Posted on Wed, May 16, 2012 @ 03:14 PM
Is Traditional Banking Dead?
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According to the best-selling author and financial services guru Brett King, 95% of all bank transactions today are executed electronically. Indeed, the Internet, ATMs, and smart phones have become commonplace for most banking customers, but banks still classify these as alternative channels and maintain an organizational structure where the Branch dominates thinking.
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Your phone will replace your wallet
In King's new book, Bank 2.0: How Customer Behavior and Technology Will Change the Future of Financial Services, he says that continued technology innovations like social networking, smart phone apps, and mobility are stretching traditional banking models to the limit. According to King, customer preferences are so rapidly changing that soon the traditional notion of "banking" may be dead --branches will become fewer, checks will disappear, and your mobile phone will replace your wallet all within the next 10 years.
Branches, checks and statements will disappear
In this recent interview King, who has worked with big boys like HSBC, Citigroup and UBS, among many others, says that the shift in customer preference started with online banking, grew through smart phones, and is now expanding through mobile banking. As a result, physical elements like branches, checks and printed account statements are no longer a differentiator in the eyes of banking customers looking for more virtual interaction and service.
Customers want to engage through new channels
King goes on to say in the interview that banking has historically been focused on the branch experience. But now with continued advancements in online and mobile technology, more and more customers want to engage with banks through new channels. The trouble, according to King, is that most banks are not supporting these new mechanisms and are not thinking about support and engagement from a customers' perspective.
Understanding customer preferences
Beyond the trend away from traditional branch-oriented banking, King says that traditional advertisement channels are no longer working to engage banking customers. The issue is not about the message, but understanding customer and customers' needs, and anticipating when and where they may need to know about the offer.
Cloud-based communications
Banks, credit unions and other financial service organizations can no longer rely on the traditional model of customer communications. Consumers want to go paperless and we have the answer.
TransXAction, our flagship Managed Communication Service, can help you easily transition printed communications to the paperless world. We provide everything you need to create, migrate and manage all your customer communications -- like bills, statements, notices and more -- in an online, Cloud-based, paperless environment. It's easy.
Contact us today to learn how.
Posted on Fri, May 04, 2012 @ 12:40 PM
Let's Make Earth Day Last All Year Long
In 1970, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson proposed a bill designating April 22 as a national "Earth Day," a day set aside for fostering appreciation of the earth's environment and awareness of the issues that threaten it. The passage of the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act are considered to be ground-breaking legislation associated with that first 1970 Earth Day. Since that time, coordinated by the nonprofit
Earth Day Network, the concept of Earth Day has spread world wide and is now observed in 175 countries.
Earth Day
Most recently the idea of "Earth Day" has expanded into what is now known as "Earth Week," an entire week devoted to finding green solutions to environmental concerns. Earth Week culminates in an Earth Day celebration on the final day. Now that the 2012 Earth Week has just concluded (from Monday April 16 through Earth Day on Sunday April 22) we should take time to reflect on ways to adjust our business processes and infrastructure that will make a difference in the coming year and beyond.
Earth Week
At OMI, we propose that we make Earth Day last all year long. After all, making a positive impact to the environment takes more than just a day, or just a week; it takes a continual commitment to be green. One great place to start is by examining the inefficiencies, waste and environmental impact associated with paper-based business correspondence. Let's face it; at a time when electronic correspondence solutions are both proven and affordable, can you really continue to justify printing and mailing thousands of bills and statement every month?
According to
PayItGreen.org, if only 20% of American households switched from paper to electronic bills, statements and payments each year, the collective impact would:
· Save 146.9 million pounds of paper and 542.7 million pounds of wood
· Avoid filling 7 million household garbage bags and 5 thousand garbage trucks with waste
· Avoid using 14.9 million gallons of gasoline to mail bills, statements and payments
Earth Year
Companies can no longer wait to go paperless. We have the answer.
TransXAction, our flagship Managed Communication Service, can help you easily transition printed communications to the paperless world. We provide everything you need to eliminate the paper, postage and carbon footprint. TransXAction lets you create, migrate and manage all your customer communications -- like bills, statements, notices and more -- in an online, Cloud-based, paperless environment. It's easy.
Contact us today to learn how.
