A Maryland credit union has used programs from CO-OP Financial Services to help renew debit card usage among members whose debit card use had been falling or remained flat, according to the CUSO.

The two tools are CO-OP Revelation, a web-based program that allows CUs to analyze their card transactions, and CO-OP Preferred, a program that makes it easier to plan and implement marketing campaigns.

The $282 million Signal Financial Federal Credit Union used the tools to both identify which debit card users were using their cards less frequently and design a marketing campaign to drive more usage.

The credit union used CO-OP Revelation to identify members who made fewer than five signature debit transaction per month and then used CO-OP Preferred to offer those members a $50 gift certificate good at local restaurants if they used their debit cards more than nine times in May.

"Our March report provided the baseline upon which we could see if we had managed to reach the right people," said Humaira Akhter, marketing specialist for Signal Financial. "At the start of our campaign, this underperforming segment averaged 2.78 signature debit transactions per month. By the end of the promotional period, the same group was averaging 6.48 signature debit transactions per month. This is a 133% increase, which equates to an estimated $2 in incremental revenue per card, per month."

Akhter reported that interchange revenue increased by 68% during this campaign and purchase volume also saw an increase of 73%.

"We had set out to increase our signature debit transactions, which we did by 80%, and got a whole lot more. With limited resources and budget, this turnkey marketing services package was exactly what we needed," Akhter said. "We can't wait to run our next one."

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