LAS VEGAS—Credit union marketers were offered some thoughts on how to “stand out and be successful in the digital age” by one of their peers.
Paris Chevalier, chief marketing officer with Xceed Financial Credit Union in El Segundo, Calif., said it’s imperative that marketers and their credit unions keep changing and exploring new revenue sources.
“Credit unions can’t just survive by offering loans and savings accounts,” Chevalier told CU Direct’s DRIVE 15 Conference here. “Anyone can do that. So how do we differentiate ourselves?”
Paris Chevalier
Speaking as part of a trio of marketers who addressed the meeting, Chevalier said brick-and-mortar branches have become “money pits” (Xceed Financial refers to its branches as “financial centers”), but more importantly they no longer play the role they have for so long.
“Consumers don’t view their primary FI as a ‘place’ any longer,” she said, pointing to statistics showing 50% of smartphone owners have used mobile banking.
2014: 50% of smartphone owners used mobile banking.
Xceed Financial has embraced that reality. Its members can use a video app to reach a XFCU rep anytime between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. daily.
“From a marketing perspective it’s a great technology, but we need to make sure we’re staying ahead on the branding piece,” Chevalier said. “It needs to have the brand experience of Xceed. The reason all of this so important is it’s Customer 3.0: I want what I want, when I want it, where I want it. Consumers are demanding super-personalization.”
Xceed Financial offers a “banking butler” to certain qualified members, for instance.
“consumers have become conditioned to demand completely tailored products,” Chevalier continued. “Messages must be personalized. We can expect our members to become a little less patient. From a marketing standpoint members are becoming a lot less tolerant of communications that are one size fits all. We can’t just do the blanket mailings anymore like we used to do.”