Saving Money with E-Statements

May 21, 2009

There it was on the ground: A $20 bill. Nobody to claim it, nobody to tell. Found money. With income down and razor-thin spreads, wouldn't it be great if your credit union found some “extra” money today? You can, by offering your members electronic statements. They're more convenient, faster, safer, and cheaper than paper.

Every time a member receives a paper statement, your credit union loses out. First, there's the cost of printing, including rising paper costs. There's also the issue of timing. To make up a $6-million budget shortfall, the U.S. Postal Service is talking about cutting out Tuesday delivery. Using snail mail, your members only receive statements when the mail comes. And don't forget postage costs: May 11 brings another two-cent hike in the price of stamps and price increases can be expected each May from now on. The post office's gain is your credit union's loss.

Found Money

Could the timing be any better to launch a member promotion for e-statements? Not only do e-statements offer real cost and time savings, but it's a great way to watch your progress. One of the best metrics for tracking success is adoption rate (number of e-statements divided by number of members). Numerous credit unions have executed well-planned, focused e-marketing campaigns that resulted in average adoption rates of 16 percent, with some as high as 50 percent.

Incentives are very useful for driving e-statement adoption. For instance, invite members who sign up to enter a drawing for quality prizes. And each time a member signs up for a different type of e-statement, he/she can enter again. Credit unions that do this quickly find that the cost of prizes, coupled with inexpensive e-marketing promotions, is more than offset by the savings from enrollments.

Here are examples of a few winning e-statements campaigns and their expected annual savings:

Finding E-Statements Users

To gain the most from your campaign, consider these tips:

• Promotions don't have to be long and complicated. Small, targeted promotions actually get the best results and highest ROI when it comes to increasing enrollments.
• Save money with predesigned enrollment campaigns or e-mails. Why pay more for a custom campaign and lose time when all you really need to do is raise awareness. Collected e-mail addresses are fast and deliver instant results when clicking over to an enrollment page.
• Promote e-statements to your entire membership. In addition to online banking users, there are other members who will sign up for e-statements and online banking if they know you have them.
• Members are NOT going to search for e-statement sign-up pages. Place an easy-to-find link to your e-statements promotion on your website.
• Go viral. As members begin using e-statements, invite them to spread the word. There's no better advertising than word-of-mouth. Ask for testimonials. Do a survey. We know credit unions that even use YouTube-style marketing to share satisfied members' endorsements.
• Use (but don't abuse) the e-mail addresses you collect. Offer members who sign up for e-statements the option of receiving preference-based e-mail alerts. That way, along with e-statements, you can send promotions for products and services they want to receive.

Could your credit union use an extra $10,000 or $20,000 a year? “Found money” is rare in any business, especially when many are reporting losses. But your credit union can find big savings from running an e-statements campaign right now.

Ron Daly is president/CEO of DigitalMailer. For more information, contact Daly at 866-994-4900 or rdaly@digitalmailer.com.

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