Answers to an excellent e-mail

I met a very inquisitive woman at our launch party at the MACU conference in Banff over the weekend. She's the marketing manager for a one-branch credit union in rural British Columbia—exactly the type of credit union that we developed Cuckoo for.

When we announced Cuckoo, she made a beeline towards me and had a number of great questions and suggestions about Cuckoo. We tried to think of everything that might come up when we built our FAQ page, but obviously there are still many unanswered questions about Cuckoo and many ways that we can improve the service.

I asked her to e-mail her comments to me and sure enough she did. Since her questions and suggestions apply to every credit union that may be considering Cuckoo, I am posting her e-mail here (with her permission). This is a great way to get the information out to even more folks and elicit feedback.

If you have other questions and suggestions, please e-mail us and we can continue this open dialogue.

"Just following up from meeting y'all at the conference last week. Here were the few suggestions I had to make in regards to the Cuckoo concept:

1. Include a target audience profile for each campaign
2. Provide sample community newspaper articles to accompany each campaign (brings more credibility as it looks like "journalism" vs. advertising)
3. More clarity around pricing—is $7,000 the minimum? Can CUs purchase at a "bulk rate" (eg. 3 campaigns for $15,000 vs. $21,000), etc.
4. Consider the demographic info provided by Dr. David Foot (Boom Bust Echo) and Dr. John Izzo (The Izzo Group) at the MACU conference—to whom are we truly marketing to? I'm really interested in marketing campaigns that are not only cool to 40s and younger, but to 45s and older and segregating that demographic into 45 to 60 years and 61 to 80 years as they do have different needs, concerns, things that appeal to them.
5. Can the images and campaign concepts directly relate to the people in rural Canada?

Thanks for listening and thank you for the delicious chocolate cuckoo!"

Great suggestions and questions. Here are my responses:

1. Awesome idea—this is a must do. We will create a separate profile for each campaign as soon as possible.
2. This is a great idea as well. We will consider including community newspaper articles as an add-on in the future. What you see in the campaign store today is only the beginning. In addition to other campaign categories, we see tremendous opportunities for additional add-ons. Prior to launching Cuckoo, we surveyed credit union marketers from across North America. The add-ons you see are the most requested, however we know that credit unions will want others. We want to know what add-ons are important to your credit unions. Please post a comment to let us know what we are missing.
3. We do want repeat customers and no doubt these credit unions should be rewarded for their participation. On the Club Cuckoo page, we describe our "add-on bucks," but a volume discount might be in order as well. We will certainly consider this in the near future.
4. Many of the campaigns that we have created for launch are targeted at young families. We know there is a real need for other demographics. One example is wealth management campaigns targeted to older members and potential members. We also know that youth is at the forefront of many credit unions' strategies these days. We intend to take your comments to heart as we develop more campaigns. Sign up for a free Club Cuckoo membership and you will see new campaigns before anyone else.
5. We know that we need to add campaigns that capture a more rural lifestyle and that use imagery that is more people and relationship focussed. Like I said, what you see today is only the beginning. We hear you and will be responding with even more great relevant campaigns that your credit union can use.

Tim