Building an effective cross-selling program for your credit union is essential for long-term success, as it relies on the most valuable asset of all: relationships.

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:

Cross-selling for credit unions is almost a time-honored tradition at this point. It's a way to help offer value to members, especially in regard to products and services that they may not have even realized were available.

Credit unions exist as a superior alternative to the cold, impersonal experience that many giant financial institutions offer.  Most consumers don't want to handle this essential aspect of their lives in such an impersonal way. They want to walk through the door and be greeted by familiar faces. They want to see people who actually know their names. They want to give their business to a place where they feel like everyone involved genuinely cares about the community.

In many ways, personalization may very well be the single most powerful weapon in a credit union's arsenal--especially when compared to what the "big banks" are offering in terms of the overall member experience.

For financial institutions in particular, one of the major reasons why cross-selling efforts often fail is because organizations go about it in exactly the wrong way.

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.

These days, modern credit union (CU) members expect more from the financial  institutions they choose to bank with. They began a relationship with your CU because they were looking for a personalized level of care and attention to detail that they weren't able to find with larger banks. They'll maintain that relationship if your credit union proves committed to the idea of making members' lives easier and more convenient in any way that you can moving forward.

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.