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Why Now Is the Time to Optimize Credit Union Onboarding

Posted on December 12, 2022 at 8:00 am.

For several years, bank and credit union members and prospects have been asking their branches and their search engines “how to open a bank account online.” And with that, member onboarding has been shifting to more digital touchpoints and fewer staff-guided processes.

There are great aspects to these changes, and there are pitfalls. So, let’s discuss why now is the time to optimize your credit union onboarding processes.

Improving Digital Account Opening Processes is a Must for 2023

According to a recent article from the Financial Brand, when your credit union creates an easy process to open a bank account online, it has a large positive impact on deposit and loan sales growth.

Mobile banking and frictionless user experience is no longer a luxury that credit unions and other financial institutions can use as “value add” features. Your members expect to be able to open and close accounts, apply for loans, and deposit, transfer, or withdraw funds when and where they want to.

Creating a streamlined credit union onboarding and account opening process should include responsive designs and eliminate keystrokes. The mobile aspect also means there are certain features that should be included. The process often calls for things from data capture and document upload capabilities to smartphone camera access and prompts, touch screen signatures, and location tracking.

The Financial Brand article highlights 5 things a basic credit union onboarding process, specifically the process by which members open a bank account online, needs:

Auto-capture and fill of personal information
Risk and fraud qualifications
Third-party identification verification
Real-time digital fund depositing
Core integration

The article also talks through several additional considerations for the onboarding process, and why these features are essential to your member onboarding and retention rates.

The good news is that many credit unions are finding positive results after streamlining their onboarding processes. About 30% of traditional, big bank members reported that they had trouble trying to open a bank account online, and only 21% of credit union members reported that same difficulty.

Because credit unions have always trended more toward member experience optimization rather than blind digital transformation, the push to streamline the onboarding process is actually a brand reputation enforcer, creating more satisfaction for new and existing members.

Big Ways to Streamline Credit Union Onboarding: Remove the Jargon and Wait Times

Comprehension and accessibility are the most important factors driving the big push for more streamlined credit union onboarding and digital account opening options.

Because digital funds have historically had holds placed on them, from processing times that can be anywhere from 1 to 7 business days to compliance and other authorization requirements, members are tired of waiting to access their money.

The primary method for creating a more streamlined member experience is to grant your members access to the accounts they’re creating immediately after the applications are approved.

This doesn’t mean they can create an online profile or verify the application approval via digital or physical means. It means being able to log in and start moving money or checking their member account balance as soon as the application is approved.

In fact, the perceived wait time associated with switching banks or establishing a new account is one of the biggest reasons people hesitate to leave their established financial institution, even if they aren’t serving their members as well as they should be.

The second big push for streamlining is geared toward comprehension and clarity. Your members are not all finance gurus – they need guidance and succinct descriptions of your services and processes, not jargon-filled language that requires an interpreter to understand.

Cutting the jargon and long-form content from these processes is changing the game for many financial institutions and their onboarding processes, and these things should matter to you. Your credit union is best at serving its members and to do that, you need to be in tune with what industry trends are showing.

The Most Desired Account Opening Features

As with anything in the digital world, trends and preferences change seemingly overnight. Let’s discuss some of the features that are convincing people to open a bank account online, as well as the expectations they have of these services.

First, some of the creative ways members and prospects are being driven to open digital accounts include offerings like:

Lower account fees
The cessation of overdraft fees
APR on savings accounts
Early access to deposits, i.e. wages
The ability to access their financial information and funds via a smartphone or other mobile device

And the features they expect to find in your credit union’s digital services include:

Direct deposit setup options
Notifications (push and in-app) with application process updates
Access to chats with a live credit union representative
An onboarding checklist or set of instructions that describe the onboarding process and beyond
Continued simplicity of digital banking services

The digital processes your credit union clung to throughout the pandemic likely need a facelift for the new year. Are you ready to start streamlining your credit union onboarding services?

