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Decision matrix narrows selection of products and services for new members
Offering a range of checking account options to serve the needs of a diverse membership is good—unless, perhaps, you’re a new member struggling to decide which account is right for you during enrollment.
A Filene Research Institute i3 team recently took on the challenge of alleviating “choice overload” by guiding new members toward the most suitable products and services, increasing the number of new accounts opened during enrollment in the bargain.
“When working with new members, the tendency is to ask a few questions and tell them about everything your credit union offers,” notes CUES member Ray Springsteen, executive vice president at $1.1 billion Fort Knox Federal Credit Union, Radcliff, Ky. “We studied how to communicate more effectively with new members to quickly identify their needs and offer the right products.”
The team developed a decision matrix called Just4You that narrows the selection of products and services for new members based on their responses to these questions:
- As it relates to your financial situation, how would you describe your household?
- Which of the following best describes your savings habits?
- How close are you to retirement?
- Do you prefer savings and investments with little or no risk, even though that means a lower return for you?
- How would you rate your current credit score?
- What is your top financial goal at this time?
Just4You is an automated system developed in Excel that can be tailored to match credit unions’ account options with members’ responses to those questions. Testing the system with 150 members of Fort Knox FCU and Denver-based Westerra Credit Union yielded positive results. At $1.2 billion Westerra CU, 13 percent of new members during the 30-day pilot enrolled in three or more products, compared to the typical 4 percent. Fort Knox FCU, on average, refinances auto loans for 12 percent of new members in the first 90 days; during the pilot, that rate increased to 17 percent in just 30 days.
Members of the i3 team included Springsteen; Betsy Guerrero, chief financial officer, $1.2 billion Westerra CU; CUES member Michelle Merkley, director/marketing/business development, $84 million Keystone Federal Credit Union, Downingtown, Pa.; and Mike Salerno, e-services manager, $5.8 billion America First Credit Union, Ogden, Utah.
Karen Bankston is a long-time contributor to Credit Union Management and writes about credit unions, membership growth, marketing, operations and technology. She is the proprietor of Precision Prose, Stoughton, Wis.
