Let Member Metrics Drive Your Hispanic Market Development Strategy
POSTED on November 27, 2018 IN Coopera
Analytics are especially important when it comes to serving Hispanics – either those who already are credit union members or those who have yet to become members.
The most successful credit unions clearly understand the needs of the members they’re serving. In many cases, member analytics are at the heart of the strategies used to reach those members and meet those needs.
Analytics are especially important when it comes to serving Hispanics – either those who already are credit union members or those who have yet to become members. Understanding those markets through member data collected and interpreted by our team of experts at Coopera, helps credit unions effectively attract, recruit and ultimately, meet those members’ needs.
We’ve noted before that Hispanics comprise one of the fastest growing U.S. demographic segments, with one out of every six U.S. residents citing Hispanic origins. This group accounts for more than $1 trillion in buying power, and yet roughly half are unbanked or underserved. Hispanics present a prime opportunity for credit union service, one that will only grow over time.
Moreover, it’s one thing to bring Hispanics through your doors and another to involve them in your full menu of services. Analytics can tell a credit union key characteristics about their Hispanic members that can be used to determine the type of services they need and want the most. Ultimately, the credit union has the information to develop a strategy to successfully foster membership growth and product engagement from their Hispanic market.
Our team has developed tools that can sort Hispanic members into various groups, ranging from country of origin to socio-economic strata, that enable credit unions to better understand their members.
Our team of experts analyze the data using a variety of assessment tools. Our Hispanic Target Market Analysis looks at Hispanic populations within a credit union’s various branch areas, making service recommendations for primary and secondary Hispanic target markets based on numerous socio-economic indicators. We also utilize our Hispanic Member Analysis tool to measure the product and service usage of existing Hispanic credit union members, as well as their language preference.
Many credit unions begin their journey with our Hispanic Opportunity Navigator, which uses analytical data to create a literal roadmap for serving Hispanic populations. The data collected helps us create a suggested strategic development plan customized for each individual credit union.
These tools and the strategies reach beyond a credit union’s marketing initiative and helps executive teams establish success metrics that can help drive the institution’s future growth. Individualized guidance and the ability to approach the Hispanic market on a more holistic level is where our services differ from those of mere data collection firms.
Some credit unions still harbor concerns about the time, cost and effort it will take to serve what may be for them an unfamiliar market, many of whose members speak a different language. But with the right analytic tools this can be less of a challenge than they might think.
Serving Hispanics is something many credit unions have yet to understand, but it’s not something they will never understand. Because of the cultural and language differences, that service may require an augmented development strategy that operates a little differently than the institution’s mainstream strategic plan.
Fortunately, the return on investment for credit unions that have pursued the Hispanic market has been the most successful segment of the institution’s overall development plan. Using analytics is the best way to start that journey, or support a journey already underway to reach and serve this rapidly growing demographic.
This blog was posted by Kenia Calderon, Client Relations Director, Coopera
ARTICLE TAGS
- coopera
- credit unions
- hispanics