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Remember the first time you logged into Home Banking, paid a bill online, obtained instant loan approval, or moved money between institutions via A2A? If you're like me, experiencing these capabilities were defining moments that forever would shift traditional banking transaction preferences (and expectations) to the online channel.

Well, for me, this just happened again.

I just had the opportunity to try USAA's new check Deposit@Home (see USAA site and flash demo) and I can't say enough positive about the experience. I am now convinced this will be a new sought after online capability in 2007 (perhaps especially given the focus on share growth). My educated guess is that this will become extremely popular in the coming months as more and more financial institutions recognize the opportunities to add significant convenience to members and further reduce high cost in-branch check deposit transactions.

You do need a scanner which will limit some adoption in the short-term (I used a 2 year old $50 scanner from BestBuy...$10 now on eBay)...however, for many the time/effort saved will be reason enough to purchase a scanner.

The process couldn't be more simple (see my screen shots 1 - 2 - 3 - 4):

Continue reading "USAA Deposit@Home - Another WOW moment for 'Net Banking" »

Posted by Scott at 04:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (17) | TrackBacks (0)

Ever notice that when you shop on Amazon or search on Yahoo, that the ads, sidebars, and messages reflect pages you looked at not only a few minutes ago, but even months ago? The success of these leading e-commerce sites demonstrates to us the effectiveness of targeted website communications to boost sales and increase vital advertising click-through rates. The concept is simple-- the more we understand the individual website user, the more effective we can be in anticipating and serving their particular interest needs. Why aren't credit union's using this knowledge and technology more effectively?

When it comes to our members in the "e" channel, most of us still employ the mass audience, or one-to-many, approach to communication. Banner ad messages and text hyperlink promotions, for example, are often deployed to convey the general promotions of the period to all members regardless of specific relevance to the individual member.

While this serves to convey the credit union’s marketing needs in a “one-to-many” (or ‘shotgun’) practice, I believe we’re still missing a vital opportunity to more effectively serve our individual members’ needs. This is especially true given the limited time we typically have to communicate with members in the online channel and our general desire to fulfill a trusted financial advisor role.

Continue reading "Whose needs are we really meeting? " »

Posted by Scott at 03:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

"Call for credit union access through Post Office network"

...“Everyone who would like access to a credit union should be able to do so through the network. Problems are identified too often, and this would be a good solution. After people had drawn their cash by means of whatever follows the Post Office card account—a similar arrangement, I hope—they could save through credit unions. That would provide all the advantages that the socially excluded do not currently have, and we ignore it at our peril.”

Not until the second or third paragraph in the above article do you realize that this is a UK credit union news release. However, before you dismiss it as irrelevant to US credit unions, I feel it serves as a prime example of the benefits of looking outside our own industry “box” for innovation. It made me think about similar “why not” opportunities for credit unions here in the U.S.

Too often, we focus only on internal industry partners for enhancing service & capability when external practices and relationships may present as much, or greater, opportunity. For example, there are numerous online service strategies & lessons to be learned from consumer e-commerce websites. Yet, I know of only a couple credit unions who attend the conferences regarded as important events for the B2C e-commerce industry.

Instead, we tend to focus on “best practice” and “innovation” only when it directly applies to our industry. This doesn't just apply to individual credit unions but also to the vendors or CUSOs who serve them (Callahans not excluded). Imagine the possibilities of a similar partnership among credit unions and the US Postal Service…or, any other nationwide retail organization?

Think it can't happen? Have a look at USAA Bank's QuickPost service offering "over 4,200 nationwide deposit drop off locations" where deposits "are generally credited the next business day." This innovation is from a relatively new bank that doesn't have a single brick & mortar branch or ATM.

Who is negotiating to give U.S. credit unions this level of community presence?

What are the other opportunities that could be explored outside our industry?

Posted by Scott at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)