Posted on Wed, May 02, 2012 @ 12:32 PM
Cloud-Based Member Correspondence...Voice of Customer
Hoosier Hills Credit Union
Hoosier Hills Credit Union is a regional credit union with seven locations throughout southern Indiana. Their main office is in Bedford, about an hour south of Indianapolis. The organization is keenly community driven; and according to Jansen Perdue, director of electronic banking, that community focus has recently come to include a determined move to provide its 25,000 members with the most modern electronic banking and correspondence options possible.
“It is a very conscious effort by us to beef up our electronic branch and bring services that are new to our members,” says Perdue. “I think that for any credit union or any bank in this day and age you really have to embrace the new technology. We want to be ahead of the game when it comes to electronic services.”
Managed Member Correspondence
Hoosier Hills Credit Union recently adopted Statement2web, a Cloud-based managed service from OMI, to manage electronic member correspondence. While the credit union had experienced some success with electronic statements in the past, Perdue says that their existing solution did not offer the tools and resources they needed to take things to the next level. “We already had a solution, but it didn’t really offer the flexibility or capability to do new things; things that we knew we needed to do. With OMI we were allowed to take things to the next step.”
Improved e-Statement Adoption
One of the first steps that Perdue and his team took was to improve the adoption rate of electronic member statements. The aim was to improve online member experience while also obtaining some hard dollar savings as well. “With everything that has happened in the financial environment over the last five years electronic services are a good way to reduce some of your overhead,” says Perdue “We knew that we had about 10,200 online banking members, but only a little over 4,000 of those members had e-statements.”
The credit union took an opt-out approach to capture the remaining members and the remaining savings, explains Perdue. “We took the rest of those people and we sent them emails and disclosures that said ‘we know that you use our online banking and electronic services, and unless you tell us otherwise we are going to start sending you e-statements.’ As a result, we converted around 5,300 members and that saved us about $40,000 per year.”
Perdue says it’s easy to manage member email campaigns using Statement2web. “It’s just a really user-friendly way to create a nice professional looking email campaign, and then once you send it, the system is robust enough with the reporting capabilities to really do everything that most people would need in email marketing.”
The ability to issue more meaningful and relevant online member correspondence was exactly what Hoosier Hills was looking for, says Perdue. “It’s just a lot easier to create and manage new campaigns; that has been the biggest improvement for us.”
OMI Partnership
Part of a great service is having great people to work with, says Perdue. “Working with OMI has been really good, actually better than really good. I talk with our relationship manager quite a bit, and that is usually because he calls me and has an idea; and that’s something you don’t get very often with a vendor.”
Indeed, Perdue says Hoosier Hills regards their relationship with OMI as a partnership, not just a supplier-customer relationship. “With a lot of vendors if something doesn’t fit exactly they’ll just tell you no, and I don’t get that with OMI. They’re a partner looking at our issues with us and looking to solve those…and that is unique.”
Moving Forward
What is Perdue’s advice for other credit union professionals looking to make the transition away from paper and into the world of Cloud-based member correspondence? “I would absolutely recommend OMI. They’ve got a great service and great support. I don’t see how anyone could go wrong.”
To hear the Voice of Customer Interview Click on Listen button. To download Voice of Customer Article Click on Read button above.
Posted on Mon, Apr 23, 2012 @ 08:03 AM
A Different Shade of Green
Everybody is talking about "being green" these days, and more and more businesses are striving to have a positive impact on the environment and community. For companies truly committed to building a healthy and sustainable future being green goes beyond being compliant with regulations or bending to the latest fad, and is instead a ground level belief in developing business practices and strategies that will improve the quality of life for its customers, employees and community.
Multi-Shaded Benefits
Eco-focused companies gain additional benefits beyond these altruistic aspects, however; and the upside can come in several different shades of green. First to consider is the positive market perception enjoyed by companies seen as being particularly environmentally-conscious. As more and more customers, employees and investors become increasingly focused on issues of sustainability and environmental impact, business that champion the green cause will ultimately align more deeply with these ideals and engage customers on a more meaningful level.
Green Market Leaders
These added benefits of bening green have not gone unnoticed by executives and market leaders. According to
a 2011 study by MIT, sustainability is now a permanent part of 70% of corporate agendas. Most companies now also consider green practices to be vital part of remaining competitive in the market today. This is because demand for environmentally-friendly services and products continues to grow.
