Eligibility Factor Promoted

HONOLULU-Hawaii State FCU continues to pull in new members through a microsite whose URL is the slogan of its membership acquisition campaign: "UR-eligible.com."

The strategy behind the site, first featured in CU Journal on March 1, is to combine the entrenched notion in many consumers that they are not able to join a credit union. In the first six months, the CU recorded a 20% conversion rate for all visitors who submitted inquiries through UR-eligible.com. John Rota, business development officer for Hawaii State FCU, said the conversion percentage is up to 39%. "We are doing a lot better," he said. "Year to date we have received 296 inquiries, and from those we have 116 new members."

Tricia Buskirk, Hawaii State FCU's corporate development and marketing manager, said most new members learn about the CU from referrals and the microsite allows them to check out the CU. "Our member referral program runs year around and it has really led to strong membership growth this year. We have referral cards that are advertised in statement stuffers and on our website. The cards have the web address on them."

A new initiative this year was a website that allows current members to type in the name of the person or persons they are referring, Buskirk said. Those people receive an e-mail stating they have been referred with a link for more information. The credit union's marketing department then follows up.

"The microsite is good, but I want to do more things to funnel traffic to it," Buskirk said. "In 2011 we are going to market it, but we want to make sure we continue to send people who really are interested in the credit union. We don't want bad traffic to go there."