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The top trends, benefits and impacts of a new digital strategy—and how it will increase your credit union’s cross-sell opportunities
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COVID-19 brought a lot of change to the world. Perhaps that’s the understatement of the century! In the face of the economy taking unexpected twists and turns and dives, credit unions, banks and other financial institutions nationwide have dramatically stepped up their digital strategy game.
A recent PwC survey revealed that 81 percent of banking CEOs are concerned about the speed of technological change (1) and nearly 80 percent of leaders in the financial industry admitted that the pandemic revealed shortcomings in their institutions’ digital capabilities (2).
Regardless of the type of firm—a bank, credit union, wealth management firm, etc.—financial institutions are working tirelessly to determine how to transform their digital strategy.
What is a credit union digital transformation?
Your financial institution’s digital strategy is how you integrate your digital assets with your members’ and customers’ experience with your financial institution. Essentially, it's finding how all of your digital services can work together, in unison, to bring your members and customers financial wellness. Your credit union’s digital transformation is how your financial institution integrates and evolves your digital platforms to keep pace with millennials’ expectations. That’s kind of a tall order, huh? That’s where we come in.
Whether it's video banking, online banking, your institution's proprietary mobile app, or Pocketnest's comprehensive financial wellness platform, we can help you make sense of your entire digital strategy—and how each piece of the digital puzzle fits together.
Why digital transformation for your credit union?
A recent Accenture report (3) shares how financial institutions typically invest slowly in improving operations. That means that, while they’re prioritizing regulatory and compliance priorities, their competitive edge and innovative approach to solving their customers’ needs is severely diminished.
The band-aid approach of yester-year simply won’t cut it anymore. Antiquated solutions, ranging from in-person appointments to community events may have worked in the past, but millennials want more digital interactions, innovation and time-saving hacks and fewer brick and mortar experiences.
Along with other financial and wealth management industries, credit unions are beginning to expand their reach to a younger audience. According to a recent Northwest Mutual study, 19 percent of Generation Xers and 22 percent of millennials did not have an advisor before the COVID-19 pandemic, though now seek to find the advice of one (4, 5). The report also found 15 percent of adults over the age of 18 have developed a financial plan since the onset of the pandemic (4, 5).
And, while your mobile banking app and online banking platform is a great start, digital strategy and millennials’ expectations go farther than digital banking. They are desperate for financial wellness. (Psst, did you know that 67 percent of millennials get their financial advice from Facebook and Twitter!?)
When the entire world shut down, businesses—including, but not limited to financial institutions—turned to every possible digital platform to connect with customers. With shopping, spending, and daily activities completely upended, people turned to their phones and computers for their needs. And businesses followed suit.
Menus? Yeah, they’re replaced by a QR code that you scan and see the digital menu on your phone. Shopping? Thanks Amazon! Register payments? Here’s to you, Apple Pay! What’s the weather? Hey, Siri! Questions about your financial plan...see you at our in-person meeting? Nope. You get the picture.
Now that we’re (finally) moving past the pandemic, credit union digital transformation trends and high millennial expectations haven’t gone anywhere. The demand for tech is still just as strong as ever.
Financial institutions that had plans to innovate their practices, implement a new digital strategy, and drastically improve their users’ experience with their brand, product and services completely threw out their old playbook. They knew it was time for change. Time for a complete credit union digital transformation.
Just ask the experts! Recently, we hosted a panel discussion with cutting-edge credit union experts from the likes of McQueen Financial Advisors, MSU Federal Credit Union, Community Choice Credit Union, and WHIM about the future of banking. Covering everything from digital strategy to millennial expectations, these leaders explore how fintech is disrupting the credit union experience and bringing non-interest income in its wake. Trying to figure out how to craft your new digital strategy? Watch our expert panel with the nation's top credit union leaders to hear their tricks and tips. >> WATCH NOW
Dig deeper into how the pandemic has fueled the digital strategy fire, from the perspective of digital strategists and financial institution leaders alike
Learn how fintech is driving non-interest income, and how your credit union can harness the power fintech
Reach and engage more millennial and gen X members by using fintech and a smart digital strategy
Experience creative conversation about digital strategy, fintech adoption, millennial expectations, and more!
Or, maybe you've already thought through optimizing your credit union digital strategy and user experience. Perhaps you're in the process of standing up a new digital strategy and are ready to implement your digital transformation. Lucky for you, we hosted even more credit union experts from the likes of MSU Federal Credit Union, Service Credit Union, Canvas Credit Union, FGS, and Alaska USA Federal Credit Union. They hare tips and tricks to a successful digital transformation >> WATCH NOW.
The financial landscape is changing—and Pocketnest can help credit unions change with it.
Pocketnest, the holistic financial wellness app, was created with credit unions in mind. Pocketnest uses behavioral psychology and science to bring people approachable and user-friendly guidance to create and stick to a financial plan—white-labeled to be in their credit union’s brand. Meanwhile, the app brings credit unions priceless member data helping them to increase lead generation and cross-selling opportunities, while giving their members a better, more innovative experience with their brand. Pocketnest also helps credit unions, and other financial institutions, support their local communities by promoting financial education and wellness.
Learn more about how the saving grace of fintech—like Pocketnest—can help your credit union meet millennial expectations and keep up with the changing tide of the financial industry. >> Download the white paper.
