Insights

Case Studies

iTHINK Financial Credit Union | Delray Beach, FL | Assets: $2.2B

Marketing Data Platform • Strategic Consulting
Marketing

How Marquis helped iTHINK Financial Credit Union achieve their new member acquisition goals through a cost-effective email campaign

_______________________

466

New members

$3.5 million

Yield in deposits in first year

$2.2 million

Yield in loans in first year

Campaign Overview

Challenge

iTHINK Financial needed to find a cost-effective way to acquire new members and be able to directly attribute new member accounts back to the campaign. 

Strategy

With the help of the Marquis OnTrax strategy team and Marketing Data Platform, iTHINK Financial was able to identify and target individuals who lived near branches with a high propensity to switch financial institutions with a 9-month email campaign that tracked new member sign-ups.

iTHINK Financial Credit Union

  • Asset Size: 2.2B
  • Headquarters: Delray Beach, FL
  • Marquis Solutions: Marketing Data Platform (formerly ExecuTrax), Strategic Consulting (formerly OnTrax)
format_quote

"Prospective email campaigns have previously been a challenge for us because we were unable to directly track their attribution to new opened accounts. We had trialed different programs, but the ROI wasn’t measurable or affordable. So, we talked to our Marquis strategist, explaining to her what we were looking to accomplish. Within a week, she had come back with a comprehensive strategy.”

Stephen Johnson
iTHINK AVP of Administration and Marketing

Here's How They Did It

Objective

iTHINK Financial Credit Union is a $2.2B CU with over 108K members headquartered in Delray Beach, FL.

iTHINK’s marketing team was looking for ways they could help support their branches goals to strengthen their current market position, drive membership growth and increase revenue, so they turned to Marquis. They knew they needed to find a cost-effective way to attract individuals who were not currently members of an iTHINK Financial CU and convert them into new members.  

Requirements

iTHINK Financial was looking for the highest rate of return for their investment without doing a traditional direct mail campaign

They ultimately decided email would be the most cost-effective channel.  To maximize conversion rates, the team knew they needed to be highly targeted and personalized with their outreach.  Emails needed to be delivered to the right audience with messaging that would resonate with them.  It was also imperative the campaign complied with CAN-SPAM compliance regulations to ensure it was not only effective, but also secure and trustworthy.

Most importantly, the results had to be trackable to measure campaign effectiveness and empower data-driven decisions for future strategies.

Campaign Strategy

iTHINK’s Marquis strategy team returned with a plan for a 9-month campaign, which included one new email each month.

Utilizing Marquis’ Marketing Data Platform (MDP), they identified their ideal target - individuals between the ages of 25 and 50 who:

  • Lived within 3 miles of a branch
  • Were not current members of the credit union
  • Were likely to switch financial institutions

Messaging and creative assets were developed to highlight the benefits of membership, such as better rates, personalized service, and community involvement. To further entice prospects to become new members, they included incentives, such as sign-up bonuses for direct deposit and compelling/competitive rates.

For email deployment, Marquis enlisted a strategic third-party partner with the capabilities to use a vanity “from” address this campaign required to adhere to necessary CAN-SPAM compliance regulation requirements.  Every month, the target audience and current member list was refreshed to ensure the most accurate data was used, and that any new members who had opened accounts would be suppressed.  

KPIs and Tracking

Working with their Marquis Strategist, iTHINK Financial was able to develop the custom reports to track results.

They needed to monitor campaign performance, track new member sign-ups, and analyze the return on investment (ROI).

“The great thing is that we not only received the traditional engagement reports to help us understand how the message was being received, we got reports down to the member number on those who have joined from the population.” 
 —Stephen Johnson, iTHINK Financial AVP of Administration and Marketing

Results

The new member acquisition campaign achieved its objectives by attracting 466 new members.

Every branch had at least 4 members join from the campaign. The average acquisition cost per member was $260, resulting in a total all in acquisition cost of $121,000.

For iTHINK Financial, the cost was far less than running a branch or other previous acquisition efforts. Also, despite offering a $50 incentive, members were not actively claiming it. Overall, the campaign yielded over $5.7 million in loans and deposits from the new members in just the first year, a significant ROI. With the help of the Marquis OnTrax strategy team, the campaign required minimal effort, with only one hour of work per month for iTHINK Financial’s marketing department.

Key Takeaways

The campaign had a significant impact on member growth goals.

With the help of Marquis, they were able to attribute the iTHINK Financial marketing team’s work to achieving them.  Not only have they continued the campaign, they also expanded the population to five miles around a branch and added deposit propensity to their target audience. The iTHINK Financial team looks forward to achieving even greater results through their Marquis partnership this year.