UCCU Attracts Young, Tech-Savvy Members Using Modern Digital Banking
Utah Community Credit Union (UCCU) caters to a young, tech-savvy membership immersed in the latest innovation. Stirling Ogden, Director of UCCU’s Online Services describes members by saying, “We’re in a unique area with two large universities as our bookends. I think we're in the 99th percentile for Gen Y.” With a demographic like this, UCCU can’t afford to wait months or years to launch digital financial tools. That’s why UCCU’s partnership with Q2 has been such a win.
“Our previous app store ratings were in the 2s and 3s, respectively. Now, our Android and iOS apps are rated at 4.7 and 4.4, which are not only on par with the biggest organizations out there, but they’re also much higher than some of our competitors,” Ogden says.
Since the partnership began in 2017, UCCU has been accelerating its digital transformation. UCCU has deployed a steady cadence of new financial tools powered by Q2’s best-in-class digital banking platform. This includes Q2’s popular financial wellness solution, Q2 Goals™. UCCU also leverages CentrixDTS™ for fraud detection and dispute resolution, CardSwap™ for automated debit and credit card updating, and multiple data insights and marketing tools such as Q2 SMART™, the EVE Extract and Q2 Discover.
“I think what’s most surprised me with the Q2 relationship has been their ability to execute on our vision. We have a lot of vendors with roadmaps, and we've traditionally been very frustrated by that. Q2 really brought a lot right out of the gate that was tangible and functional. That’s been exciting, and we've appreciated that,” said UCCU’s CIO Justin Olson.
Financial Wellness Tool, Q2 Goals™
A penny saved is a penny earned, but in today’s modern buy-now, pay-later economy, this can be a challenging concept. Enter Q2 Goals, the online savings tool that enables users to break their savings accounts into individualized, categorized sub-accounts to help them set and reach multiple savings goals for specific purposes.
Once Q2 demonstrated the feature to UCCU, Olson and Ogden quickly added it to the digital banking dashboard with immediate and overwhelming results.
Olson says. “In the first 24 hours, we had a thousand new savings goals accounts opened without requiring any employee intervention. It was all automated. It’s been a great opportunity for us to reach out to members and say, ‘Hey, it looks like you're 80 percent of the way there for your new car loan. Let us help you with the rest.’
“We have members saving for all kinds of things – a wedding ring, a tattoo, college courses. It's very real – and it's exciting to be a part of people's financial lives at that level. In fact, a board member shared that his two daughters are both college students and started using Q2 Goals over the summer to save for their books. Well, fast forward: they bought their books by setting aside a certain amount every paycheck until school started. I think that says a lot about how our leadership feels about the offering.”
Ogden adds, “When we were trying to add deposits, we added the savings goals feature, which was extremely intuitive, self-service, scalable, and didn’t require extra employee work to make it happen. Not a single employee finger was lifted to open those 1,000 accounts, so that speaks volumes to the level of scalability that these kinds of features enable and what this innovation can do for our members. They love the feature.
This is one of many Q2 features that has allowed us to show our members the kind of financial relationship that we want them to have with us. I remember calling the service center to ask how the launch was going, and with a thousand new savings goals accounts, how they were handling the added volume. And no calls were coming in. It was all self-service. Members didn't have questions, they weren't confused, it just made sense. And that was huge.”
In-app Messaging Tool, Q2 Discover
Because Q2’s many pre-integrated digital tools work together seamlessly, UCCU has been able to leverage Q2 Discover to help place relevant pop-up messages and in-app “guides” to users at the precise time when they’re engaging with a specific digital banking function. This feature is especially useful to share information with members and gather data without members needing to navigate to other areas of the website.
Olson says, “When we launched Q2 Goals, we used Q2 Discover to tell members about it. When they logged in, we sent messages to those who hadn’t yet tried it. If they engaged with it, the tutorial walked them through how to set up their first goal.
“This was hugely successful. I run the credit union's technology steering committee, and we're always pushing on the team when we’re rolling out new features and asking, ‘do members know the features are there? Do they know how to use them? How can we make sure we're educating them on this functionality?’ Then, along came Q2 Discover. We were one of the first to adopt it and start using it.
“It saves a lot of time. For example, it helps us keep members' addresses updated so we know we’re always able to reach them. Our team put together an invitation through Discover that pops up and says, ‘take a minute to update your contact information with us, and here’s why we need it.’ We received thousands of updates when we put up that message. Or, if there’s a certain workflow that members are frequently calling in about, I'm able to build a guide to walk them through it – and I can make sure they see it at the right time, contextually.
“In another instance, we used Q2 Discover to connect with members on a credit limit increase campaign. We needed to have a better idea of our member’s income in order to offer the service. Leveraging Q2 Discover, we invited them to share their salary with us if they wanted to. We explained that we'd use it to be more contextual in the offers we make to them on loans and other products.
“I can't tell you how many thousands of people we were able to help get approved for higher credit limits with Discover just by asking for that information in a pop-up window. We've been using Discover for targeted communications like that, and it's really deepened our member relationships.”