IMSI Is Equipped with User-Friendly Solutions to Open a Bank Account Online

You can make your credit union onboarding easy and hassle-free with IMSI’s Online Account Opening – you can sign up new members quickly and easily. Our application offers a streamlined user experience and comprehensive workflow.

And if you are looking for more great premier solutions that integrate with Keystone, take a moment and navigate to the Keystone Solutions tab at the top of the page to explore our related services.

Driving Member Applications in the New Year

Posted on January 29, 2020 at 12:00 pm.

Written by Devon Wilson

Financial stressors often make their way into the credit union—job loss, car repairs, health issues, and other related, unexpected expenses can prompt potential members to submit applications.

However, those desperate for a financial solution likely aren’t combing through your website diligently looking for a solution. You’ll want to be crystal-clear in the way you demonstrate your credit union’s benefits. Credit union members are accustomed to fast solutions (especially as younger demographics become credit union members), so you don’t want your members to be dissuaded by your CU’s solutions.

If you’re looking to create a new web loan application, IMSI provides an online loan opening solution:

This online opening solution, tightly integrated into Keystone, integrates your credit union brand and image and allows for automated account decisions.
The solution creates the new account record and the new share account product in the Keystone core. From there, the initial account can be funded from external sources via ACH, EFT, and Paypal.
The account opening solution begins with eligibility validation and identity verification and ensures Patriot Act compliance.
New applicants can save and restart an application if needed and can receive automated notifications about their status.
From there, the applicant can enroll in ATM cards, online banking, overdraft protection, eStatements, eAlerts, eNewsletter, and more.

To show that you can provide for members during a time of crisis, you can advertise benefits such as Skip a Pay to members, which allows them to select when they’d like to skip over a loan payment. The IMSI Skip a Pay integration can identify accounts that are eligible for this feature and add notes to those eligible and non-eligible.

Don’t forget about your onboarding communications—once the application is completed, the journey is just beginning for the member. They still need to receive the tangible benefit (the loan), so you’ll want to set them up on a straightforward path to receiving it without any confusion.

If you’re looking to drive more web loans and online account opening applications, we can help to use our vast knowledge to address any complex issues that you have. Get in touch.

Five Steps to Improve Credit Union Onboarding Communications

Posted on October 21, 2019 at 8:34 pm.

Written by Devon Wilson

If you’ve read our previous post on optimizing your credit union’s account opening and onboarding process, you’ll know that immediately after opening an account is the best time to reassure your new members that they made the right choice to trust your credit union.

Take a look at five steps you can follow to supercharge your onboarding email communications:

Start by thanking them for their business

A simple ‘thank you’ goes a long way. Sending automated thank you emails a day after members open an account is easier than ever with the help of marketing automation tools. It’s a quick and cost-efficient way to start off your member relationship on the right foot.

Encourage active usage of their account

After sending the thank-you email, it’s best to send a staggered series of emails that encourage account feature activations and usage, such as automated savings, bills payment, and others. Use your chosen automation tool to customize these emails based on what the member has used. This process improves member retention and also supports your bottom line.

Personalize the communications

For a more advanced and effective method of personalization, you can also customize onboarding communication to the type of account that was opened and to the member who opened the account. For example, new members receive a different email than existing ones who opened a different account. The latter are best sent communications that recognize and reinforce your growing relationship with them. Note down these different types of communication flows and develop a library of messages.

Test and improve

This type of communications offer a great environment for testing protocols. Marketing departments can easily see the type of offers, visuals, language and content that works (or doesn’t!) with members. These findings are often used in improving communications aimed at strengthening member relationships as well.

Expand improvements to other communications

Once your marketing department is more experienced at using these automation tools for onboarding, they can then start to personalize other communications, solutions and offers across all forms of media. Whether it’s through in-branch communications, email, text messages, or snail mail, the insights you’ve gained through testing and learning from previous attempts will be priceless.

