SwitchTracker: A completely new way to help your members make the switch to your CU

The team here at EverythingCU has been hard at work, making innovative and bold strides in the way things are done, and we’ve developed a brand new service to help your CU get stronger.

We know that one of the things that forward-thinking CU professionals on EverythingCU (that’s you!) are looking for, is a better way to help your members make the switch to your CU.

Enter your new secret weapon, SwitchTracker.

What does SwitchTracker do?

SwitchTracker gives your members everything they need to make the switch to your CU quickly and efficiently, in an easy-to-use format. Not only does your member get personalized step-by-step instructions, they control email reminders that keep them on track to the finish line. And when your member needs help, they can reach out to your MSRs instantly from within the service.

Here are a few barriers your members face in trying to make the switch, and how SwitchTracker solves the issues:

• Multiple intimidating forms and paperwork – SwitchTracker has a simple and easy one-page input
• Questions arise that the member doesn’t know how to deal with – SwitchTracker has a help button and instructions
• Members are unsure in what order to do the many steps – SwitchTracker breaks it down into a step-by-step checklist
• Switch process started, but no follow-through – SwitchTracker sends periodic emails to remind the member what to switch next

Demo Time!

Take a quick ride in the SwitchTracker experience. Even if you’ve tried it before, demo SwitchTracker again so you can see these new features:

1. Instructions on how to complete each step
2. Member or MSR can input the checking account number so that the member has it handy for each switch
3. Ability to contact each organization to be switched via PDF letter or email
4. Congratulations message with your CU’s loan department contact information when the member finishes the switch

When you demo SwitchTracker, click one of the printer icons on the checklist page to view the PDF letters generated. Also, be sure to check off all of your switch items, and then click the “Update Checklist” button to see the congratulations message displayed when the switch is complete.

For more details, view the SwitchTracker information page.

There’s even more to SwitchTracker behind the scenes in your CU’s control panel, including comprehensive usage statistics. If you have questions, or would like a personal online demo, please email me, morriss@everythingcu.com, or Matt, matt@everythingcu.com. You can be up and running with this new service to help members make the switch to your credit union within a matter of just a few days.

Bring your members the best tool to help them make the switch to your credit union: SwitchTracker.

We’d love to get your feedback on this exciting new way to help your members make the switch to your CU. Feel free to comment here or ask any questions you may have!

Making online forms as easy as possible

I’m in the process of writing an article for CUES’ CU Management magazine, about KickStart Online Lending Generator and Holy Rosary CU’s results. Editor Lisa Hochgraf had some excellent questions for me which prompted me to do a little bit more research into the universal conclusion that removing barriers and streamlining online forms from the user’s perspective leads to better results and increased sales.

So I thought I would share with you some of the eye-popping research that I discovered (and thus why Carol and Holy Rosary CU are getting wonderful results with KickStart – i.e. 10.49% growth in their loan portfolio over the past 6 months):

• Google’s Marissa Mayer: Speed Wins

• The $300 Million Button

• How Amazon’s website usability affects consumer product choice (This is a lengthy research paper)

In addition to the above research on the importance of streamlining the user/member/customer experience to improve sales, we’ve done some streamlining of our own. One item that proved to ourselves that we get better results when we make things easier online is that when we took the step of pre-filling out our own Online Switch Kit demo for you, dozens and dozens of you tried it out, compared to nearly no one trying it out when it was not pre-filled. It seems simple, but often times the little things can make a BIG difference!

So in our continuing quest to make our own forms and demos even easier to try out, we’ve now also pre-filled out the already-simple KickStart Loan Request form to make it even easier for you to test that for yourself. Kick the tires on KickStart yourself right here: KickStart test site

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this – did you find you got better results when your streamlined your online processes, forms, applications, and navigation? Was there ever a time when making things easier for your members online was a bad thing?

Member testimonials in Texas

Yesterday, I had a nice phone call with Susan Herring of Brazos Valley Schools CU in Katy, Texas. Susan is awesome, and had a glowing review of our PlumWall testimonial product, which she has been using ever since we rolled it out.

Here’s a summary of what she told me: Susan said she LOVES PlumWall and thinks it’s worth every penny.

She loves how easy it is for members to put their testimonials up, and that members use PlumWall to give their testimonials even more than the online survey system they use.

She also said that staff really enjoys when they are the ones featured in the system. Whenever a new testimonial comes in featuring a staff member, Susan emails it to everyone in the CU so that that staff member gets their moment in the spotlight of doing excellent things for the member, which naturally encourages everyone else to continue doing their great work for members so that they’ll get their turn in the testimonial spotlight down the road.

We are so thrilled that Susan is loving her PlumWall! Maybe it’s something that will liven up your own online member testimonials!

Announcing the EverythingCU.com Loan Report

Exciting news…. we are proud to launch a brand new product here at EverythingCU.com. Building on the long-running success of our Marketing Budget Report, we’ve now built a super-dandy Loan Report.

This Loan Report has all of the same great peer group comparisons as the Marketing Budget Report (virtually any number of peers from 10 to 5000, compare by Assets, Number of Members, or Total Loans), and compare by State, Region, or the USA.

But this new Loan Report has FAR more comparison data because the NCUA 5300 has much greater detail about loans.

This nifty new Loan Report lets you view these loan breakouts:

• Total Loans
• Mortgages
• Other R.E.
• New Auto
• Used Auto
• Credit Cards
• Unsecured
• Business Loans
• All Other Loans

And in addition, for each of these loan breakouts, we offer a full variety of View Modes:

• Rate
• Average Size
• Percent of Total
• Loans per Member
• Growth Rate
• Charge-offs
• Total Expense
• Net Worth ratios
…. and several more

But don’t take my word for it, try out the demo! In demo mode, you will be able to view only the Total Loan category in the “Current” View Mode. But all of the data is there if you would like to purchase it.

We think this report will be especially valuable for CEOs and VPs of Lending, but it is also great for CFOs, VPs of Marketing who are concerned with the CU loan portfolio, anyone on the ALM or Supervisory commitees, board members, and branch managers. So be sure to tell everyone at your CU who would benefit!

As with all of our products, purchase of the Loan Report makes it available to ALL registered employees at your CU. If they are not already registered, you can Invite Them Here.

Check it out and let us know what you think!

Helping new members make the switch

Online Switch Kits continue to get excellent media coverage. Today, I received an email newsletter from the Northwest Credit Union Association (serving credit unions in Oregon and Washington), and was tickled to see an article on Switch Kits featured. The article is titled Can Switch Kits Increase New Member Satisfaction?

It was particularly happy for me to see this article appear in that trade publication since EverythingCU’s Online Switch Kit was born out of a session I attended at a 2002 CUES conference held in Seattle. There was a breakout session called Switch Kits presented by a credit union marketer from Pinellas County FCU. This breakout session was packed to standing room only. At that time, not many people were thinking about the online world, so it just seemed natural to me to create an online version of what they were writing out by hand, and thus the EverythingCU Online Switch Kit was born.

One point of pride for us with our Online Switch Kit: Since EverythingCU.com serves only credit unions, we have only credit unions as clients of this product. Therefore, the EverythingCU.com Online Switch Kit will NEVER help a person make the switch from a credit union to a bank…. only the “correct” direction, and that is from a bank to a credit union. We do have competitors, but as far as I know, none of them can make this claim.

If you aren’t one of the 112 credit unions already using the Online Switch Kit, what are you waiting for? If you are one, then thank you for your continued patronage and we hope you are seeing terrific usage from it by your new members!