According to a survey conducted by Cohn & Wolfe, a majority of consumers believe that it is important that companies are environmentally-friendly and 35% are willing to spend more for green products.
Customer and Community Benefits
The favorable market perception of being green can have local as well as national reach. Community involvement is an important cornerstone for regional companies, like credit unions, utilities and health care providers. Green practices enhance public image, community relations and good will. According to
a report by D S Simon Productions, organizations that demonstrate social responsibility generate 35-50% more positive media coverage on television, radio, web and social media.
It's Easy Being Green
Now is the time to go green and position your business as an environmental leader.
TransXAction, our flagship Managed Communication Service, helps companies transition printed communications to the paperless world. We provide everything you need to eliminate the paper, postage and carbon footprint associated with traditional mail. Now you can create, migrate and manage all your customer communications -- like bills, statements, notices and more -- in an online, Cloud-based, paperless environment. It's easy. Plus, we help you build strategies to leverage routine communications as focal points to increase brand loyalty, reduce costs, increase revenue and boost customer service.
Contact us today to learn how.
Posted on Thu, Apr 12, 2012 @ 07:40 AM
Social Media for Credit Unions
Are you at risk of being left behind?
By Brad Banyas,CEO @ OMI
It seems like everyone it talking about social media these days, and for good reason; if you are not involved with social media marketing you are missing a significant opportunity. Some 800 million consumers spend nearly four hours each week on Facebook and according to Twitter their subscribers send over 140 million “tweets” per day. Other social media platforms like Google+, LinkedIn and Pinterest are growing by leaps and bounds. One reason for this is that 52% of the world’s population is under 30-years-old, but clearly social media is no longer a fad embraced by only the younger generation.
Have You Seen the Light?
Most businesses have seen the "social media light,” but many credit unions are at risk of being left behind. Today’s consumers expect businesses to engage and provide personal attention through social networks. Credit unions that continue to stay locked into stodgy printed member correspondence and expensive print and mail risk not only missing the boat, but paying more than they should for their member correspondence. Going paperless with social media where it makes sense saves money and is more effective in terms of member satisfaction, member acquisition, and increased cross-sell and up-sell opportunity.
Making the Most of Social Media
How can credit unions make the most of social media? The key is targeting your resources to where social media can have the most significant impact. Start by concentrating on three key objectives:
Member acquisition – One key to success is leveraging existing “fans” of your credit union to share their positive experiences via their social network. Naturally, you hope happy members will spread the word, but you can help by identifying the proper audience and targeting your efforts with the appropriate message and channel. For example, experts suggest focusing social media toward young professionals and young families making significant financial decisions – some of them for the first time. These people are most likely to turn to their social media network when seeking financial advice, so provide them with information on where to open a checking account without fees, how to save for their kid’s college education, or where to get the best rate on a first-time home loan. Reach this audience by offering expert advice and delivering value through cross-promotions.
Community engagement – You can build stronger member relationships using social media while increasing the impact of your community participation. The key is to target sponsorships that align with member interests and then make the most of it with social media. For example, if you sponsor a charity event, build a Facebook event page to provide a central hub for participants to share stories and photos, and invite others to join. With proactive use of a Facebook event page you can encourage participation and engender your organization to the community in ways that are simply not possible without a social media presence.
Member service – One of the best ways to utilize social media is to use it to enhance member service. For example, Twitter is an ideal platform to help members by providing quick responses to general questions about their accounts and the services you provide. Many credit unions also tweet information about member service hours, loan programs and other information for members. A properly monitored, a Twitter account can respond to member needs even outside of typical business hours and quickly lets your member know how they can contact you to get a solution to their issue.
Moving Forward with Social Media
As with any new technology, early adopters lead the way and if the new systems provide value, it’s these early adopters who drive the growth among broader audiences. Now is the time for credit unions to embrace social media and adopt sensible strategies to make the most of this new member communications medium. OMI’s Social Media Portfolio Services build off of everyday correspondence with your members such as invoices, statements, notices and other transactional communications and provides a platform to manage social communications that make a difference, endear members to your credit union, and ultimately, drive revenue for your organization.
