Finopotamus Unscripted 2025-05: Member Engagement
- Finn O'Potamus
- Aug 7, 2025
- 2 min read
Finopotamus Publisher and Unscripted Host John San Filippo leads a discussion on member engagement with three industry experts: Joshua Barclay of BusinessNext, Har Rai Khalsa of Swaystack, and Tim Pranger of Appli. The conversation tackles the complexities of creating a successful member engagement strategy, highlighting that it's often a deceptively large topic. A key takeaway from the discussion is that knowing when to engage members is just as important as knowing how to engage them.
The panelists delve into the core challenges credit unions face, such as lacking a unified view of member data, which makes it difficult to identify their biggest problems. Khalsa suggests that a credit union should begin by addressing its most significant issues, whether it's low mortgage origination or a high number of inactive accounts. Barclay adds that having a unified data model is a prerequisite for a successful strategy, as it allows credit unions to understand a member's financial picture and online behavior to create actionable insights. Pranger emphasizes the importance of looking at data from people who are shopping for financial services, not just those who have already funded loans or opened accounts.
The discussion also explores the need for cultural shifts within credit unions to appeal to younger generations. The panelists agree that credit unions need to adapt their communication strategies to a digital-first world, increasing both the speed and quantity of their interactions with members. They suggest that instead of aspiring to be like Amazon's e-commerce platform with millions of products, credit unions should focus on a simplified product line with enhanced features and a strong brand that resonates with a purpose-driven audience, similar to Apple's strategy. The experts conclude that a member engagement strategy shouldn't be set in stone but should evolve with new data and technology, acting as a fluid roadmap rather than a rigid plan.