Times like These Demand a Review of Your Core

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

My Analytical Side Denny Koepke, Vice President This summer, we created 6-month reviews for our clients to determine if their marketing plans were working by continuing to build additional business with members. More importantly, was the expenditure of their marketing dollars attracting more results from existing members compared to their new members? In client data, we found that the existing members brought in business at the rate of 3:1 and 4:1 in terms of loan dollars and deposit dollars from …

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Asking the Right Questions on Surveys

Monday, May 11th, 2009

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My Analytical Side Denny Koepke, Vice President There have been several market research surveys flowing through my department recently and it has made me aware of how important the wording of questions can be to results. For example, here is one from a follow-up of a webinar that made me stop taking the survey. “If we had charged $495 for this year’s webinar series, would you have still attended?” The purpose of the webinar series was to replace the usual …

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How can you be dissatisfied and willing to recommend?

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009

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My Analytical Side Denny Koepke, Vice President In doing several member satisfaction surveys in the first quarter of this year, there are always some raised eyebrow movements when reviewing the data. Even with the down economy, the average survey results for satisfaction are still coming in above 90%. The lower profile of credit unions in the media and having less visible problems than the big banking entities has seemed to insulate our clients. Yet, even with the continuing “thumbs up” …

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The value of the data…is in the eyes of the beholder

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

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My Analytical Side Denny Koepke, Vice President Last week when developing a spreadsheet of the penetration of member business across age segments, I determined the value in comparing shifts and changes in key age groups. For several clients, we track and report on the deposit and loan dollars associated with age segments. In discussions about the dominance of age groups in deposits and loans, the CEO asked how the funds might be clustered in the products for these age groups. …

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Retaining Profitable Member Households is Key Except…

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

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My Analytical Side Denny Koepke, Vice President As an MCIF analyst, I am sometimes pegged as “just a numbers guy.” However, like Nicolette commented in her blog post, Balancing Analysis with Losing Control, numbers can be misleading. It is wise to proceed with caution when analyzing “the numbers.” Take for example, segmenting the most “profitable” members in your database. Especially during the current economic climate, this may be a prudent approach. While I will agree with our marketing strategists at …

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The Rest of the Story

Wednesday, March 18th, 2009

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My Analytical Side Denny Koepke, Vice President Sometimes I think a group of marketers hearing the words “the numbers” immediately illicit yawns and rolling eyes. Granted, numbers can seem to be less fun than creative themes and great offers. However, I think having good analysis of “the numbers” provides “the rest of the story!” For example, in reviewing the data pulls from one of our client’s MCIF databases, the VP of Marketing direct mailed to almost 8,000 member households for …

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Email v. Direct Mail

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

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My Analytical Side Denny Koepke, Vice President Seems that these times demand more data to provide more thoughtful strategy. Every CEO among our clients is concerned about the return on investment of marketing dollars. With pressures mounting about pulling funds to send to NCUA, the expense budget for marketing looks like a likely spot. One thing I keep hearing from clients is that email marketing is so much cheaper, why not just use that during these tough times? As I …

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