Filene i3 – Augmented Reality
Filene i3 is a two-year innovation leadership program equipping top credit union professionals with the mindset, tools, and network to lead and shape the future.
Through this cohort-based program, participants work in cross-functional teams to explore and address some of credit unions’ most pressing challenges as identified by Filene’s Think Tank and backed by research from Filene’s Centers of Excellence.
< br>i3 participants learn cutting-edge innovation competencies grounded in three core categories:
Facilitating Innovation: Engaging the diverse perspectives of members, staff, stakeholders, and subject-matter experts to co-create new solutions.
Accelerating Learning: Exploring and iterating new ideas to gain insight, reduce risk, and validate solutions.
Leading Change: Mobilizing people and resources to inspire action and make change happen
Power In Together
Salal CU teamed up with media company Digital Brew to produce an animated short video that captured the heart of Salal’s brand message. The video itself was placed as a paid ad on YouTube, while silent shorts were versioned our for Facebook and Instagram, leading traffic to both Salal CU’s home page as well as a custom splash page tailored to new members.
Deposit Promotion Hub Landing Page
Scenario: We were tasked with launching four simultaneous deposit promotions at once. Best practice would normally call for a single product/call to action per landing page, and separate customer journeys for each product, in order to create a clear user journey for the customer. However, in this instance, we explored an alternate route to end-goal conversion rather than bottom-of-the-funnel communication methods we’ve used in the past.
Tasks: Develop a journey focused on the end user meeting their savings goals, with interactive engagements throughout their journey that would end in product recommendations based off of their needs.
Actions:
– Define use cases for each product we were promoting, connected to common user needs we’ve encountered in the past, corroborated with present member feedback.
– Use SEO keyword research to better understand what questions end users were trying to answer when looking online.
– Develop a template for each use case that would allow each product to fit within the same interactive experience, meeting SEO keyword and member feedback needs.
– Design a site that use javascript and css to create a rudimentary level of interactivity focused on the users input and subsequent needs.
– Design ways to hide information and reveal as needed based on the users actions to prevent cognitive overload.
– Develop interactive calculators to give end-users an idea of their savings based on their chosen product type.
Results:
20% Conversion rate across all iterations of the website over a 3 month time period (April to June 2023)
Increased scroll depth and click mapping compared to past promotional websites
Increase in new money deposited from traditional banking sources over a 3 month time period (April to June 2023)
Cannabis Member Testimonials
The primary objective of this campaign was to spotlight our Cannabis industry credit union members, their struggles, the obstacles that they face every day, and to give a platform for their stories. We wanted to increase not only awareness of what our cannabis industry members face on a daily basis, but increase awareness that our credit union is willing to bank this under-served and underbanked demographic when many other FI’s can’t or won’t.
Case Study – Persona Research and Development
Scenario: The need for this study was to develop broad, psychographic personas that represented the four foundational member segments of Salal Credit Union’s customer base. Most of what the business lines knew about their customers was anecdotal at best, and their own personal assumptions at worst.
Tasks: Qualitative (anecdotal stories and member feedback from NPS surveys) as well as quantitative (Experian purchased data and primary owned) data were used to answer the main questions Salal had about its members.
– What were they like, demographically?
– What were the main drivers for their decision making?
– How did they specifically view sustainable business practices?
– How did they use technology?
– How should we position our messaging and sales guides when communicating with them?
Actions:
These personas were developed from the subsequent user research, and used to guide business decision making and strategy pivots. They were also released for access to every employee in the organization, not only to challenge current assumptions about our members (which were that all of our members were in their 60’s, white, and working in healthcare), but to give employees a tangible face on the idea of “our members” in order to improve member interactions. Finally, these personas were used by my design team and the marketing team at large to personalize creative, customize product and web experiences, and inform recommendations made to business lines on how to improve existing processes to meet member needs.
Results:
New personas were launched to employees in early 2020, as well as guidelines for usage. In the resulting timeframe:
NPS relationship score increased 7 points over two years (2020-2022).
NPS Detractor (indicative of dissatisfaction) percentage consistently dropped 3% over 2 years. (2020-2022)
Average positive sentiment increased 20% in 2022
Market share for classically hard to reach/disengaged 1-product customers (represented by 2 out of 4 personas) increased 5% in 2022, due to targeted messaging and deeper understanding of customer needs.
Branding – Salal Credit Union
Salal Credit Union’s history as Group Health Credit Union, and a previous re-brand in 2014, had set Salal up as strategically serving healthcare professionals throughout the Pacific Northwest. However, with the legalization of cannabis in Washington state, and the opportunity to begin financing solar panel installations and home improvements for homeowners, Salal saw itself moving in very different strategic directions than the organization previously planned for. Because of these quick shifts in who Salal was serving, the brand needed a strategic makeover in order to be used effectively.
The process began with a brand audit, focused on discovery around the ways the existing brand succeeded, and where it was no longer relevant. Using board member, credit union member, and employee feedback and input, I led our internal team through the process of iterating and building out brand pillars: Archetype, Values, Mission, Vision, Purpose, and Positioning. Once established, the voice and visual systems followed.
Finally, our team custom shot and animated training videos that helped bring our new brand identity to life, and developed an internal training website that took employees through interactive modules dedicated to each brand pillar. Employees were introduced to each module via an email drip campaign that opened a new module each week, offering bite sized opportunities for our employees to learn a lot of information over a slightly longer period of time.
Web Design – Salal Credit Union
Salal CU’s existing website was 8 years old, which justified not only a re-design, but also a total overhaul of how information, UI, the UX, and design supported organizational strategy.
We approached re-mapping the site first around a topic cluster concept, in that each business line and meaningful cluster of information was structured as a content pillar. The goal was to strengthen cross-link relationships in order to increase site performance while also making it easier for a user to find and act on what they needed. The site’s primary focus was conversions and sales, with secondary goals of informing existing consumers and brand storytelling.
Filene i3 – CU Fintech Connect
Filene i3 is a two-year innovation leadership program equipping top credit union professionals with the mindset, tools, and network to lead and shape the future.
CU Fintech Connect Prototype
CU Fintech Connect, an advanced platform facilitating seamless collaboration between
fintech innovators and credit unions, fostering mutually beneficial partnerships. This cutting-edge
system adeptly matches credit unions with bespoke fintech solutions tailored to their distinct needs,
effectively navigating the complexities of the technological landscape. Addressing concerns related to
integration, the platform categorizes fintech offerings based on the unique technological requirements
of credit unions. It prioritizes smooth integration by offering detailed compatibility insights derived
from current user reviews. Designed with user-friendliness in mind, the interface supports resourceconstrained credit unions, streamlining the due diligence process. Customization options ensure
adaptability to the unique requirements of credit unions, promoting long-term viability. With a central
focus on elevating the member experience, CU Fintech Connect emerges as a crucial facilitator,
driving synergies between credit unions and fintechs and propelling the financial industry towards
heightened innovation and efficiency.
This concept was sold and is being developed into Finnect.