings accounts, P2P apps like Venmo or Square Cash, and merchant apps from Starbucks, Walmart and others that let people load funds.  Tech integrations that encourage this lifestyle change influence the member’s retention rate. Also, in CDPs advanced analytical tools make it easier to monitor these influences. Beyond tracking, brands can use immediate digital feedback to better reach target consumers across multiple channels. Personalization Insights from McKinsey confirm that “data-activated marketing — based on a person’s real-time needs, interests, and behaviors — represents an important part of the new horizon of growth.” McKinsey says this can boost total sales by 15% to 20%, and digital sales even more, while significantly improving the ROI on marketing spend across marketing channels. A Customer Data Platform gathers data across all sources of information and interaction that allows financial marketers to integrate different marketing technologies and use member data to design personalized campaigns. 33 percent of consumers who abandoned a business relationship did so because of the lack of personalization. This indicates that a member’s trust in the bank or credit union is determined by their ability to provide a personalized and relevant experience. This becomes all the more important in the digital age because millennials who promote digitization also have subliminal loyalties.  Referral Systems Designing a referral-reward scheme is not just about the incentive, it more about the trust built between members and the credit union. While this can bring more prospects to your doorstep, it can also backfire if credit unions keep up to the promise. Apart from credit points and surprise gifts, the member-centric credit unions combine referral schemes with service issue resolution. Though members remain satisfied with the services, they may not be willing to recommend your credit union to someone else. To avoid this gap, the context is set using member-level data to design exclusive referral-reward systems.  Referral systems are best when kept simple. Most traditional systems recommend the use of a single channel for referral programs that helps in reducing complexity. However, CDPs enable marketers to apply personalization and create contexts that are understood and appreciated by each checking customer. Cross-selling and Upselling Credit Unions need to take primary decisions about whether to include ‘go with’ services within the product category (debit card, online banking, mobile banking, bill pay, direct deposit, etc) and whether a cross-sell ratio includes only retail banking products and customers/households or small business, investment services and commercial customers/products as well.  Internal sales help in increasing revenues, keeping the cost per currency earned low. Financial marketers need to track the member journey and stay in touch with their needs. This helps in landing on a high-conversion sale instead of a non-converting, generic interaction. Loyalty programs combined with a reward mechanism help in increasing the member lifetime value.  What can a good ‘member retention’ program do to your Credit Union? It lets you maintain a pool of younger members, allowing you to achieve the average member age!! Research quotes that with a high member retention rate, the vast majority of your members stay with you year to year. Their age increases by one every year. Take Action The primary agenda to blend the marketing strategy of Credit Unions with technology is driven by the goal to increase member base and loyalty among the existing members.  Delivering an exceptional user experience across channels requires deep insights of your members, and only by having the right combination of marketing and tech can you create highly refined target segments based on a multitude of attributes that are mapped to personas. This is the secret sauce that powers effective marketing campaigns that accelerate member acquisition, drive customer loyalty, and effectively cross-sell and up-sell.

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4 tactics to achieve Growth during Economic Downturn with ‘Recession-proof marketing’

4 tactics to achieve Growth during Economic Downturn with ‘Recession-proof marketing’

