CRM for credit unions: Know your members, grow your business

Zennify Team

Successful credit unions know that member engagement is everything. They also know that to meet the demands of a digitally savvy member generation and edge out disruptive competitors, they must offer next-level digital experiences and frictionless service.

For many, the first step along the path to success is implementing a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. CRM systems help businesses manage their relationships with current and potential members. Essentially, a CRM platform gives you a centralized place to store up-to-date customer and prospect details, track each member interaction and seamlessly share this data amongst employees. In this way, a CRM system can help you improve both processes and customer relationships—and ultimately, grow your business.

Boost member engagement and employee productivity

For credit unions, a CRM system gives managers, customer service representatives and others a 360-degree view of each member and real-time visibility into contact information, accounts, reported issues and resolutions, potential sales and marketing opportunities, and more. Armed with this information, employees can personalize each customer interaction, devote more time to meeting their unique needs, and build member engagement and loyalty.

Increasingly, credit unions today are recognizing the advantages that a CRM system can offer. According to a 2019 survey conducted by Callahan & Associates, 40 percent of credit unions surveyed had already acquired a CRM system, with another 30 percent budgeting for one in the near future.

And while the adoption of CRM software tends to correlate to credit union size, even the smallest can reap its rewards. Amongst those credit unions that had already implemented a CRM system, the two most widely reported success factors were improved member engagement and employee productivity—advantages that institutions of any size can benefit from. And those are just a start. Here are a few more key features and benefits of a CRM system—and ones that credit unions should look for when selecting theirs.

Complete, panoramic snapshot of member data:

Enable employees to quickly and easily access comprehensive customer data—from financial accounts to life events—all through a single pane of glass
Highlight and suggest relevant products for reps to offer customers, increasing relationship value and engagement
Capture related member referral data, as well as past, present and potential future incentives

Elevated customer service functionality

Give employees the insights they need to deliver personalized interactions across all touchpoints, no matter the member’s preferred channel of engagement
Provide effortless member self-service through branded apps and portals, with 24/7 access from any device
Centralize issue and resolution data to create a complete member contact history—accessible to your entire service team—for exceptional member care anytime, anywhere, on any channel
Track which products and services have been offered to members—and which they have accepted or declined—to deliver customized, targeted offerings with a personal touch

Enhanced marketing capabilities

Deliver personalized, data-driven marketing messages to key audiences across the entire customer journey
Track, measure and analyze the effectiveness of marketing campaigns to maximize the impact of marketing spend

Salesforce Financial Services Cloud: A single, powerful source of truth

For credit unions seeking a CRM system, there’s no better option than Salesforce Financial Services Cloud (FSC), built on the world’s number one CRM platform and designed specifically to meet the needs of banking and lending institutions.

FSC gives credit union employees seamless, real-time access to critical data such as financial accounts, goals, relationships, interactions, life events and more, for a complete, 360-view of every client and household. By pairing its core household and person account model with powerful analytics tools, FSC enables credit unions to better understand the needs of their members and deliver the rich, personalized experiences they demand. FSC also integrates with thousands of external systems to aggregate data from multiple platforms to create a single, powerful source of truth.

FSC’s out-of-the-box dashboard and task functionality gives credit union employees a quick snapshot of any customer, recommended next best actions, plus the ability to capture interactions and schedule future connections. To help reps capitalize on opportunities to offer new products, FSC Opportunity Path provides step-by-step guidance, enabling them to give each member the service and attention that ensures sales success. And finally, FSC can help credit unions manage, deliver and analyze the impact of targeted marketing campaigns to drive member engagement, improve customer retention and expand their business.

Team up for success: CRM for credit unions

Zennify is Salesforce’s fastest-growing financial services partner. With over 400 implementations to date, we’re uniquely equipped to help start you on your FSC journey. We back our practice with years of experience, broad industry knowledge and deep familiarity with best-in-class financial technologies to help you transform your business and innovate around your most vital asset: your customers.

Learn more about Zennify solutions for credit unions or contact us today.