About Georgia United Credit Union
Founded by teachers as a friendly and affordable alternative to corporate banking, Georgia United Credit Union is a not-for-profit financial institution rooted in service and giving back to local communities. Offering a full suite of financial products and services, Georgia United serves over 170,000 members and is one of the state’s largest credit unions with $1.7 billion in assets.
Pain Points
Metro Atlanta is a competitive financial landscape, with mega-banks, large credit unions and strong community banks. For Georgia United to succeed, it needs to continuously find ways to provide a better experience for its members.
Beyond serving members better, and evolving marketing programs to meet needs in real time, Georgia United was struggling with technology and processes internally. Each time the marketing team wanted to send an email, for example, it had to request a list from IT, because there was no integration of data with their previous email platform. This less-than-ideal process between marketing and IT was slowing down real-time communication with its members.
Approach
Georgia United implemented Act-On with a goal to increase their automation capabilities and shape its customer journey. Their previous email platform had served its purpose, and the time had come to implement customized, automated marketing programs with segmented, personalized content that helps to attract and retain new customers.
Automated Onboarding Sequences Contribute to Higher Customer Retention for Georgia United Credit Union
Onboarding new customers is an extremely important focus for both Marketing and Member Experience Teams at Georgia United. Implementing Act-On allowed for an integrated and automated answer to great customer onboarding experiences. Automated onboarding helps to drive the member experience from the very beginning of the relationship and engage new customers into the brand culture and online services.
To develop the content necessary for their new automated email program, Georgia United’s Marketing Team worked with the Member Experience Team to understand pain points in the new member and new account opening process. “We learned what members were calling in about, and set out to address these [topics] in our onboarding emails,” Amanda Hullinger explains. “By being proactive, we’re able to provide members the solutions they need and a positive first experience with the credit union.”
The automated new member onboarding program helps welcome new members to the credit union and introduces them to helpful services like the mobile app and direct deposit set-up.
Georgia United has also built out several product onboarding programs for key account types like checking, credit cards and auto loans. Built with Act-On’s Automated Journey Builder, the email sequence thanks members for opening the account, and provides guidance on key features.
Next Best Product Cross-Sell Program is Driving New Revenue for Georgia United Credit Union
Deeper customer relationships often result in more revenue, because when loyalty builds, so do purchases. One way Georgia United strengthens their relationships with existing customers is through cross-selling of complementary financial products. With Act-On, the credit union developed its “Next Best Product” cross-sell program. Using the member’s profile, the messaging segments are based on details like current products and credit score. Then, a monthly email is automatically sent with a personalized offer based on the profile.
After running these campaigns for credit cards, auto loans and mortgage products, the credit union has seen the most lift from email efforts.