Ogden adds, “Now when my team says, ‘we need to ask members for this information. Can you ask Q2 to build this?’ I can say, ‘I can build it myself. I have Q2 Discover. I can build this questionnaire and ask for the information. I can take the report with the answers, put that into our database, and start processing the information right away.
“Q2 Discover is one of many services we've been able to use to quickly address issues and seize opportunities. There have been cases when we want to warn members about a scam. Rather than posting a message someplace we hope they'll look, I can put up a quick popup via Q2 Discover that every member has to acknowledge before they move on. Having the ability to be this agile – and communicate in real-time – is extremely valuable.”
Convenience Tool, Q2 CardSwap™
In today’s busy world – especially for Gen Y college students who comprise a large portion of UCCU’s membership – unexpected and unpleasant events happen. Case in point: debit and credit cards get lost or stolen, resulting in a serious pain point for consumers. With Q2 CardSwap, UCCU members can instantly update their debit and credit cards with more than 55 digital services. It’s a huge time saver and convenience tool for members. Plus, it helps drive revenue for UCCU-issued cards, keeping them top of wallet.
UCCU CIO Justin Olson says, “It’s bad enough to find out your card has been lost or stolen, but when your replacement card comes, now you must go log into Amazon, log into Netflix, log into all your different online subscriptions or places that have your card-billers and update your card. We are excited to have Q2 CardSwap integrated into the Q2 digital banking platform where members put in the new card information once, and then, with a couple of clicks, it automatically updates all the merchants with a really simple user interface. We think there's a lot of value in it.”
“CardSwap was probably the simplest integration we've turned on since we went live with Q2. We said we wanted it, and a few days later, it was active, and members were using it. We were getting some good buzz locally about how forward-thinking this was. It's been very low maintenance since then, and it gets better all the time. We add more and more billers to CardSwap constantly, and we haven't had to do anything to make that happen,” said Stirling Ogden, Director of UCCU’s Online Services.
Fraud Detection and Dispute Solution, CentrixDTS™
With digital and transactional fraud rising, financial institutions must stay a step ahead in providing the highest level of security for users. That’s why UCCU chose Q2 CentrixDTS’s clean, automated dispute resolution tool. It has the dual effect of saving time and minimizing errors for both UCCU members and internal UCCU staff.
Olson says, “There was really no way within our online or mobile banking, before Q2 CentrixDTS, for members to initiate a dispute through online or mobile banking. They had to call or come in, and Centrix really turned that on its head for us.
“Just over 50 percent of our disputes now come in through online banking with no phone call to our call center and no branch visits. Because it comes to us already filled out, we also have a higher success resolution rate with our card issuer because the disputes are accurate, and we know that an employee or a member didn't make any mistakes because the form is online. Everything's automated in terms of giving the provisional credits, mailing out the letters, all of those steps are automated. It's been a big deal for us. We're happy with Centrix for sure.
Ogden adds, “Our Payment Services department was ecstatic to get CentrixDTS integrated and turned on. It's changed our lives to be able to have things automated, have timeframes automated, and the provisional credit happening in an automated fashion.
“Our frontline employees can see where a dispute is at and no longer needs to call the back office to check the status. Members can see right away that the transaction's been disputed. When we turned that on, we never marketed it, but members found it immediately. We started getting more visibility with less time to resolution. Across the board, that process made everything easier, more intuitive and a better experience for everyone involved.”
Data Analytics Solutions, Q2 SMART™
Financial institutions know the value of authentically understanding the needs and behavior patterns of account holders. Not only is it the cornerstone of relationships, but it also drives deeper conversations about additional products that help simplify the financial lives of members. Q2 SMART draws upon years of research to help UCCU hone in on specific member behaviors to uncover patterns that drive more relevant messaging and offers to members.
Olson says, “We've been leaning in on Q2 SMART. A recent push this year is to increase the percentage of direct deposit members that we have. Being able to put a targeted ad in front of a member who meets the specific criteria of having a checking account but no direct deposit with us, using Q2 SMART, has been a powerful way to drive on that strategy of growth and be contextual with the people who are using the platform.
“It’s not just plastering every ad to every member. Q2 Smart's been a great help in that area.”
Overall, UCCU’s member satisfaction is soaring among its younger, tech-savvy member demographic. Olson says, “Now we compete head-to-head with the big banks. Staying on top of our technology and innovation has been critical to our success and retaining and attracting new members.
“A key performance indicator for me is around utilization. How are people using the system? If they value it, they'll be using it. Our usage has really been strong. We've continued to see reductions in other channels that are being displaced with the digital channel as a result, which obviously helps the bottom line and helps us be more efficient.”
Ogden adds, “We have a lot of requests, and Q2 tries to get ahead of that curve to provide self-service features that we can utilize to meet our members' needs immediately. So, that's something that's been big for our relationship. Knowing that Q2 matches our ambition and our appetite for technology and innovation. A surprise in partnering with Q2 was that Q2 is constantly adding more and more back to our own control.
We see Q2 consistently looking for ways to make things more personalized for different user groups. So, if one user group uses online banking one way and another uses it a different way, we can surface different features in different ways and try to meet their needs better.”
