The Value of Implementing Act-On

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.

  • Automated email series now welcomes new members, creating a positive brand experience that builds relationships right from the start.
  • Product onboarding programs for key product types are leading to improved customer retention.
  • Personalized cross-selling with “next best product” offers are contributing to higher customer lifetime values.

Automation has made our marketing efforts timely, which in turn has provided open rates well above what we had seen before. Our new member welcome email, for example, has an open rate of 77%.

Amanda Hullinger

Marketing Supervisor, Georgia United Credit Union

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

  • Develop more efficient lead generation process.
  • Integrate its toolset for better reporting on marketing.
  • Create seamless coordination between the marketing and sales teams.
  • Ensure a flexible, easy to use and scalable toolset for campaigns and marketing activities.

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.

Success by the Numbers

+77% open rate on welcome email.
+1000s of new products cross-sold via automated marketing programs.
+96% notable spikes in application volume

Having our member data file integrated into Act-On gives marketing the ease and independence we didn’t have in our old system, allowing us to send more frequent, more segmented and personalized communications.

Amanda Hullinger

Marketing Supervisor, Georgia United Credit Union

  • Inconsistent experience that would result in low product adoption
  • Too much information to cover at account opening
  • Members were unaware of beneficial products and features they had
  • A lack of CRM or marketing automation tool
  • Missed opportunities to create lasting customer relationships

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.