RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif.-Whether it was the recently enacted CARD Act or just a desire to find other revenue and opportunities, one analyst is reminding every CU to look at three areas when it comes to plastic cards.
"The three big goals are penetration, activation and usage," said Caroline Lane, SVP of business development and marketing for CO-OP Financial Services, here. "For penetration, you want to ask 'Why do more members not have your debit card?' Usually it's because they have a checking account.
"For activation - once you've actually issued a card, you don't want it to just sit somewhere," Lane added, noting incentives can be effective in boosting usage, such as offering a gift card for activating the card. "It can be simple and inexpensive," she said.
"The big daddy is usage," Lane stressed. "If the average use for a member is 12 uses per month, wouldn't it be great if that number moved to 15?"
In CO-OP Financial Services' case, for instance, it offers a new new portfolio optimization tool known as CO-OP Revelation to help drive usage numbers north.
"It helps a credit union identity merchants where members use their debit cards often," explained Lane. In those cases credit unions can insert promotional language on members' monthly statements encouraging usage at that store, Lane said. She also suggests a "spend and get" campaign, where members who spend a certain amount on their debit card each month get something in return.
But the data needed to drive those behaviors can be complex, Lane observed. "It can be daunting. The data can be overwhelming. Without our tool, it is overwhelming. You need some kind of analytic tool to see where the diamonds in the rough are."
