Nearly $2.5 million in deposits in just seven days? That was the end result for Louisiana Federal Credit Union, which held a one-week “flash sale” on deposits this summer that earned it a Credit Union Journal Best Practices Award in the deposit growth category.
The $278 million-asset credit union, based in La Place, La., previously held a two-month deposit flash sale over May and June 2017. That campaign brought in $419,000 in deposits – which was considered a disappointment.
Ashley Chadwick, director of marketing and business development, said one reason the 2017 deposit campaign may have been a bust was the CU did not use newspaper ads or highlight it on its home page during the promotional period. For this year’s campaign, which ran June 27 to July 3, advertising efforts were ramped up, starting with a series of three email blasts using smart lists. In addition, the LFCU bought newspaper ads in four of its five service areas, used Facebook ads, placed messaging on its online banking interface, added a banner and a ticker to its home page, and created a special landing page that was mentioned in the various advertisements.
The results were an increase of five times over the previous sale. In seven days – and just five business days - Louisiana FCU booked 99 share certificates totaling $2,479,972 in deposits.
“This was a huge accomplishment for us,” Chadwick said. “We applied new digital marketing practices provided to us from the Digital Growth Institute. We offered the highest rate in the markets we serve, including rates offered by nearby national banks. We also limited the offer to one week only. This ‘limited time only’ practice sparked some serious action with our members, who seem to be wildly aroused by limited time offers and sales.”
To that point, according to Chadwick, more than 60 percent of share certificates were booked on the final day of the promotion.
In addition to getting a push from the limited-time aspect, Chadwick said this year’s flash sale offered increased rates across several different types of CDs.
“To get people to pull their money out of another bank you have to give them something special. We could see the Federal Reserve was continuing to raise rates, so we figured why not give the rate it would get to eventually? We offered our two-year rate for a one-year CD.”
Louisiana FCU has had “strong, steady loan growth” in recent years, and needed additional cash to sustain its lending programs, Chadwick explained. She said in June the credit union’s CEO decided a deposit campaign was necessary, “Which we threw together in three days.”
“We really targeted new members and new deposits with the flash sale,” she said. “We accepted deposits from our existing members, but we really went after new members with this campaign. After the flash sale we used the same imagery to advertise our standard two-year CD, which is a very competitive rate. We are used to doing lending campaigns, but for this we used some of the same techniques to attract deposits. We cannot wait for our next campaign.”
