By Ray Birch
PITTSBURGH— The credit unions posting the strongest growth in 2026 aren't necessarily spending more on marketing—they're spending smarter, according to executives from BlastPoint, who told a well-attended webinar that precision targeting, member reactivation and attracting the right new members have become the defining characteristics separating the industry's fastest-growing institutions from those quietly losing ground.
The webinar, "The 3 Data-Backed Moves Behind Q1 2026's Fastest-Growing Credit Unions," was led by Seth Koller, head of new verticals and strategic accounts at BlastPoint, with Christopher Medina, a go-to-market engineer, providing additional analysis. Their presentation drew on first-quarter 2026 NCUA Call Report data benchmarked by asset size through BlastPoint's CUScorecard, allowing credit unions to compare themselves against peers rather than national averages.
BlastPoint, which provides customer intelligence and analytics that help credit unions identify growth opportunities, said the findings come as the industry faces mounting headwinds. More than half of all credit unions lost members during 2025, and there are more than 450 fewer credit unions than there were less than three years ago, according to Koller. Those trends, he said, make it critical to understand what the industry's strongest performers are doing differently.
"We wanted to identify what separates the institutions that are still growing from the ones that might be quietly losing ground," Koller said, explaining that BlastPoint compared each institution only against similarly sized peers to avoid skewing the results.
Move No. 1: Grow Members—Without Sacrificing Relationship Depth
The first common trait among top-performing credit unions is their ability to grow membership while simultaneously increasing the average member relationship—a combination Medina described as a "Goldilocks" growth profile.
Only about one in five credit unions achieved both objectives, according to the analysis. Those institutions generated approximately 19 to 35 basis points more return on assets than similarly sized peers.
"If you can grow younger and newer members and deepen relationships at the same time, that's a real big signal," Koller said.
Medina added that successful institutions weren't simply bringing in more members—they were attracting people who were more likely to become long-term, engaged members through better demographic targeting and more efficient marketing.
"These credit unions are more effectively targeting new members," Medina said. "When they get in the door, they're more likely to exhibit the behavior of ideal members."
Koller pointed to Whitefish Credit Union, which generated roughly $870,000 in new deposits over two months by using data-driven segmentation to reach the right households as it expanded into a new market.
Move No. 2: Reactivate Members Before Buying New Ones
The second lesson focused on existing members.
BlastPoint's research found that more than 40% of credit unions are losing members even while their average member relationship metric is increasing—a statistic that can create a misleading picture of institutional health.
Because the ratio measures loans and deposits divided by member count, relationship depth can improve either because balances are increasing or because members are leaving.
"The advice I would give is we should be asking whether they're actually growing or just shrinking into a better-looking ratio," Koller said.
Instead of immediately investing in acquiring new members, Koller argued that many institutions should first focus on members whose relationships have become shallow or are beginning to drift.
He cited a case study in which a $2-billion credit union is projected to generate an estimated $117,000 to $447,000 in new revenue by converting members who had never made the credit union their primary financial institution into active checking account users.
Medina noted that dormant relationships often aren't obvious from balance sheet data alone. Members may maintain a checking account while taking out loans, opening credit cards or placing savings elsewhere.
"The challenge of dormant vulnerability" is becoming increasingly important, he said, adding that institutions should monitor whether members are engaging with offers, emails and marketing campaigns—not simply whether they maintain accounts.
Move No. 3: Precision Beats Bigger Budgets
Perhaps the webinar's most surprising finding is that marketing budgets themselves showed little relationship to growth.
Across five of the six asset categories studied, high-performing and underperforming credit unions spent statistically similar amounts on marketing. Only institutions under $100 million in assets appeared to suffer from underinvestment.
"What the data doesn't support is this idea that the ones who are outperforming are simply spending way more on marketing," Koller said.
Instead, success depended on using available dollars more effectively by identifying the right members, selecting the right communication channels and delivering more personalized messages.
"The level of spend does not predict which credit unions grow," Medina said. "Execution really matters."
As credit unions increasingly adopt artificial intelligence and more sophisticated analytics, Medina said leaders should rethink traditional marketing approaches by incorporating member behaviors, financial life stages and preferred communication channels into campaign design.
Whether members are college students opening their first financial account, newly married couples preparing to buy homes or longtime members beginning to disengage, understanding those signals enables institutions to deploy limited marketing resources more effectively, he said.
The broader message, BlastPoint concluded, is that sustainable growth is becoming less about spending more and more about using better data. The fastest-growing credit unions consistently excel in three areas: acquiring members who become valuable long-term relationships, re-engaging members already on the books and targeting marketing with greater precision.
Those capabilities, Koller and Medina argued, are becoming increasingly important as credit unions compete with banks and fintechs that often have significantly larger marketing budgets.
To view a replay of the webinar, click here.