When it comes to cross-selling, many financial institutions face a common issue: their efforts become overly complicated, leading to decreased member engagement. In this context, the age-old saying "keep it simple" holds true. If your credit union (CU) wants to implement an effective cross-selling strategy, it should focus on the following core areas:

According to a recent study, credit unions have a 60% to 70% chance of conversion when they concentrate on cross-selling to current members. However, when dealing with non-members or people without a pre-existing relationship, the chances drop to only 5% to 20%.

If it feels like cross-selling fell out of favor over the last few years, you're not imagining things. In part due to reports of big bank employees opening up new accounts without customer authorization, the use of--and reference to--the cross-selling practice practically plummeted. In fact, it was estimated that the term was only used 86 times in presentations from publicly traded banks in 2019--as opposed to the 302 times it was used in 2015.

In a lot of ways, the success of credit unions over the years can be attributed to their natural emphasis on innovation--particularly when compared to larger financial institutions.

Savvy credit union leaders understand that there have been a few key drivers of both deposits and loan growth in recent years. Better marketing campaigns that effectively target younger members are one of them, as have been more aggressive offers that people just can't help but say "no" to.

Although it may sound unbelievable, a recent study revealed a frightening prediction: up to 80% of financial institutions could disappear by the end of the decade. That is unless they can find a way to use technology to innovate their operations, bringing them more in line with the expectations of modern audiences. Note that this number includes not only big banks but credit unions as well. Nobody is immune to the ever-evolving digital world that we are now a part of.

In many ways, credit unions in particular are faced with an invaluable opportunity to reassess their core processor needs and their larger digital efforts, doubling down on those areas and initiatives that will have the biggest positive impact on not only members but on the communities that they have become an invaluable part of.

Digital transformation isn't just an important part of the success of any credit union--it has become critically so in the wake of COVID-19. According to one recent study, the pandemic sped up the average adoption of digital technologies by an estimated three to seven years, all in the span of just a few months.

At the core of any effort to increase efficiency for your credit union is an inherently straightforward idea: you need to empower both your employees and your members to do more with less.

Technology is and always will be one of the prime aspects to focus on in order to enable growth for your credit union. It helps simplify operations, reduce costs, increase efficiency, and so much more. All it takes is one look at the benefits gained from empowering technology to understand why a well-executed plan for digital transformation is a step to take with your own organization.