Posted on Mon, Apr 09, 2012 @ 08:57 AM
We are in the digital age. No more debate!
After 244 years, Encyclopedia Britannica no longer will be available in printed form. This confirms that we are in the digital age. No more debate.
Over the past 10 years the use of the printed encyclopedias has been dropping drastically. Online sources like Google and Wikipedia have become people's favorite way of finding information. The significance this shift is far reaching. Now our cultural icon is a computer, not printed volumes.
Britannica will continue to publish the encyclopedia in digital form and focus on other
digital services that promote the brand, but say "so long" to those dusty old printed and bound volumes sitting on the shelf. And while some parents and scholars may wax nostalgic and decry the booting of the paper version, most people could not care less. R
eference works in general are optimal on the web and if you have Internet access you can get the information more quickly, more easily, and with up-to-date revisions.
Just like the phone book, the yellow pages, and first-class mail, printed
encyclopedias have given way to digital technologies and new customer preferences for paperless communications. Britannica's own market research showed that the typical encyclopedia owner opened his or her volumes less than once a year whereas people routinely visit Wikipedia, Google, and other online information sources routinely.
The bottom line is that people simply prefer to get information online...not on paper.
Isn't it time for you to enter the paperless age? TransXAction, our flagship Customer Communication Management Service, helps companies transition from print-bound processes to the paperless world. 2012 is the year of the paperless revolution. Will you be on board?
Posted on Mon, Mar 26, 2012 @ 11:57 AM
eCommunication Adoption Strategies and Best Practices
Many organizations offer electronic statements and paperless correspondence to their customers. But despite advances in online technology, and in the face of popular sentiment to “be green”, most continue to struggle to increase paperless adoption. The aim is to save trees, save money, and improve customer communications; but the key to success is getting customers to opt-in to the idea of going paperless.
Are you still printing and mailing thousands of pages of customer correspondence every month despite having an electronic solution? Without a well defined strategy to drive paperless adoption, you may find that you continue to struggle to manage the burden of paper-bound communications.
How can you encourage your customers to go paperless? Here are some strategies and best practices you can use to increase adoption rates, improve communications, and maximize the value of your paperless strategy.
Going Paperless with OMI
TransXaction Communication Management Services from OMI provides a single platform to manage all of your member and customer communications regardless of whether they take form in paperless statements, web-based correspondence, email or social media. Now you have a central point where communications meet to deliver value to the day-to-day transactions of your business no matter what channel you use.
With TransXaction you not only save money, you also satisfy your customers with a consolidated and measured approach to content, promotional offers, brand loyalty and online services that make the most of experiences and relationships. By utilizing TransXaction all of your customer relationships can be measured, quantified and executed to drive real value for your customers and your organization.
Posted on Thu, Mar 15, 2012 @ 01:43 PM
What if you had an opportunity that was guaranteed to reduce your operating expense, plus effectively drive upside revenue at no additional cost? Would you take it? Of course. So what are you waiting for when it comes to paperless customer communications?
Paperless communications save money. A paper statement, for example, costs most companies about $0.75...or more...to print and mail. That is compared to only around 15 cents for an electronic statement. Do the math - a savings of at least $.60 for each statement, for each customer, for each month. Your savings compounds nearly exponentially when you begin to include other customer communications, like notices, letters, invoices, and so forth. Going paperless provides a huge hard dollar
savings...so why aren't you doing it?
Communicating with customers online instead of with paper can boost your sales and increase your revenue. Let's face it, people that are online and engaged are only one click away from a hyperlink or clickable ad that takes them directly to your latest promotion. Try doing that on paper. Even "advanced" paper-based technologies like personal URLs and QR codes are only marginally effective because customers are required to enter a PURL or fiddle with their smartphone to scan a code. Compare that to the immediate ease of simply clicking on your offer online. "Transpromo" efforts are vastly more effective in an online environment vs. paper...so why not capture that
competitive advantage?
When you eliminate paper you raise the bar of customer experience. Consumers hang out online...not at the mailbox. As a result, more and more people prefer to receive information online and they expect companies today to be savvy with social media, online statements, and paperless correspondence. And when a customer can self-serve instead of talking to a customer service agent they are not only more satisfied, but it cost you absolutely nothing. Paperless communications improve the
customer experience at no additional cost...so why are you waiting?