The moment credit union marketers record and determine what members experience when opening an account and then take advantage of the power of available automation tools, they can then make sure that the new member experience starts on a positive note. This plants the seeds for a mutually beneficial, long-term member relationship.

Before optimizing your onboarding communications, make sure that your credit union online account opening process is fully optimized. With IMS Integration’s online account opening solutions, benefit from a fully customizable and Keystone-integrated application that delivers an easy, streamlined user experience. Let’s talk: send us a message or call us at (888) 356-6043.

Optimizing Your Credit Union’s Account Opening & Onboarding Process

Posted on October 12, 2019 at 8:34 pm.

Written by Devon Wilson

Easier and faster account opening and onboarding should be a top priority for credit unions of all sizes. Many financial institutions are aggressively marketing their account opening process times of “five minutes or less” because of how attractive it is to potential customers.

Despite this development, a significant number of credit unions and other financial institutions are lacking in this critical part of the digital revolution. More often than not, it’s due to the number of moving parts that have to be arranged, or they may be patiently waiting on their third-party provider. The end result stays the same: a slow and lackluster consumer experience.

Did you know that IMS Integration offers comprehensive, streamlined and fully customizable onboarding solutions? Learn more here.

No matter what stage your credit union is currently at, there are still aspects of account onboarding and opening that you can optimize.

Experience Opening Accounts Like A Member

Many credit unions have trouble determining how to approach account opening and onboarding. The good news is that you can start by following two easy steps:

Think like a customer.

Visit your website or go to your branch to open an account. This seemingly basic exercise is often overlooked, which leads to a frustrating onboarding experience. The reality is that many people who lead financial institutions aren’t on the frontlines and don’t understand the member experience.

For many credit union employees, particularly those in the marketing department, the most effective way to understand the significance of their institution’s onboarding issues is to experience it first-hand. You might be surprised at the number of “Eureka!” moments resulting from the exercise.

To ensure this process works, thoroughly document each step of the account opening and onboarding process. Note down each piece of data needed to open an account and the amount of time it takes to complete each step. Don’t forget to include post-account-opening observations, such as the quality of communications you receive after finishing the process.

Determine, prioritize and tackle what you can change and improve.

At many credit unions, applying anything new needs coordination, communication and a lot of collaboration between different departments. Thankfully, member communication is one aspect that your marketing department can work on and improve more quickly.

Unfortunately, many financial institutions aren’t doing a great job with their post-onboarding communications with their customers. Even the most basic step, which is to thank the members for their business, is often skipped. A bare-bones account usage or details summary email isn’t enough — incorporating a human touch or a thoughtful message showing gratitude goes a long way.

Do you want in-depth tips on how to improve your credit union account opening and onboarding communications? Read our next blog post here!

Drive More Web Loan & Online Account Opening Applications For Your Credit Union – Part Two

Posted on July 14, 2019 at 8:10 pm.

Written by Devon Wilson

Growing your membership base and increasing your loan applications are continuous goals that need to be met. The success of your credit union largely depends on how easy it is for prospective members to sign up. This blog series talks about the changes you can implement to support these efforts. If you haven’t read the first part of our online loan and account opening series, you can check it out by clicking this link.

Here are 5 more ways you can boost online account opening and loan applications:

Reassure applicants that they are on the right page by using branded URLs

Many financial institutions partner with third-party vendors for their online account opening and loan applications. This often leads to confusion for some customers because they feel they are being sent to a different company. Avoid this by ensuring that your credit union’s name is included in the URL.

Highlight application buttons and make them easy to spot

Ensure that your application buttons are located on a prominent area of the page. Avoid using plain text links! Those are easily ignored. Buttons with contrasting colors are best. Consider putting a button at the top of the page, and another by the bottom. If you have a sidebar, include one there as well.

Make it a priority to summarize your service’s main benefits

Product and service pages of most financial institutions are structured in the same way — and it’s not working. Product pages should be designed as landing pages, but the majority of banks and credit unions focus on listing down features instead of benefits.

