My Marketing Strategy
Nicolette Lemmon, President & Founder

A client asked about an industry average for the penetration of email addresses across credit unions, to compare her institution’s percentage. This statistic sparked an interest for me about how those percentages are faring in a down economy. The main aspect that intrigued me was the interest in so many senior management teams of using email, mobile texts, and social media as the ability to reach members more cheaply.

Just reviewing the percentages of ten credit union clients scattered throughout the country, the results showed an average of 34% penetration of email addresses in their memberships. The actual percentages ranged from 17% for a credit union with 60,000 plus members, to a remarkable 57% for a credit union with a little more than 21,000 members.

In current times, budgets are lean and are still being trimmed left and right. While e-marketing is a more frugal option, from the average that was just discussed, it’s only hitting about one-third of members. While more traditional marketing touches such as direct mail is more expensive, if only considering using e-marketing, a significant percentage of members are missed.

The solution is a targeted mix of direct mail and email with other “touches” included such as a Facebook page, online marketing in home banking, and in-branch retailing. The key is that the emphasis in most credit unions has not been to collect e-mail addresses and cell phone numbers for marketing. And, not every member has computer access or wants to have more marketing in their inbox.

Are you being aggressive about collecting e-mail addresses and cell phone numbers?