AUSTIN, Texas-Community financial institutions that teamed up under the Kasasa brand are seeing dramatic improvements, according to the company that is behind it.
BancVue, which created the Kasasa national brand of unique checking and savings accounts, reported a 71% boost in new account acquisition since last May at client institutions, with 53% of those new accounts coming from new customers or members.
"The products, combined with the fact that they are only available at community institutions, is something that is really hitting home with consumers," Chief Marketing Officer Susan Sierota said when asked what is driving the strong results. "People said they would rather be at a community institution. They know the megabanks will treat them like a number, but they aren't willing to sacrifice the products they get at the megabanks. [Kasasa] gives them that reason to believe because it is bigger than one credit union."
Kasasa Boasts 4th Largest Branch Network
In less than a year, the brand has grown so rapidly that only three of the largest banks in the country have a larger branch network than the combined community banks and credit unions working with the Kasasa name. That scale has helped dozens of institutions "break through the clutter" with effective marketing campaigns, Sierota pointed out.
One financial institution with $280-million in assets and five branches that Sierota declined to identify by name saw a 200% surge in new demand deposit accounts since going live with Kasasa in September 2009. Cost-per-account acquisition fell from $480 pre-Kasasa to $235 and profit increased from $173 per account, to $451, Sierota saidd. And this was all achieved by simply shifting marketing funds from other efforts over to Kasasa's blitz on television, radio, online, social media and local events.
Biddeford, Maine-based Oceans Communities FCU saw a "phenomenal" response after rolling out the Kasasa Cash and Saver products, according to CEO Jay Chapin. The rewards checking product brought in nearly $16 million while the savings account drew another $15 million to the institution.
"One of the reasons we went with this product originally was that we were languishing with checking account balances at $10 to 12 million over the last three years," said Chapin. "[Now] we're seeing new members coming in, different members, and it has not depleted our share draft accounts as we thought it would."
Members who joined via Kasasa tend to be more active with their cards, as well, averaging about 25 to 30 transactions per account per month, while those with regular share draft accounts use debit cards only about 10 to 15 times per month. Because Kasasa requires members to use their debit cards at least 12 times per month and make cost-saving choices such as enrolling in e-statements to earn the high interest rates, the accounts tend to be more profitable. The new members also tend to be open to loan pitches; Sierota said a member with Kasasa Cash is twice as likely to accept a cross-sold product than someone with a simple free checking account.
Natco CU Tracks Success
In less than two months, Natco CU, Richmond, Ind., has brought in nearly three dozen new members through the Cash and Saver products, and converted another 327 members from existing free checking products to Kasasa Cash. Marketing manager Karen Houser called the interest "tremendous," adding that the Kasasa promotion campaign through billboards, over the airwaves and at a local bridal show has been critical to bringing in new members.
"Whether it was though word of mouth or other media outlets I don't think these were people we were going to reach without the Kasasa promotion," she said.
Thirty-five institutions are now live with Kasasa, and another 65 institutions are in the queue.
