ST. PAUL, Minn.-Affinity Plus FCU here was busier than normal during Bank Transfer Day, but according to one person, the day was really more of a continuation of the CU's recent membership surge.
CEO Kyle Markland reported that the high traffic at branches came as a result of increased "Ditch Your Bank" marketing (CU Journal, Oct. 24, 2011, "
Markland didn't have specific numbers available about Transfer Day memberships and account-openings on the day he spoke with Credit Union Journal, but said that one branch was reporting "just about every other person in line is a new member coming in or saying they're there to ditch their bank, so that's pretty aggressive." The CU averages about 1,000 new members per month, but the last four months has averaged closer to 2,000 per month. Of those new members, he said, about 75% are opening checking accounts. New members tend to bring over as many as six different account relationships, he said.
Because of the long-running "Ditch Your Bank" campaign, Affinity Plus's demographics on Transfer Day were across the board, said Markland, including entire families coming in together to make the switch. He added that branches were seeing more new members coming in than existing members switching over their checking. Affinity Plus serves 134,000 members with $1.4 billion in assets.
Avoiding The Rush
Despite the high traffic, Markland said member service representatives weren't rushing anyone through the sign-up process. "Our strategy has always been that we're going to spend as much time as it takes," he said. How long that is is "very dependant on the member that we're talking to, and we're maintaining that strategy today."
He emphasized that part of the CU's plan to build member loyalty is by creating a trusting relationship between the CU and the member, and so there is "a proactive outreach for new members" after the sign-up process.
Because Bank Transfer Day was on a Saturday and the Fed was closed, Markland said that "most people realize that ... there will be some additional follow-up. The way we're handing it is a pro-active outreach to contact them to see what else we need to do to fully migrate their account over."
Markland added that "For us, we're making it a big day-but it's also what we do every day."