Marketing is seen as a cost center. The first reaction to an economic downturn and recession is to retreat on marketing budgets. This creates a vicious cycle of losing customers due to such cutbacks. This would further hit the incoming revenue. You will see customers spending less on their products/services and causing those businesses to cut back even more. It requires you to create a recession-proof marketing.  Instead, hearing the advice from the founder of Walmart, you may change your mind. He said, “I thought about it (recession) and decided not to participate.” Following the principle that “a good offense is the best defense,”.  Use your Customer Data Platform to sustain and thrive during Recession  1. Find the lumpsum buyers  Tactic: Re-visit your data that helps you know your customer.  The commerce world is dependent on financing options for customers such as installment loans and EMIs. Recession also is synonymous with layoffs. This brings down the consumer’s ability to buy more using the small break-ups. A Customer Data Platform with Analytics can spot those segments of customers who are lumpsum buyers. You should target these segments.  Take away:  For newer campaigns, create look-like segments of those lumpsum buyers. Replicate product selling campaigns to those segments. Using ‘segmentation’ as a principle and a feature in CDP (Customer Data Platform), you can also break down these visited segments into further micro segments to target a specific product. The segmentation can be done based on purchase behavior and demographics.  2. Retention optimization and marketing  Tactic: Retain existing customers with loyalty and community marketing.  Spends are the same for everyone. Not just with you, but your customers would also cut down on spending. Which means your existing customers are likely to ignore your products and reduce your brand in their priority list.  And your marketing efforts must be diverted to retention marketing. Forbes indicates that it costs five times more to acquire a new client than retain an existing one.   Take away:  A central system with APIs to integrate your loyalty management extension and your community app can be immensely powerful. The customers’ purchase history and buying behavior sits in a CDP which is integrated to the e-commerce app/ banking portal/ any PoS interface that is online or offline. This data reveals how clusters of customers behave to different offers and their preferences.   Using this data, design campaigns targeting micro segments with customized offers. Help customers save money with timely and relevant promotions. Build loyalty programs for micro communities who engage on your community platform.   A strong community not only translates into internal conversions at a low cost, but also encourages word-of-mouth that tells more people about your product at no cost.   This invites free marketing!  3. Pay-for-performance marketing model    Tactic: Tie back everything to Conversions that are transparent by each customer  Performance marketing universe is not just ads. It includes bloggers, influencers, paid media specialists and other affiliate partners who contribute to your lead and sales pipeline.   The campaigns that are under the umbrella of performance marketing should be tied to pure conversions and less awareness. This means your incentive plans should also be designed to payout commissions based on a tangible and monetary conversion metric.  This keeps your marketing efforts very result oriented. It provides an incentive for action and a hedge for the business against marketing losses.  Take away: Watch how your leads are being managed. FirstHive’s Connector Module, which is an extension of its Customer Data Platform empowers marketing managers with transparency about the lead flow and progress.   It helps you see in a single view how the leads are being converted into customers and who is contributing to the performance. This also helps you design incentive programs and commission plans based on the progress.  4. Tie your Brand to a Passion Project  Tactic: Social branding  Typing up to bigger issues and social mission to your brand would enhance your visibility. At times of recession, people look for hope and opportunity. Twisting your positioning to support social initiatives would turnaround the need of your product among consumers. Especially, if you are a retail brand – just like what Adidas did with its campaign #runfortheoceans explore fundraising and social initiatives.  Run For The Oceans | Impossible Is Nothing | adidas  Take away:  Just like channel partners, build a partner program with non-profit organizations and social institutions. Instead of products, work towards promoting the cause or mission. Driving a scalable partner program requires deep analytics tied back to campaigns. Create coupon codes and offers that can be led by your partners using customer journey orchestration and campaign automation. Integrate these tools with a CDP to gain single customer view to understand who the customers are who are actively and positively responding to your social campaign.  Align your sales campaigns using this information around social campaigns.  Summing it up, for marketers  Familiarize yourself with data and use a martech stack that is data friendly. Power-up on segmentation capabilities. Focus on return on cost spent by marketing dollars. Lastly, do not shy away from long-term strategies that help you rise right after the economic downturn ends.  The key is to choose marketing activities and invest in campaigns that keep your CFO happy. CFOs want to preserve profits while keeping their acquisition costs down and EBITDA stable. Hence, focus on outcome-based marketing decisions.  Recession proof marketing.pdf from FirstHiveTM Explore further to understand how to leverage data marketing and build on your existing customer data. 

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5 ways to earn more and spend less: Explore Economic Impact of a CDP delivering “Single Customer View” 

5 ways to earn more and spend less: Explore Economic Impact of a CDP delivering “Single Customer View” 

Data ingestion and enrichment – the two capabilities of a Customer Data Platform create unified customer identities. The unified customer identities that are universally recognized and activated create a Single Customer View for marketing, customer success, and data teams. This Single Unified customer profile enables driving superior customer engagement.   Advantages of a Single Customer View can be measured by the economic value that your business unit reaps. Here are the advantages of unified profiles and the profitability or promise that emerges out of it.   Reduced Cost of Data Obsolescence (No Data Duplication)  CDPs continuously update and enrich customer data with the perpetual ingestion of relevant data points flowing into the system. Duplicate data is eliminated with a combination of probabilistic and deterministic mapping. Customer profiles are also further improved with data enrichment.   The UK Databerg report brings to light that typically more than 53% of data stored is dark, untagged, or left unclassified. This adds storage and cleansing costs to the business. A CDP avoids storage of such data. It transforms raw data to activated data with identifier and profiling.  Reduced Cost of Data Loss (Get a Complete View of the Customer)  When marketing organizations depend on manual efforts and cycles with a time lapse, there is always a threat of losing data. The money spent on collecting data will be a complete waste. Not only that, but you also end up targeting inaccurate customer profiles. This leaves you with inaccurate hypotheses for your campaigns. You will be going after inappropriate segments.   With Single Customer View aided by unified profiles, on the other hand you will have real-time understanding of customer data. You will be dealing with real, accurate, and timely customer data that can be used for campaign activation.  Reduced Cost of Customer Engagement (Craft Unique Customer Journeys)  When you know what the customer wants, you will be able to engage better. Without real-time and enriched data, engaging with customers would be a pure loss of budgets. Dealing with unknown data would lead you to waste money on non-personalized email drip campaigns or make embarrassing mistakes such as delivering the wrong message to users and customers.  With rich and updated customer data, the customer journeys would remain relevant and do their job. Marketers can craft unique customer journeys.  Better Budget Optimization  With real-time customer data, marketers can make mission critical decisions. Based on channel preferences of the customers, you can plan which channels to invest more into and withdraw away from. The preferred timings of customers, also helps in planning spends during peak engagement duration of the day.  Demand forecast  Customers also leave cues around what they want and when they want. These preferences can be assigned to each customer ID. A unique dashboard to track their preferences for the future can be generated. This dashboard will indicate what is available for the future and what to sell, when.  It not only helps in product inventory planning, but also demand based pricing for marketers.   Access the full series of Growth-oriented Customer Experience here. 

