ROI, Web 2.0 and the Promtional Giveaway
I am so sorry guys. I posted this yesterday. I spent probably about an hour on it and I hit the “Publish” button and it didn’t publish. I lost all that work. ARGH!
Ok, it actually worked out for the best because I found some new information that pertained to the post.
Let’s see how much I remember – maybe I will take this a different direction…
When you are looking to your budget for promotional items or “Freebies” – the question is always ROI. We have that same discussion here when it is conference time (CUES, CUNA, MAC) or when we do local events. You want something that will hang around. Lollipops are great but your logo is on the wrapper and in 20 minutes they are either gone or at the bottom of someone’s purse. It doesn’t matter if you are a credit union or an agency that specializes in credit union marketing – when you give something away; you hope to get something back. That’s why we put our logos on them.
Sometimes the promotional item is an incentive, like an iPod. We use these things to motivate folks to do things like apply for a credit card or a car loan. Sometimes the campaigns are successful, sometimes not. Sometimes we can say that the market is slow all over, sometimes not. But rarely can we look at the promotional item and say “WOW! Look at the ROI that we got on that one!”. But today is a special day.
See, Plassey Credit Union of Limerick
See, the credit union could use an application like Google Analytics to determine how many hits they have received from this Blog post. They would have a metric to determine the value of the promotion. It would be available to be tracked.
Web 2.0 : 1 Skeptical CEO : 0
Now, on to another nugget that I found today.
Another Blogger – and I am starting to think that everyone has a Blog now – has laid down a challenge to his credit union. After eviscerating another local credit union for its “Cheesy” theater marketing spot he goes on to how his credit union has changed their online banking. See, he uses his web enabled Palm device to access his online account information (like I do). But with the new change and secondary level of authentication – he can no longer do this.
So, again, doing as I would do, he sends a tech support email to the credit union. Instead of having a MSR or tech support person call him or email him – he gets an email that reads
Dear Member,
For assistance with online banking access please contact member services. Representatives are available to assist you business days from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm at 223.8188 or toll free at 800.453.8188.
Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.
Sincerely,
Online Support Team
Wow, can you smell the customer service? Yeah, neither could he. So, we don’t know I the problem was resolved or not. All we know is that for this particular member, the credit union is coming up short. And now their member has made it a public conversation.
I work in the industry. I love the industry. I hardly ever discuss it with my friends unless they ask (this happens maybe twice a year). But here is a blogger that had this mildly questionable response from his credit union (by the way, I keep saying his because the blog has a picture of a man at the top - but the bloggers mybloglog.com profile shows a womans face. I picked a gender and I am sticking with it until she shows up and tells me to change it.) and he is telling the world. Chances are, a few locals might see it and have it affect their decision to join. What also might happen is that another member of another credit union might read it and say “YEAH! My credit union sucks too!” and the beat goes on. Another credit union pays the price of a random act of blindness.
Web 2.0 : 1 Credit Union Member Service : 0
Popularity: 7% [?]
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Comments
Yellow,
Tell your friend (the marketing VP) about your bad service.
If for no other reason than to get him to sign up for Google Alerts!
It keeps the blogosphere turning….around and around……
Thanks for stopping by Cameron. Unfortunately not all credit unions have the tech teams in place that even know what Google Alerts are. The post I have on the subject is still one of my most popular (which is why I re-linked it in this post). It’s hard when you know that it is just an oversight on the credit union’s part.
I doubt that the credit union is intentionally snubbing you. That is just out of character for the industry as a whole. But that doesn’t excuse the lack of follow through. Someone should have contacted you by now. But I agree with Denise. Let your friend know. Even if the VP isn’t a “Real” friend and just someone you know. They will appreciate this. I haven’t met a Marketing VP yet that wouldn’t make this a priority once they knew about it.
Anyway, thanks for participating!
Denise, glad to see you - thanks for coming by 
And to everyone else… yeah I know I typo’d in the headline. But if I fixed it now my links wouldn’t work again. I guess I will have to live with it for now (at least until everyone gets a chance to read it.) Thats what I get for midnight blogging
hey there, its me, the guy who is discontent with local credit unions these days. I never got a reply back from my CU about mobile access to their website. Since then they’ve changed their website again, but i the first line of security isn’t compatible with my palm’s browser again. I could try the hassle of downloading other mobile browsers, but something tells me that if it isn’t compatible with blazer, it won’t be with any thing else as they are all going to be more obscure.
The funny thing is I know the vp of marketing over there. He’s a nice guy and I don’t know if its worth bringing this up and sour things, but I guess they don’t check their google alerts like the other CU I blogged about apparently does.