TAMPA, Fla.-As members increasingly move toward home and mobile banking, credit unions are being forced to reach out in progressive ways to maintain interactive relationships. For GTE Financial, it's all about "virtual hugs."
"Our vision is embracing members with technology. It is not meant to de-personalize service. It's quite the opposite actually," said GTE Financial's Vice President of Marketing and Promotion Mandy Zurbrick. "It's meant to provide a way to empower members to be more involved and take on an active role with their finances."
The initiative is part and parcel of GTE's President and CEO Joe Brancucci's virtual strategy. The overarching program has been growing since he joined the credit union in 2010. "If you look at Facebook, Twitter and other social networks, it is all about a conversation that continues after the user has signed off," said Brancucci. "And a sharing of personal information...that makes for a friendly interaction."
Recent statistics support the effort. GTE's bill pay, online and mobile banking, and remote deposit usage is rapidly increasing month-over-month. In 2012, for example, there was a 123% increase in registered Deposit2GO users, a 98% increase in active users and 109% increase in the number of deposits.
Perhaps most surprising for the 180,000-member, $1.5-billion credit union was a 417% increase in mobile banking logins followed by a 28% increase in bill pay subscribers. "We recently heard from a 92-year-old member who told Joe how happy she was that she didn't have to drive anywhere to do her banking," said Zurbrick. "Making a real impact on our members' lives is what drives us."
Spreading Hugs
As a way to first engage and inform members, all of GTE's Community Financial Centers are equipped with both an iPad and a traditional PC to demonstrate all banking services. "We encourage members that do not have the technology at home to come in and use our Virtual Center for their online banking," noted Zurbrick.
Brancucci is intent on furthering the virtual relationship. If a member is browsing the website and focuses on home loans, for example, he wants that information captured and retained so call center employees could have an informed conversation should the member initiate interest.
"This is just one of the many examples of reengineering the way we do business so we can evolve from being human ATM machines with a one transaction deep memory, to relationship managers with enough information to have a continuing dialogue with our members," said Brancucci.
This year GTE will also roll out a "Save Time Technology" campaign that will introduce virtual alternatives to members who frequent its Community Financial Centers. The objective is to onboard members to convenience-driven technology offerings so as to cut down the time spent waiting in line for a teller.
"This campaign will be featured on GTE's website with a cool new interactive landing page that mimics the inside of a location," said Zurbrick. "Visitors can click on the various technologies including ATMs, our Remote Deposit Capture app Deposit2GO as well as our Virtual Station and Quick Assist Station to read more and watch an entertaining how-to video."
