Acquiring new members is more difficult for financial institutions. The average member acquisition cost for credit unions is now approaching $500 according to 2024 data; this figure is lower than retail banks, but significantly higher than online banks. How do credit unions grow their member base and expand their existing relationships in this challenging market? By meeting their members where they are, and realizing that most new accounts are triggered by life events.
Members are not looking for a new account; they are really looking for a new vehicle, a house or to build their retirement savings. From buying a first home to welcoming a new family member, life is full of significant moments that require financial support. Whether it’s opening a new savings account, applying for a loan, or setting up an investment portfolio, these transactions are a means to achieving a goal for your members.
Yet, traditional onboarding processes don’t always align with the member’s journey. Lengthy paperwork, multiple in-branch visits, and disconnected channel experience can add friction to what should be an exciting milestone. A modernized digital onboarding solution enables a seamless, continuous account opening experience across multiple channels (web, mobile, in branch).
That’s where the need for creating intuitive, member-focused digital journeys that parallel the real-life experiences of your members comes in.
Aligning Digital Account Opening with Life’s Milestones
Financial needs are not just transactions—they are part of broader life events. Credit unions and banks that align their digital account opening and onboarding experience with these milestones can create a more personalized, engaging journey for their members.
Common Life Events That Trigger Digital Onboarding
- Buying a new car – Enabling the purchase of a new vehicle with competitive auto loans.
- Starting College or a New Job – Checking and savings accounts, student loans, or direct deposit setups become top priorities.
- Getting Married – Joint accounts, shared savings, or planning for major expenses require seamless financial collaboration.
- Buying a Home – Mortgage applications, home equity loans, and financial planning services become essential.
- Starting a Business – Starting a business is both challenging and rewarding, and having the right credit union partner can help entrepreneurs navigate the complexities of getting started.
- Growing a Family – Parents may look for education savings accounts, insurance products, or budgeting tools.
- Planning for Retirement – Long-term investments, wealth management, and estate planning take center stage.
Each of these moments represents an opportunity for credit unions to provide proactive, seamless, and personalized onboarding experiences—guiding members through key financial decisions when they need support the most. People often choose credit unions for the personalized service that you provide, and helping your members seamlessly navigate a life milestone helps build a strong, long lasting relationship.
Choosing a DAO that Delivers Personalized Digital Journeys
There are many digital account opening solutions in the market; however, many of the leading solutions offer a limited ability to customize your workflows to match your member journeys. The strength of Temenos Journey Manager is that it enables credit unions to build intuitive, straightforward member journeys that are tailored to your members’ needs. The Accutive Springboard is built on top of the Journey Manager platform with pre-built integrations that significantly reduce project timelines and costs, making the platform more accessible to small and midsize credit unions. Additionally, the Springboard is deployed using Accutive FinTech’s Quality First Approach, which ensures on time, on budget delivery with minimal defects.
Key Benefits of Digital Onboarding with Temenos Journey Manager
- Adaptive, Event-Based Workflows: Journey Manager allows institutions to design flexible onboarding workflows that adapt based on the user’s life event. Whether someone is applying for a first credit card or refinancing a mortgage, the system dynamically adjusts based on their needs and profile.
- Seamless, Omnichannel Experience: Members can start their application on one device and finish on another, whether in a branch, at home, or on the go. This frictionless approach ensures higher completion rates and better engagement.
- Intelligent Form Pre-Fill & Document Automation: Reduce manual entry and paperwork with smart pre-fill technology that pulls existing member data from core banking systems and other sources into applications, making onboarding faster and more efficient.
- Built-in Compliance & Security: With digital identity verification, e-signatures, and compliance checks embedded into the process, Journey Manager ensures regulatory requirements are met while maintaining a smooth member experience. Temenos Journey Manager seamlessly integrates with leading FinTech solutions for verifying your members and preventing fraud, including Plaid, Alloy, Prove, and HID IDV.