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Unwrapping Success: Your Ultimate Guide to Festive Season Marketing Mastery

Unwrapping Success: Your Ultimate Guide to Festive Season Marketing Mastery

The festive season is upon us, and there is no more challenging time of the year for retail marketers. In 2022, holiday online retail sales in the U.S. reached nearly $240 billion, with Cyber Monday leading the way (Statista.com). We understand that you want to carve out your share from this very large pie. Welcome to your comprehensive marketing checklist for spreading holiday cheer while boosting sales. This guide will walk you through essential strategies and actions to make the most of this joyful time, ensuring that you not only participate in the holiday shopping frenzy but emerge as the “Joy to the World” for your customers. 1. Start Early: The key to a successful holiday marketing campaign is to start early. About 45-60 days before the festive season, typically starting in the last week of October, is the ideal time to kickstart your efforts. This allows you to plan strategically, analyze past performance, and align your team for a coordinated approach. By being proactive, you’ll be well-prepared to make the most of the holiday rush. 2. Curate a “True” Omni-channel Experience: In today’s digital age, shoppers seamlessly transition between online and offline channels. To meet their expectations, it’s crucial to create a “True” omni-channel experience, often referred to as “Phygital” marketing. This means ensuring a consistent and personalized shopping journey across all touchpoints, be it in your physical store or online. By merging the best of both worlds, you’ll engage customers more effectively. 3. Leverage Social Media: Social media platforms have become essential for holiday marketing. They are where your potential buyers gather, seek inspiration, and make purchasing decisions. To leverage this, focus on building emotional connections through storytelling, embrace online video content, collaborate with influencers, and create trends that build a sense of community. Social media can be a powerful ally in your holiday marketing strategy. To access detailed checklist for each point and a time synchronized checklist access the full guide – Be the “Joy to the World” this holiday season (A Retail Marketer’s Comprehensive Guide to Boosting Sales and Spreading Holiday Joy) 4. Strategize Beyond Discounts: While discounts are enticing, today’s shoppers are looking for more. Offer value-added services like free shipping, gift suggestions, gift packing, and hassle-free returns. Personalized marketing, video content, and early greetings can also set you apart. By thinking beyond discounts, you can cater to a wider audience and stand out from the competition. 5. Reward Your Loyal Customers: Your existing customer base is a valuable asset during the holiday season. Create or enhance your loyalty program to incentivize repeat purchases. Encourage new shoppers to join by offering bonus rewards. Develop special loyalty program discount codes and reach out to customers after the holidays to keep them engaged. Loyal customers can be your biggest advocates. 6. Track, Measure, and Analyze: A successful holiday campaign doesn’t end with implementation; it requires continuous monitoring and analysis. Implement robust tracking and analytics tools to measure performance in real-time. Make data-driven adjustments to your strategies throughout the season. By tracking, measuring, and analyzing, you can optimize your campaigns for better results. Notes for Consideration: In addition to the core checklist, consider planning win-back campaigns for previous customers, preparing curated offerings for last-minute shoppers, and implementing selling strategies and gamification during the festive season. Ready to embark on your holiday marketing journey? Let’s dive into each of these points to create a memorable and successful festive season for your brand Access the COMPLETE GUIDE – Be the “Joy to the World” this holiday season (A Retail Marketer’s Comprehensive Guide to Boosting Sales and Spreading Holiday Joy)

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