PALM DESERT, Calif.–Credit unions still thinking in terms of the traditional sales and marketing funnel are so 1898. No, seriously, that’s when the much-cited funnel was first created, one person told credit unions, stating if they want to make it to 2028 and beyond they need to be thinking in much different terms involving “experiences.”
Speaking to the California and Nevada Leagues’ REACH Conference, marketing consultant Andrew Davis said it’s time for every CU to be thinking in terms of the Loyalty Loop while also borrowing some lessons from the Domino’s Pizza Tracker.
“It’s never been more complicated to market a credit union or financial product. It’s never been more convoluted or more difficult. Why? Because there’s always something new. A new idea, a new platform, every day,” said Davis.
As an example, Davis asked audience members how their credit unions were doing on Tik Tok? Clubhouse? How many are “killing it” in the new platforms and driving new memberships? The audience’s laughter was indicative that none were doing so.
“The marketing world says you have to be there,” said Davis. “It’s the next big thing. There is always something next and as a result we find ourselves spreading ourselves, our budgets thinner and thinner and thinner. And marketing budgets aren’t getting incrementally larger. The problem is the marketing pizza pie isn’t getting any bigger, it’s just getting sliced more ways.”
The Shift
After running through a list of technologies and marketing expenses that have taken place over last two decades and all the trends that replaced trends that replaced other trends followed by the adjusting and readjusting that took place within credit unions, Davis said it’s time for a “shift in CU marketing."
“And if that is the case we need to question the fundamentals, including the time-honored marketing and sales funnel,” said Davis, noting that the traditional funnel was actually created in 1989 by St. Elmo Lewis.
“What have we done in the last 100 years to fix this? We have handed this same old concept to marketer after marketer and made small adjustments, such as the Mirrored Triangle, funnels inside of more complicated funnels, and even the ‘FU Funnel’,” said Davis. “All are meant to modernize a really old concept. We have to agree the way people buy has changed since 1898. A lot has changed. The framework we still use is the same.”
There are two main problems with the funnel, according to Davis:
- It’s linear. “It assumes we buy in a linear fashion.”
- “It relies on our ability to raise awareness. You know who loves this? Media companies.”
The New Model
As a result of all the (old) problems with the sales and marketing funnel model, Davis told the meeting it’s time for something new: the Loyalty Loop.
“The first thing in the loyalty loop is the moment of inspiration when you start on a journey you never expected, such as getting a reminder a lease is expiring and thinking about buying a car,” Davis said. “Moments of inspiration happen all the time, to all of us. They are very powerful and happen in a moment.”
The Trigger
And every time a moment of inspiration occurs two things also happen, Davis said:
- The Trigger Question. “It pops into your mind, in this case, ‘What kind of car am I going to buy?’ And because your mind doesn’t like ambiguity, you try to answer it.”
- The Prime Brand. The prime brand, said Davis, is the answer to the aforementioned attempt to answer that question. “Often, it’s the brand that’s right in front of the prospective buyer.”
Other moments of inspiration include “active evaluation,” where consumers sort through brands and create a longer list.
“And then everyone goes to the same place when they have a question--Google,” said Davis. “Eighty percent of all consumers already know what brand they want to work with before you’ve ever heard of them.”
What every retailer, including credit unions, is seeking to do is move that prospective buyer to the “moment of commitment,” according to Davis, which he defined as the “instant we trade money, data or time for products, services, information, or to support a cause."
‘Just as Important as Money’
“We live in a time when data and time are just as important as money,” he continued. “If I trade my information to you, you need to create an experience that feels like we paid for it. This is not a commodity, it’s an asset. We always need to create experiences that feel like we paid for them.”
Davis said hitting the “submit” button on any website is one such moment of commitment.
“If I fill out a form on your website, what is the first thing I will see? I will get an automated email confirmation. It’s the standard experience. It’s this moment when we are entering into the Loyalty Loop. It’s a series of encounters that leave an impression,” he said. “If we want to create a true member experience, we need to think about our Loyalty Loop. We don’t sell financial products or services, we sell an experience. And the best experiences actually start at the moment of commitment.”
Bringing ‘Craft’ to The Experience
What a credit union must do, continued Davis, is “craft” experiences that show how the CU is different.
“It’s the micro-moments, the little encounters, that define your experience, that differentiate your experience,” he said. “Micro-moments create a major impression.”
A Loyalty Loop, stressed Davis, is not a one-time experience, but instead is more like a spiral, like an “expanded slinky” that he said leads from one moment of commitment to a moment of inspiration which in turn leads to another moment of commitment.
“Loyalty Loops build trust,” he said. “It’s about lots of small experiences that make us feel something.”
Davis touched on all six points in the Loyalty Loop, but especially focused on two:
Raise Anticipation
“You want to increase enthusiasm for the next step in every interaction,” said Davis. “No one does this better, in my opinion, than Domino’s. Have you used the Domino’s Pizza Tracker? You need to feel the emotions attached in every step in the experience. It’s like attaching an emoji to the every point in the experience. Now, don’t eat the pizza, the pizza sucks. But feel the emotion. It raises our anticipation and invites us to share our enthusiasm with others. “
Davis, like others who have recently addressed credit union audiences, stressed it is not about technology, again stating capturing consumers comes down to experience.
“So, what if we raised anticipation? What is your pizza tracker? Increase my enthusiasm for the next step in my journey with you,” he advised.
Maximize the Honeymoon
To maximize the “honeymoon” with the member involves re-inspiring them, said Davis.
“We need to re-inspire member to remember how they felt at the peak of their relationship with us,” he said. “We need to remember they need to be reminded to create a new moment of inspiration of everyone else.”