Long paragraphs or sets of bullet points describing every single feature isn’t necessary. Stuffing the page with too much legalese and unhelpful descriptions makes it much worse.

Upgrade your pages by first making sure that you use headlines that summarizes your product’s most significant benefit. How will your product help your members reach their financial goals? When including additional details of the product, focus on adding benefits that truly matter.

Think ‘less is more’ when it comes to cross-selling

Yes, the best time to cross-sell is during the application process. Unfortunately, many financial institutions go all out and present every available product offer they currently have. This often backfires and can lead to abandonment of the application. The majority of consumers freeze and/or get confused when they have too many choices. Try to offer no more than three cross-sell offers during the online application process.

Provide rate information on your product pages

Customers look to a savings account’s APY as the main criteria when evaluating options. This is why it’s surprising that many financial institutions don’t include it or make it difficult to find on their product pages. One reason why many institutions don’t include it is because they don’t offer competitive rates, so they don’t want to put a spotlight on them. This shouldn’t matter at all. It’s probably time to shake up your product strategy if you feel like the sure way you can get members to sign up is by hiding your interest rates.

With IMSI’s user-friendly online account opening and loan application solution, your members are guaranteed a quick and seamless experience. Aside from being able to sign up for an account and fill out loan applications online, they also receive immediate decisions on their application. Our solutions also free up time for your team, allowing them to work on more pressing duties and helping them serve more members in less time.

Learn more about our online account opening solutions and our web loan applications!

How Credit Unions Can Drive More Online Loan & Account Opening Applications – Part One

Posted on July 7, 2019 at 8:10 pm.

Written by Devon Wilson

More financial institutions are allowing members to open accounts and apply for loans online each day. Unfortunately, few are able to implement the process well and are not satisfied with the number of loan and account applications generated by their online channels. The good news? We’re sharing many practical solutions you can adopt to boost your applications:

Did you know that optimizing your website drives more online application volume? Don’t fall for the trap of resting on your laurels just because you’re offering online deposit account opening or web loans. Linking to your online applications is not enough to drive success.

Here’s the first of our two-part blog series on how credit unions can drive more online loan and account opening applications:

Make online applications accessible once members are logged into your system

If your credit union offers online banking (and you should!) then chances are, most of your visitors go to your website to access their accounts. However, many credit unions fail to maximize the opportunity of making applications accessible once members are inside the online banking system.

Current members are not likely to browse around your public-facing website to consider your loan or deposit account products. But when they see targeted offers within your online banking platform, they may be motivated to sign up. Promote these offers and emphasize the online process — you’ll see increased volume without having to spend a cent on external advertising.

Allow customers to apply right from your home page

New visitors to your website will most likely want to learn more about your credit union and your products and services before signing up. For visitors who have already done their research and are ready to apply from the minute your home page loads, you need to simplify the process. Simply adding a prominent button to “Sign Up Now” on your home page or top bar can boost online application numbers.

Add sign up buttons on all main product pages

Think of your product pages as landing pages. One common trait we see among credit union product pages is that they have very minimal application links, or worse, none at all. Your product pages should have benefit-focused headlines and prominent calls to action. If a page requires more than a few scrolls to read through all the information, it doesn’t hurt to include more than one call to action.

Test all links to account & loan applications

This is a basic step, but you might be surprised at how common it is to see broken links to credit union online applications.

Remove any obstacles or “speed bumps” on links to your online applications

If your website links to online applications supported by third-party vendors, avoid putting speed bump warnings that pop up when a member clicks on the link. The FDIC has clarified that it is not necessary to add the typical security warning cautioning members about their application being handled by a third-party, and that your credit union is not responsible for how the data is handled. Not only is this an unnecessary step, it also leads to a spike in abandoned applications.

IMSI shares your goal of increasing web loan and online account opening applications. That’s why we’re sharing even more tips on our next blog post!

Read the second part of our blog series on increasing online applications by clicking this link.