Featured Client:
Align Credit Union | Lowell, Massachusetts | Asset Size: $550 million
Protecting members’ personal information is a top priority for Align Credit Union. That is why the Lowell, Massachusetts financial institution offers Virtual StrongBox as digital safe in their security suite offering.
Align CU offers the online safe as a member benefit, helping their account holders protect their most sensitive information. With Total Information Privacy & Protection, the platform is the only option online that promises storage space so secure that only the member has the ability to see what’s inside. Not even Align CU or Virtual StrongBox employees can access files within the online safe unless granted permission by the member.
Sandy Lamplough, Senior Vice President of Operations, iBranch and Member Care Center at Align CU, said it’s for this reason that the credit union promotes Virtual StrongBox during key life moments when a member should ensure their personal information is in a safe area online.
“We introduce members when they are going through an unhappy circumstance, when they’re dealing with fraud or when they are traveling,” Lamplough said. “We ask if they considered backing up their important documents in Virtual StrongBox. We position the product based on the prompt from the call.”
The platform is provided behind online banking, allowing members to store information:
- – Before they travel
- – In preparation for a disaster
- – For estate planning
- – To backup documents with personally identifiable information
- – To backup essential small business information
Align CU uses online banking blasts, in-person events like shred days, emails and their call center to promote their digital safe. They also mention Virtual StrongBox in most collateral discussing electronic services, whether it is online or featured in brochures located in the branch.
This effort has proven successful, with about 4,000 of their 20,000 online banking users accessing Virtual StrongBox to date.
“It’s taken on a life of it’s own and it sells itself,” Lamplough said. “There are many advantages to using Virtual StrongBox which makes it very easy to promote. We have easy buy-in; we know it’s a good product when we have easy buy-in.”
Align CU’s marketing plan addresses the many points where a member could learn about Virtual StrongBox. Whether it’s a conversation while onboarding a new member, integrating the message into larger initiatives or a call-center representative speaking to a caller, employees have a thorough understanding of the platform’s benefits so they can discuss them with accountholders.
“We had training at the beginning of the Virtual StrongBox relationship and we train new hires as well,” Lamplough said. “With respect to the call center, we also have ‘Product Fridays’ were we push a specific message and make sure we have a script to make it easy for the reps.”
By helping members store their most important documents, Align CU protects their members’ personal information while providing a tool that makes life easier when the unexpected occurs.
“Like my favorite email campaign said, ‘it’s not your grandmothers safe deposit box,’”Lamplough concluded.
WEBSITE EXAMPLE
If you look on Align CU’s website, you will see the ways they’ve integrated Virtual StrongBox into their security-first messaging. Whether it’s online services or Shred Days, the credit union never misses a beat when it comes to promoting their digital safe.
