adminAccording to findings from a new Filene Research Institute pilot program, location-based smartphone alerts and personalized messaging drive member engagement and increase brand awareness and credit/debit card penetration. The research is the result of 10 credit unions polled by Filene during a 20-month period. Participating credit unions worked with Larky, a mobile-loyalty platform, to investigate the impact of location-based rewards and discounts on credit union members.
Filene’s Chief Impact Officer Tansley Stearns says credit union ideas shaped the program, making it “stronger” throughout the course of the pilot. Of the 10 credit unions that participated, the asset range was from $40 million to over $2 billion. The study included credit unions of all sizes that were located in both urban and rural areas.
“Credit unions identified early on that the geolocation could provide an opportunity to engage members to come to branches, special events and even to finance with the credit union when they were at a car dealership,” said Stearns.
Among the findings from the pilot were that credit card penetration increased five percent, debit card interchange and penetration saw marginal increases, and community and small business relationships were enhanced. For more details, read CU Journal.
