total1.com trying to lead members to credit union portal pages

HOUSTON - Credit unions need more than a great portal page to spur members to utilize it, said Marc Lafitte, CEO of portal provider total1.com here. "A lot of people are putting portals out there. The problem is you can't get members there initially," said Lafitte. With a recent study showing that approximately 75% of Net surfers have not changed their home page since joining the Net world, it's a bit of a challenge for credit unions to get veteran Net surfer/members to use the credit union's new portal as their home page, said Lafitte. Many Web surfers started out with Yahoo! as their default home page and haven't looked back, said Lafitte. Members have to be led to their CU's portal page, he said. To help credit unions do that, total1.com has partnered with freeinternet.com to offer credit unions fully branded Internet service at no cost to the credit union or its members. He said the idea is to use that ISP relationship, which is the backbone of the surfer's Web experience, as a tool to drive members to the CU's portal page. The way it works is total1.com will provide the credit union with marketing materials touting the free Net access. Interested members will receive a CD with the freeinternet.com install software. The CD will be packaged as if the CU is the ISP. "Instead of a member getting a CD from an America Online, it will be coming from their credit union," he said. "We're going to use this as a push marketing technique, and try and lead members to the credit union's portal page." Lafitte echoed a common answer many give when explaining why credit unions can become a Web presence, even for ISP, with their members-trust. "Credit unions have a certain trust level with their members. Their members trust them to be consumer advocates. There's so much fear associated with the Net, credit unions can extend that trust into areas members have fears." When members install the software they'll see a sign-in screen. Once they sign in and dial into the local POP server, they will automatically be taken to the CU's portal page. Lafitte said the freeinternet.com install software can be encapsulated into a credit union Web marketing piece, promoting the CU's Net services, as well as other services. The CD can even include loan forms that can be printed by members. ISP service is being talked about more and more in the industry as a way to market to members via their e-mail addresses. Lafitte said, however, that not all credit unions want their CU's name in some way incorporated in their members' e-mail addresses. "Some have said they don't want members sending e-mails that look like they are coming from employees because of the address," said Lafitte. CUNA's eCommerce unit is also pushing an ISP service, though it's not free. Earlier this year Pennsylvania State Employees CU, Harrisburg, became one of the first CUs in the nation to offer members free ISP. The CU even ran radio ads touting the service. At press time, the CU said it had 5,022 members actually use the ISP service, with about 3,000 of them being regular users. total1.com shares 50% of the portal revenue with its CU clients. The company has over 750 relationships with vendors to offer members online shopping. "We are working on developing the e-wallet concept. If anyone says they'll be doing that in less than 4 to six months, they're e not. The standards aren't' there yet-those standards are coming." Lafitte said the credit union portal arena has become increasingly competitive, so providers have to have unique differentiators. "I think everyone is going to have their own angle. Some will be much more financial oriented. We are a lot more lifestyle-oriented (with content)," he said. total1.com uses off the shelf technology solutions as the backbone of its product, allowing it to keep costs down and constantly update the portal, said Lafitte. Freeinternet.com, Seattle, has 2.2 million registered users, making it the sixth largest ISP in the nation. It is available in some 1,500 cities in the U.S. -pgentile@cutimes.com