As discussed at this year’s Money 20/20 conference, data has awoken a force capable of completely transforming the payments experience. This year’s holiday shopping season presents an ideal test ground for both generating and analyzing transaction data to better meet the needs of members.
The consumers who rush to their favorite stores, websites and apps this holiday will generate trillions of gigabytes of data every day. The average individual plans to buy 15 different holiday gifts. Quite often, they plan to do so in e-commerce environments, leaving a trail of digital breadcrumbs as they go.
How can your credit union leverage this information to deliver even greater value to members, and in turn, achieve top of wallet status for your cards programs? Here are three ideas…
Encourage greater rewards redemption
To generate robust data sets from your rewards program, you first must motivate cardholders to use it. Savvy holiday shoppers are getting smarter about maximizing their dollars. One way to do that is to earn rewards as they spend. But, it has to be easy. If taking advantage of a rewards program means more work during an already busy time of year, it simply won’t land with time-strapped members.
Member Rewards by CO-OP is an example of a simple, seamlessly rewards program that is perfectly aligned with how today’s shoppers want to engage. Credit unions provide access to the program through a mobile-optimized site, or even better, through their existing mobile banking app via the Member Rewards API. An intuitive, integrated interface makes it super simple for harried shoppers to track and redeem the rewards their spending has earned.
The result is continuous, enthusiastic use, perpetuating an essential and data-rich feedback loop for the card-issuing credit union. CO-OP and its credit union clients put this intelligence to use to continue delivering member-centric, hyper-personalized payment experiences that drive top-of-wallet status during the holidays, as well as throughout the year.
Get laser-targeted with marketing efforts
Moving from data collection to action isn’t always easy. That’s why it’s more critical today than ever before to lean on the experts. Many of the credit unions in the CO-OP ecosystem rely on our data scientists to harness the power of data analytics for the growth and enhancement of their portfolios.
One way we do this is through our Preferred Marketing program. By leveraging the business intelligence available through CO‑OP Revelation, our data and marketing experts deploy highly targeted, expertly segmented consumer marketing programs the take portfolio performance to entirely new levels.
Data-driven quarterly campaigns target members with offers based specifically on their spending behaviors and predicted triggers. The result is a dramatic boost in revenue and a decrease in costs from fruitless promotions. Because we target only those cardholders most likely to benefit from and be motivated by a particular offer, we save dollars that would otherwise have gone after members unlikely to be attracted to the promotion.
Never is smart marketing more important than during the holiday season. The credit union card teams that are working alongside CO-OP on holiday campaigns are already seeing the results. That’s because CO-OP does all the work. From messaging to mailing, incentives to results, CO-OP Preferred Marketing simplifies the process of creating and managing data-driven campaigns all year round.
Harness data to fight fraudsters
Digital consumers love the stress-busting convenience of shopping online and on mobile. This is especially true among the strongest revenue generators in a given portfolio. Among households earning $100,000 or more, 57 percent expect their holiday spending will be online this year.
At the same time, digital shoppers are increasingly aware of how vulnerable their accounts become when crooks follow their digital footprints. Therefore, giving members the peace of mind to shop carefree is an important strategy for the credit unions working alongside CO-OP to enhance the holiday shopping experience.
To do exactly that, member-focused cooperatives are turning on CardNav by CO-OP. The mobile app is backed by CO-OP’s advanced fraud fighting platform, which uses data-fed technologies like neural networks and machine learning to predict and stop fraudulent purchases.
It works by empowering a credit union’s cardholders to decide when, where and how their cards are used – in advance and in real-time. The feature then provides transaction alerts and controls via members’ smartphones, adding another layer of security to in-house card programs.
As more members being to shop with digital tools like Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Android Pay, MasterPass and Visa Checkout, solutions like CardNav add a layer of confidence. It subtly communicates an important truth in this era of highly vulnerable personal data – credit unions are watching the backs of our members.
Meeting high expectations in a mobile wonderland
As a partner in developing enhanced payments and shopping experiences, CO-OP Financial Services is committed to providing credit unions with the member-centric and data-rich tools they need to compete. Armed with the right mix of business and member intelligence, the movement can turn mundane transactions into memorable moments that inspire loyalty this holiday and beyond.
If you’re interested in learning more about the opportunities for credit unions to truly leverage their data in today’s digital age, please sign up to receive the next issue of THINK Review Magazine: The Data Strategy Issue.