At OMI, we're leading the charge for a paperless revolution. TransXAction, our flagship Managed Communication Service, helps companies transition printed communications to the paperless world. We provide a single point for creating, managing, and measuring online communications. What's more, we help you build strategies to utilize daily, weekly and monthly customer communications as focal points to increase brand loyalty, reduce costs, increase revenue and boost customer service. Contact us today to learn how.
Posted on Tue, Mar 13, 2012 @ 09:30 AM
Engage with your best Customers…the one’s you already have
By Brad Banyas
Marketing is full of concepts and acronyms that can confound even the most savvy business professionals. Concepts like “Transactional Marketing” and “Relationship Management” all attempt to provide clear direction while often clouding the landscape instead. But for Financial Institutions, the real test of marketing and customer communications is demonstrated by the increased ability to sign more loans, secure new deposits, and extend the complete breadth of your services to your members. One way to do that is by embracing the concept of “Transpromo” communications.
What is “Transpromo”
Transpromotional communications, or “Transpromo,” is the concept of customizing common documents like bills, statements, and other customer correspondence with personalized messaging aimed at compelling existing customers to buy more products. Marketing experts praise the up-sell and cross-sell virtues of this approach. By including relevant and personalized marketing content your monthly customer statements, for example, can rise above the din of competitive messages and transform into a beneficial marketing edge.
Transpromo marketing takes advantage of the fact that customer documents get attention – for a few seconds at least – as opposed to the stacks of junk mail or unsolicited e-mail that clutter mailboxes and in-boxes each day. Indeed, you create and send thousands of customer documents every month; why not take advantage of this opportunity by including an offer for a pre-approved car loan, for example; or a discounted rate for mortgage refinance. Whenever you communicate with your customers you have a unique opportunity to expand and extend each “appointment” to include a more deeply relevant and more satisfying customer experience that, ultimately, is more satisfying to your bottom line as well.
Online Customer Communications
Targeted transpromo techniques are tailor-made for online customer communications. After all, customers are only a mouse-click away from additional products and services, something that is simply not possible in a paper-only world. Financial Institutions with a clear strategy to transition from paper-based communication to online customer correspondence will reap the reward. Indeed, 52% of the world’s population is under 30-years-old and 80% of customers are more likely to bank online vs. visiting a branch in person. By incorporating offline marketing business intelligence with online channels Financial Institutions can immediately reap the benefits of a connected world.
Next Steps with Transpromo
The key to success with Transpromo marketing is choosing the right platforms and partners. Software-as-a-service models have evolved to allow Financial Institutions to more quickly and easily leverage the value of their efforts. Cloud-based managed service providers, such as OMI, plug in and connect to the existing systems. This touch-free integration has changed the landscape of modern transpromo communications; after of years of being hampered by print-burdened systems and programming, credit unions are now free to take advantage of Transpromo without the complexities and costs.
Posted on Mon, Mar 05, 2012 @ 09:20 AM
Increase Customer Loyalty through Routine Correspondence
Short-term sales are great, but to build long-term business success you must build customer loyalty. After all, it is one thing to land a customer and it is another to keep them over the long haul. But it is easy to overlook the importance of nurturing our relationships with existing customers when most of our attention is on acquiring new customers. Indeed, businesses today are often so hyper-focused on market growth that they neglect to get the full value of their best customers...the one's they already have.
Monthly customer statements, invoices, and notices are often ignored by marketers when executing a
multi-channel communications plan. But since this routine customer correspondence gets attention - for a few seconds at least - it presents an important up-sell and cross-sell opportunity. By including relevant and personalized marketing content your monthly statements, for example, can rise above the din of competitive messages and
transform into a beneficial marketing edge.
Companies can benefit by a defined marketing strategy that starts with regularly scheduled
customer communications as a foundation, and then extends the reach and value through social media, blogs, and other multi-channel communications. With a thoughtful approach, companies can go a long way to increase customer engagement and loyalty. It is important, however, that higher level branding activities associated with advertisements, commercials and social media begin with existing customer relationships and monthly correspondence that customers routinely receive.
Indeed, you create and send thousands of routine customer documents every month; why not take advantage of this opportunity?
Contact us today to learn how?