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Abstract
Lake Trust Credit Union partnered with Pocketnest to drive innovation, increase cross-sell opportunities, boost revenue and improve its members’ experience —beginning with a 12-month internal launch to acquaint the Lake Trust team members with the platform. As a result of the initial employee launch, Pocketnest tracked a total of $12.4 million in assets and identified an average of $81K of investable assets per user. A total of 13 percent of Lake Trust team members used the platform and remained consistently engaged. Lake Trust team members shared that Pocketnest helped them to achieve financial wellness and recommend their members use the platform for similar results.
Pocketnest Admin Dashboard Mockup
Pocketnest Admin Dashboard Mockup
Pocketnest Admin Dashboard Mockup
Pocketnest Admin Dashboard Mockup
The Challenge
Lake Trust, a community-based credit union headquartered in Brighton, Michigan, was seeking a technological reinvention that would draw it closer to its nextgen members. With innovation at its core, the organization wanted to continue to evolve its offerings and business model to serve the next generation of members with an intuitive, adaptive and innovative user experience unlike anything they’ve experienced before.
But the real challenge? Proving themselves to Gen Xers and millennials who inherently question financial institutions. In fact, 98 percent of millenials will fire their parents’ advisors upon inheritance out of lack of technology and relationships. And, further, only 27 percent of millennials seek professional financial advice on saving and investment.(Psst, this group will amass $46 trillion in assets by the end of 2020.)
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Upon the first meeting, it was becoming clear that Pocketnest was positioned to become a game changer. The fintech brand just “got” it. The two shared common goals and values and a partnership was quickly formed. Knowing that 62 percent of millennials want their credit unions to provide more comprehensive financial services, and that 51 percent expect their credit unions to anticipate needs and offer suggestions before making contact, Pocketnest embodied the solution: digital comprehensive financial planning—no jargon, just action.
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With Pocketnest’s ability to provide insightful, relevant and timely user data, the platform stood to help Lake Trust earn more members and learn more about the ones they already had. The credit union could increase cross-selling opportunities, therefore possibly increase revenue, without investing significant time and money in lead generation. Most importantly, Pocketnest could help Lake Trust deliver a phenomenal member experience by providing the tools needed to offer a holistic approach to financial wellness.
The Pocketnest Kickoff
Lake Trust and Pocketnest determined the first hurdle was getting Lake Trust team members onboard. Not only did they need to understand how the platform works, but they needed to fully buy into its potential—for themselves and their members.
After all, a PriceWaterhouseCoopers study found that 59 percent of employees are most stressed about finances, when compared to other stressors; and, 35 percent of employees say that stress impacts their ability to do their job. Lake Trust was already providing its team members with a 401(k), HSA, and other piecemeal benefits; why not add financial wellness to the mix to provide the complete package? Pocketnest stood to help Lake Trust team members better understand their members’ journey with the platform, and concurrently, build their own financial health—a comprehensive value Lake Trust simply could not turn down.
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In the meantime Pocketnest, a growing and evolving startup, would continue to refine and further build the platform.
Pocketnest Enters the Scene
Pocketnest, a fintech brand designed to help people understand, build and stick to an adaptive financial plan, was rapidly gaining traction. On the heels of graduating gBETA Detroit and the Ann Arbor SPARK boot camp, the fintech brand raised its first round of capital, won Detroit’s Woman Up competition, joined Startup Boost Detroit, and was named a semi-finalist for Accelerate Michigan—among other achievements. Through its involvement with Ann Arbor SPARK, Lake Trust learned about this promising start-up and saw an opportunity to bring value to its members and team members.
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With a laser focus on team member engagement during the initial internal launch, Pocketnest was poised to serve Lake Trust’s various stakeholders.
HR was excited to provide a new employee wellness option in the form of a financial education tool
Informational Services was excited to invest in cutting-edge technology for its team members, and eventually, its members
The platform’s success metrics would follow its key stakeholders’ varied interests. The key performance indicators listed below demonstrate how Pocketnest helps increase employee wellness, engagement, and scalability.
Employee Wellness
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Employee testimonials
Employee Engagement
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Employees using Pocketnest
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To-Dos completed*
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Themes completed*
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In-app questions answered
*Pocketnest walks users through all 10 themes of financial planning. Users earn a badge for each completed theme. To-do items for each theme are added to their To-Do List.
Scalability
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External accounts linked
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Assets logged
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Encouraging members to use the platform (employee testimonials)
Key Objectives:
A Little Something-Something for All Involved
Sure enough, these tactics worked. Email campaigns reached a 34 percent open-rate and a 12 percent click-rate—both metrics performing at more than triple the industry standard; intranet banner ads drove steady traffic to the app and
contributed to increasing new Pocketnest users by 38 percent in their first month of deployment; and, lastly, more than 50 employees participated in the onsite event.
