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Members who supply their email address to their credit union have opted in to receive messages, and using that permission judiciously by sending only messages that will interest or benefit them is the best way to head off their desire to opt out.
If they do exercise that option, the credit union’s best response to comply with the CAN-SPAM Act and members’ wishes is to remove them from your email marketing entirely.
To prevent that eventuality, Ron Daly, formerly president/CEO and now chairman of CUES Supplier member and partner DigitalMailer, Herndon, Va., suggests proactively giving members a range of opt-in choices up front: Do they want to receive your newsletter? Educational content on specific topics (such as shopping for a house and mortgage, protecting and improving their credit standing, and/or saving for retirement)? Rate updates? Special offers? That approach gives members the ability to opt out of specific emails down the road but still receive other useful messages and after-market cross-selling, he notes.
A related strategy is developing a variety of email newsletters, based on demographics, family circumstances, and special interests. That way members could sign up for newsletters and articles on the credit union’s community connections and financial tips for families with young children, for example, or for financing a business start-up or managing retirement accounts.
The requirement that every email provide recipients with the means to opt out of future messages underscores the need to respect members’ time and to make sure the emails you send provide content that is useful, relevant and valuable to members.
“All of that comes from the database of knowledge you have about members,” says Mark DeBellis, president of CUES Supplier member PSB Integrated Marketing, Lake Forest, Calif. “The more you know about your members, the more relevant your messaging is going to become. If a credit union is sending home equity loan offers to members who don’t own a home, it is wasting their time and its credibility will sink.”
How your credit union responds to opt-out requests depends, in part, on how it manages email communications with members, notes PSB Marketing Assistant Nicole Johnson. The system could be set up so members who click “Unsubscribe” in a marketing message would no longer receive emails from that address but could still receive email from different accounts at the same domain.
“For instance, I might unsubscribe from mail sent by marketing@xyzcreditunion.com, but messages from memberservice@xyzcreditunion.com would still come through,” Johnson explains. “In other cases, clicking ‘Unsubscribe’ would prevent all messages from the domain xyzcreditunion.com from coming through.”
The best practice is to give members the choice, if your email system allows it, of what kinds of messages they want to receive from you.
Get more information on CAN SPAM Act requirements.
Karen Bankston is a long-time contributor to Credit Union Management and writes about credit unions, membership growth, marketing, operations and technology. She is the proprietor of Precision Prose, Stoughton, Wis.
