Sound Credit Union

Driving Usage & Engagement with HubSpot Email Marketing

Sound Credit Union prides itself on its reputation as “Washington’s favorite credit union,” with a focus on stellar member service and community engagement. As part of its mission of proving that “credit unioning” is better than banking, Sound CU implemented strategic email marketing efforts in early 2023 with a focus on two goals:

Encouraging members to activate their credit and debit cards
Driving member engagement and usage of their active cards

As a HubSpot Platinum Solutions Partner with over a decade of experience, GreenHouse Agency was well positioned to partner with Sound CU on their email marketing efforts. They needed a strategic partner to assist with copywriting, graphic design, and implementation via HubSpot; we came prepared with a standardized process that made executing on all of these points a walk in the park — or a swim in the sound.

An example of a HubSpot email built-out process in ClickUp, GreenHouse Agency’s project management tool.

“Working with the Greenhouse team in 2023 has been a real delight. Our goal was to bring our team and their team together to execute on marketing programs with the goal of increasing revenue and product ROAA. Thanks to Nicole and Lauren for all their help and effort—we consider you part of our team.”

— Jennifer Roberts, Product Marketing Manager

Results

GreenHouse Agency collaborated with Sound CU on two different types of emails: activation emails encouraging members to activate their credit cards, and usage/engagement emails with special offers and information about the credit union’s offerings. Sound CU saw strong click-through rates across both of these email categories. Activation emails, in particular, had a CTR of more than three times the average for the financial industry.

In addition, the HubSpot workflow we set up to encourage existing members to activate their cards resulted in 2,391 new activations, the equivalent of 12.4 percent of those who were enrolled in the workflow since its activation. The workflow enrolls members who have an unactivated card, sets them as a marketing contact, and then checks how many days it’s been since the members received their card. It then sends them the appropriate email for that range of time. As members continue through the workflow, they receive emails on day 60, 90, 180, 270, and 365 unless they activate their card and are unenrolled.

Sample usage/engagement email. Open rate: 33.81% | Click-through rate: 30.2%

Sample activation email

A screenshot of an activation workflow built out in HubSpot that sends members reminder emails at pre-set intervals.

Looking Ahead

As Sound CU’s HubSpot partner agency, we will continue to expand on our findings and create new, compelling email marketing campaigns that drive member engagement and adhere to the best practices we’ve uncovered.

What We Found Works:

Fun subject lines with clear incentives.
Clear incentives in header graphics and copy.
Customization via smart content.
Consistent, timely email messaging.
Automated email marketing that reduces manual labor.
Standardized processes.

As a next step in their marketing automation strategy, a credit union like Sound CU might consider a core banking platform integration. This can automate the process of importing member lists, thus eliminating the need for manual imports and reducing the risk of errors. Additionally, GreenHouse can implement a data mapping strategy that ensures accurate and up-to-date contact records in HubSpot. Furthermore, we can utilize HubSpot’s custom association labels to manage multiple financial product associations. This streamlines the process and eliminates manual work, making it easier to track and manage the relationships between members and their accounts or loans.

At GreenHouse Agency, we specialize in working with credit unions and financial institutions to help them use HubSpot to its fullest potential. That’s why we offer custom-tailored HubSpot Support Subscriptions! Whether you just need a little help to get your team up and running on HubSpot, or
you’re looking for more complex, done-for-you services, we’ve got a subscription option that fits your company’s unique needs. Click here to learn more.

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