- Personalized Member Engagement: By leveraging member data and AI-driven insights, your credit union can tailor messaging, product recommendations, and onboarding steps to align with each member’s life evens.
- Continuous Onboarding Optimization – Ability to use A/B testing to optimize your onboarding workflows and maximize conversion rates.
Accutive FinTech recommends Temenos Journey Manager as its preferred digital account opening solution. This solution enables credit unions to recreate their exceptional member service experience through digital channels, maximizing convenience.
Digital Account Opening for All: The Importance of Accessibility
Digital onboarding should not only be seamless—it must be accessible to all your members, including those with disabilities. Regulations such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), along with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), establish clear standards for digital accessibility in financial services. Ensuring compliance with these regulations is not just a legal requirement—it’s essential for providing a positive experience for all members.
Why Accessibility in Digital Onboarding Matters
- Regulatory Compliance – Financial institutions in the U.S. and Canada must comply with ADA, AODA, and WCAG standards to ensure their digital platforms are accessible to all members.
- Expanding Market Reach – Around one-fifth of all North American adults live with a disability, representing a significant portion of potential credit union members.
- Enhancing User Experience for Everyone – Accessibility features like keyboard navigation, screen reader compatibility, and color contrast improvements benefit all users—not just those with disabilities.
- Building Member Trust & Loyalty – An inclusive banking experience demonstrates commitment to all members, fostering deeper relationships, brand trust, and long-term retention.
By prioritizing accessible digital onboarding, financial institutions can remove barriers, increase engagement, and create a seamless experience that serves all members equitably across both the U.S. and Canada.
Why Personalized Digital Onboarding Matters
Knowing that members typically open a new account because of a life event, it’s important that your digital onboarding experience is responsive to this fact in two key ways:
- Provide a personalized experience with helpful suggestions that are relevant to their current and future needs. For example, first time home buyers applying for a mortgage may also be interested in a line of credit for home renovation projects or discounted home insurance.
- A rapid, seamless and frustration-free account opening experience. Opening an account online can be frustrating, especially when a manual review or an in-branch visit is required. Designing a straightforward onboarding process that minimizes manual reviews and abandonments is critical. Your members are busy and don’t have time for lengthy or buggy online application processes.
By adopting a best-in-class digital account opening and member onboarding solution you can realize significant benefits for your members and your credit union:
- Increases Conversion Rates – When onboarding is frictionless and intuitive, more members complete the process, leading to higher acquisition rates.
- Builds Long-Term Loyalty – A seamless onboarding experience sets the tone for a lasting relationship with your institution.
- Drives Operational Efficiency – Automating key steps reduces administrative burden and streamlines workflows for faster approvals and processing.
- Creates Competitive Differentiation – Offering an onboarding experience that aligns with real-life needs helps your financial institution stand out.
Transforming your Digital Account Opening Process
When your members are going through a major life event that triggers them to open a new account, the last thing they want to experience is a clunky, outdated online application process. Unfortunately, many credit unions that offer excellent in-branch member service have frustrating digital account opening solutions or no digital platform at all. With today’s credit union members expecting more digital options, providing a strong digital experience is critical.
Unlocking Your Critical Systems to Enhance Onboarding
Integrating your digital account opening solution with your critical systems, such as your digital banking platform, core banking system, and CRM can significantly enhance your member experience. With Accutive FinTech’s expertise, you can leverage integrations to build powerful recommendation engines and customized workflows to direct members to the right products for their needs. Additionally, you can simplify the application process by minimizing the number of steps required prior to submission to dramatically boost conversion rates. For Salesforce Financial Services Cloud customers, integrating your CRM with Journey Manager using MuleSoft can enable powerful insights and a 360 member view.
At Accutive FinTech, we specialize in partnering with credit unions to guide you through the design and development of a best-in-class digital onboarding platform. Typically, we start with an assessment of your existing onboarding experience and developing an understanding of your digital transformation goals. From there, we work with you to build the right digital onboarding solution for your existing and future needs.
