Banks and credit unions are constantly striving to grow their customer and member bases. In fact, 43% of banks and 62% of credit unions list it as a top priority, according to Cornerstone Advisors’ What’s Going on in Banking 2025 report.
But here’s the challenge: growth is expensive.
According to BAI, acquiring new account holders costs five times more than retaining existing ones. Plus, the success rate of selling to a current customer or member is 60–70%, compared to just 5–20% for a new one. To drive efficient growth, financial institutions should focus on maximizing the value of their existing account base—especially active online banking platform users.
For decades, branch staff were trained to uncover customers’ and members’ hidden financial needs through in-person conversations. But with rising turnover rates, these discussions aren’t happening consistently.
There’s a better approach: engage customers or members while they’re logged in to digital banking solutions.
Use surveys to uncover major life events—who’s planning to buy a home, have a child, sell a business, or make another big financial move? But don’t make the survey product-focused—make it needs-focused.
For example, instead of asking, “Are you interested in a Home Equity Line Of Credit (HELOC)?” ask, “Are you planning to update your home?” This subtle shift leads to more relevant cross-sell offers and higher conversion rates. Relevancy is key.
Use survey answers to automatically trigger personalized offers. By suggesting products that help customers and members achieve their goals, cross-selling will feel like a valuable service.
Most financial institutions tell account holders what to do:
But simply communicating isn’t enough—winning institutions remove friction.
Instead of just encouraging actions, embed self-service tools in digital banking that make adoption seamless:
✅ Accept pre-approved offers with an eSignature
✅ Switch direct deposits online
✅ Enroll in account-related services in seconds
✅ Update default payment methods across multiple merchants simultaneously
✅ Renew multiple Certificate of Deposits (CDs) at once
✅ Opt-in to text message communications
By removing barriers and making these actions effortless, banks and credit unions can dramatically increase engagement and adoption.
ZYNLO Bank applied these strategies and reduced its checking account holder attrition rate by 64%, increased incremental balances by 115%, and increased transactions per active account by 600%. P1FCU also saw success, beating its direct deposit setup goal by 60%.
Just as branch staff would not have the same conversation with every visitor, digital banking experiences should not be one-size-fits-all.
To build deeper relationships, make the digital banking experience dynamic and personalized:
Community banks and credit unions have historically relied on branch interactions to build relationships and grow market share. However, today’s consumers are digital-first, and institutions can no longer depend solely on staff-led conversations.
By delivering personalized banking experiences and self-service tools that remove friction, banks and credit unions can transform digital banking into a high-performing conversion engine.
The Digital Onboarding engagement platform—integrated with Alkami—automates customer and member engagement with ease. More than 160 banks and credit unions use the platform to:
✅ Build deeper, more profitable relationships inside and outside of digital banking
✅ Deliver personalized, guided journeys that onboard, nurture, cross-sell, and service customers and members remotely
✅ Reduce paper-based processes and manual work
As a proud sponsor of Alkami Co:lab 2025, we invite you to visit us in the Innovation Lab at booth 122 and discover how the powerful partnership between Digital Onboarding and Alkami can help your institution maximize organic growth and turn digital banking visitors into long-term relationships.