Pocketnest integrated with the Lake Trust's employee intranet, serving banner ads and banners that drove people to download or engage with the app.
Pocketnest integrated with the Lake Trust's employee intranet, serving banner ads and banners that drove people to download or engage with the app.
Given this steady employee engagement, and on the heels of the Pocketnest Android release when users jumped 38 percent and linked accounts doubled, Lake Trust extended the 90-day contract to a total of 12 months.
Pocketnest Rises to the Occasion
Pocketnest hosted an onsite event at Lake Trust Credit Union to help users learn more about the platform and how it can help them—and their members—achieve holistic financial wellness.
Pocketnest hosted an onsite event at Lake Trust Credit Union to help users learn more about the platform and how it can help them—and their members—achieve holistic financial wellness.
To build awareness of Pocketnest and encourage engagement with the platform, the fintech brand activated a number of various engagement tactics across channels. Pocketnest deployed an email campaign sharing personal finance tips and tricks, integrated with the institution’s intranet to serve banner ads, and hosted onsite events. The events helped Pocketnest to more deeply engage with Lake Trust team members, where they met face-to-face, learned more about their user experience, and identified ways to improve (over donuts, of course).
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Results: Pocketnest Brings Value Beyond Numbers
Over the course of the 12-month internal employee release, Pocketnest demonstrated to the credit union that the platform is a valuable tool for employee wellness and a viable, scalable tool for improving member experience and engagement, generating leads, and growing revenue.
What’s Next for Lake Trust and Pocketnest?!
Now, more than ever, it is crucial Lake Trust continues to digitally evolve and innovate.
The financial landscape is changing—even faster with the new threats COVID-19 has brought. As consumers come to expect more turnkey, efficient and digital solutions at their fingertips—and, as credit unions increasingly require bigger, more diversified revenue streams—the market is ripe for a fintech disruption.
Fintech, particularly Pocketnest, offers credit unions like Lake Trust a unique advantage: innovative technology that promotes interaction, communication, engagement, and most of all, scalable growth.
Building off its success with the Lake Trust employee base, it is clear Pocketnest can help Lake Trust innovate and grow. The fintech app will bring its members free, approachable and user-friendly guidance to create and stick to a financial plan; meanwhile, it will serve as a scalable personal finance tool that Lake Trust can white label and offer its members.
As the world continues to change—rapidly—credit unions like are in a unique position to either adapt or sink. Now, more than ever, credit unions should consider taking a deeper dive into fintech and invest in technology and innovation that provides services extending beyond simple transactional tools, such as mobile deposit and peer-to-peer payments. The time is ripe for disruption; it’s time credit unions leverage fintech for the potential game-changing growth and deep community engagement it represents.
Pocketnest can help Lake Trust continue to increase member engagement, grow assets, and possibly even retain staff with deeper employee wellness offerings—all while increasing revenue.
WHAT PEOPLE SAY
KATIE A.
LAKE TRUST TEAM MEMBER
I love how Pocketnest walks me through each financial category with various calculators and words of advice along the way. It is very intuitive to use and helped me define new financial goals.
BILL L.
LAKE TRUST TEAM MEMBER
I definitely recommend Pocketnest. It helped me increase my sense of well-being. And, Pocketnest can be a good tool for Lake Trust members, as it helps them dive deeply into their personal finances.
COLLIN D.
LAKE TRUST TEAM MEMBER
I love how easy Pocketnest is, and its brief and easy-to-understand explanations. Pocketnest will help educate our members and can help them think about their financial situation differently.
ANDREA A.
LAKE TRUST TEAM MEMBER
I love how user-friendly Pocketnest is! It is very comprehensive and shows what all should be done at various stages of one’s life to be financially secure. Pocketnest would definitely help people in my organization.
Scalability
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18% of employee-users link to external accounts
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$12.4M total assets tracked
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$81K investable assets per user (average)
Employee Wellness
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Employees found Pocketnest very intuitive and it helped them to achieve financial wellness
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Pocketnest helped employees improve their sense of well-being
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Employees believe Pocketnest will help Lake Trust team members and members
Employee Engagement
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31% monthly growth in employees using Pocketnest
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13% of all employees using Pocketnest
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8 To-Dos completed per month (average)
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27 Themes completed per month(average)
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3,700 In-app questions answered
REFERENCES & NOTES
PriceWaterhouseCoopers Global Private Banking/Wealth Management Survey (2011)
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PriceWaterhouseCoopers Millennials & Financial Literacy—The Struggle with Personal Finance (2015)
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Ernst & Young, The Next Generation of Financial Advisors (2016)
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Fidelity Millionaire Outlook Study: What Gen X/Y Millionaires Want (2013)
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Future of Consumer Digital Finance Thought, Goldman Sachs
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PriceWaterhouseCoop’s 9th Annual Employee Financial Wellness Survey (2020)
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The intranet banner campaign launched in accordance with the Android release