The turnout was nothing to brag about-about 60 people showed up last month at the local library where a credit union here held its first online services exposition-but the good news was that members rushed the bill pay booth, spiking adoption rates, and learned a little bit more about navigating the Net.
"Though it can be a little disappointing when you see the turnout, we were thrilled by the genuine interest members showed," said Mike O'Brien, chief marketing officer at the $135-million St. Louis Community CU (SLCCU) here.
"If we have genuine interest, then word will spread about the credit union," he asserted. "We can position ourselves as helping to improve the member's finances and lifestyle."
Tagged "Have You Met Max?" the free exposition featured SLCCU Max Online services at different stations, including how to use homebanking, bill pay and the CU's new multi-factor authentication (MFA) and e-statements programs.
"With all these new things to talk about, we decided to have a special event to create awareness," said O'Brien.
In this day and age, with the maturity and pervasiveness of the web, some take it for granted that everyone is aware of online services and how to use them. But there are still plenty of people who aren't tuned in, said O'Brien.
"We need to keep chipping away at member awareness," he said. "We have a good story to tell, and we hear far too often that members aren't aware of our online services."
Not everyone knows the Net, either.
"We serve a diversified group of people who may not be technologically savvy and who aren't necessarily comfortable at a keyboard," explained O'Brien.
"Some members don't know how to left-click on a mouse, or navigate the homebanking screens," added Connie Johnston, SLCCU senior vice president, information technology. "We really have to walk members through the services."
Plenty of members don't feel safe online, said O'Brien. "There's still the fear factor in banking online. So we really played up MFA by saying that security is now better than ever."
Of the seven stations at the expo, the bill pay booth drew the largest crowd by far, said O'Brien.
"Members made a beeline for bill pay," he said. The CU decided on-the-spot to launch a break-out session, walking all participants through the bill pay process using a big screen and projector.
"People were firing questions at us, and we had their attention for about 45 minutes," Johnston said.
O'Brien said he wasn't surprised by the interest in bill pay.
"We made bill pay free in September, and we knew that once we started that, it would be the product that people wanted to learn more about."
The numbers are still coming in, but recent tallies suggest that the expo may have increased bill pay usage by up to about 25%, Johnston said.
Combined with other marketing campaigns, the online expo gave SLCCU "a good jump on online services penetration," she said.
About 20% of the CU's 25,000 members use Internet banking, and 15% of those members use bill pay, Johnston said.
The Max Online exposition wasn't the first educational event at SLCCU, which has hosted seminars featuring speakers on various topics about once each quarter.
The expo-style event won't be the CU's last, O'Brien said. "Online services is an area of emphasis for us. We believe that developing this type of relationship will tie the member into the credit union for the long haul."
Said one member: "I learned so much just sitting and working with you. (The) suggestion to delete my temporary Internet files fixed the problem...and everything is working perfectly. I scheduled my bills to be paid this Friday-how exciting."
