CREDIT UNION TIMES OCTOBER 29, 2003
Page 8
Points for Loyalty
NEW WEB-BASED REWARDS PROGRAM DREAMT UP BY SOME LONGTIME CU PROFESSIONALS AIMS TO DEEPEN MEMBER RELATIONSHIPS
By PAUL GENTILE
CU Times Editor
PORTLAND, Ore. - Some current and former credit union leaders are behind a new Web-based relationship pricing product that they believe can do for credit unions what frequent flier programs did for airlines.
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The product is known as PoinTracs, and the company offering it is Portland, Oregon-based AlphaPk, LLC. Most of the principals of AlphaPk have a credit union background, including Suzette Palanuk, who served as the West Coast credit union sales rep for EDS for 16 years; and Joe Palanuk, who ran his own credit union insurance firm and has done a lot of credit union consulting. |
It rewards members with things such as better rates on loans and deposit accounts and breaks on fees. Members earn these rewards based on a point system. Point West CU, Portland, Oregon launched the program a few months ago and is surprised by the member interest.
"We're loving it. The main thing we were looking for was finding a way to give incentives to our current members, and finding ways to bring in new members," said Mike Fletcher, Business Development Officer for Point West.
At Point West members earn points on length of membership (100 points a year), and they earn one point for every dollar they spend on a loan's finance charge or each dollar they earn in interest from a deposit account. Once members earn 2,500 points they can get a 25BP decrease or increase on a loan or deposit product. It goes to 50BP after 5,000 points. Members can also use points to avoid certain fees.
New members can earn points just for opening accounts and taking out new loans.
Fletcher said PoinTracs can be used to control member behavior. For example, Point West runs promotions such as 200 points for anyone who signs up for e-statements. The CU saves money with e-statements, so that's a member behavior they want to encourage, he said.
Last month alone, 185 of its members elected to redeem some 80,000 points. The most popular reward among members so far is a lower rate on a loan. It's important to note, said Fletcher, that the rate buy down is only for new loans, not existing loans. The goal is to bring in new money, he said.
The CU is also using the program to bring in more commercial business through point incentives geared to business accounts.
Members Earn Their Keep
One of the keys to the program is that it focuses on the positives. "The way you're earning points is if you have a loan or deposits earning interest. You are a member who is paying his way. If you're the $5 check casher who does nothing but complain about fees, you're not earning points,"
Rewarding length of membership with points is great PR. If a member has been there for 25 years and expects great service, it acknowledges that with a big fat thank you in points.
Technology would be the key to making it work. "We wanted to stay away from the core. Suzette (Palanuk) said if you go to the core you become a slave to it," she said. Each month participating CUs send AlphaPk< |
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