Benefits of digital transformation for credit unions
During this innovative (and crucial) shift of digital capabilities, coupled with millennials’ expectations of their financial institutions, financial institutions are left scrambling to find their place in people’s wallets.
While it’s true that one third of millennials think they won’t need a bank in the future and 59 percent of banking execs believe branch-based banking will diminish by 2025 (6), we recognize the opportunity in that threat. Sure, banks and credit unions won’t exist in the future as they have for tens of years. But, that doesn’t mean they have to go away!
A recent Filene report (7) shares that four key things to guide your credit union’s digital strategy transformation—and the many benefits to your relevance, relationships and revenue therein:
1. Improve in-person experiences
Pocketnest provides financial institutions with a complete insights dashboard, sharing members’ and customers’ financial summary ahead of your meeting. Skim the one-pager to get up to speed on what Kate and Jack need from their meeting with you—and quickly. And, get insight into how they work, what motivates them, and how they like to approach their finances. In the dashboard, you’ll see your members’ or customers’ behavioral tendencies, outlining if they want their interactions with you to be just the facts, a slow warmup with some sports chat sprinkled in, or somewhere in between. In short? Improve and expedite your human experiences with your members and customers using Pocketnest.
2. Innovate your curb-side service
Using Pocketnest, your members and customers will be primed for their meeting with you, which will optimize your time together and build your relationship. Ahead of their meeting with you (or drive-by service), they’ll already know what they need from you, specific questions to ask, and products you offer. Pocketnest walks users through all ten themes of financial wellness, giving your members and customers a comprehensive view of their financial situation and, importantly, a chance to identify gaps in their plan that you can fill. We also showcase your financial institution’s products and services in the app, when appropriate, so users are primed with exactly how you can help them. And, not to mention, boost your cross-sell opportunities and non-interest income!
3. Gain deeper insights into your members
Some people like monthly phone chats with their advisors and financial institutions. Others want a quarterly email. Others only want to communicate with their institution the moment they need something—not a moment before. While everyone is different, one thing remains the same: relationships matter! Pocketnest facilitates better, deeper connections with your members and customers. Built on behavioral science and psychology, we get to know each user, how they think, how they like to communicate with their financial institution, and how often. We share these behavioral tendencies with you to guide your communications and experiences with your customers and members, ensuring that you’re meeting them where they are, and how they want to be. Kate and Jack like to talk about the weather, local sports and upcoming vacation before they dig into their finances with you; Gabe and John want statistics, data and proof that your advice will stand in the market. Whatever their communication preference, Pocketnest will help guide you to success.
4. Make real connections with your members
Especially coming out of the pandemic, and the horrific economic consequences therein, people are looking to their financial institutions for help. Understanding where they’re coming from and the nuances of their financial situation only helps you to better serve them. Did they just buy a house? Have a new baby? Kick up their retirement savings? Need to pay off student loans? Even if not all of their accounts are with your institution, Pocketnest gives you insight into your customers’ or members’ financial situation so you can bring them the right solutions at the right time. (Because no one, especially millennials, likes to be spammed or sold to!)
Improving your financial institution's digital strategy simply means you are investing in innovation and your members/customers. If your community is asking for more, we’ll help you give it to them.
Pocketnest will help you to boost your cross-sell opportunities to grow your non-interest income and grow and qualify leads—all while you bring your community financial wellness.
Digital transformation strategies and tools for credit unions
Bringing your institution rich data and qualified leads
As users invite us into their financial plans, we're able to see the breadth of their finances—from retirement savings plans to estates and wills. Along the way, as we coach them through their comprehensive financial plan, we ask them questions and share calculators and insights.
Combined with their integrated accounts, their answers to our financial questions give us a crystal-clear view of their financial situations, where their gaps are, and how their institutions can fill them.
That's where you come in.
Pocketnest, a B2B2C SaaS platform, licenses its software to financial institutions—just like yours—to share these insights.
Do your members need to open a savings account? Do they need to refinance their mortgage? Are they interested in updating their home and auto insurance? Before Pocketnest, financial institutions like yours would have to spend countless hours on lead generation and qualification. Endless cold calls, emails, voicemails, texts with little return.
Pocketnest delivers these key insights—and more—straight to your CMS, inbox, data-lake, you name it.
With deeper insights into your communities' personal finances, you'll be able to offer them product solutions that are much more relevant, timely, and accepted.
Partner with Pocketnest
We help banks, credit unions just like yours reach more people, educate and qualify leads faster, and boost cross-sell opportunities—all while helping their customers achieve financial wellness. Just ask MSU Federal Credit Union, Service Credit Union—or many of our other clients!
At the end of the day, we exist to help people access financial wellness through deeper relationships with you, their financial institutions. All of this is possible through our unique approach to comprehensive financial planning.
Interested in bringing Pocketnest to your community? Book a demo!
Resources
(1) “Financial Services Technology 2020 and Beyond: Embracing disruption.” PwC, 2020.
(2) “How the Digital Surge Will Reshape Finance.” The Economist, 2020.
(3) "Fast-Track to Future-Ready Banking Operations: Know the Ultimate Goal." Accenture, 2021.
(4) “Planning & Progress.” Harris Poll, 2020
(5) “Crisis Causing More Young Adults To Seek Out Financial Advisors.” Financial Advisor Magazine, 2020
(6) “A Future with Fewer Banks.” The Economist, 2020.
(7) “Digital Transformation in the Age of COVID-19: What Should Credit Unions Deliver?” Filene, May 2020.