Keep Gen Y for Life

Beth Stetenfeld
November 11, 2008 | COMMENTS

Want to attract generation Y members and keep them for life? Be ready to offer technology options that match their expectations, says Scott Klososky, founder and co-founder of several start-up companies, including Shryk LLC, Oklahoma City.

He presented a session on "Developing Gen Y Members for Life: Technology Required!" at CUNA Mutual Group's Discovery Conference in Hollywood , Florida . Klososky's 10-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son joined him on stage to demonstrate what it takes to attract them to businesses.

To become familiar with Gen Y expectations, check out websites they use, Klososky suggests. Among the recommended sites:

• Wiffiti.com: Allows users to send text messages to physical locations, such as cafés or political rallies, or virtual locations, such as websites or blogs.
• Lumosity.com: Offers online brain-training games.
• Twitter.com: Uses mobile short message service to send text messages to groups of friends, and posts the messages to private Twitter pages.
• Qik.com: Stores streaming video that can be posted on other social networking sites.
• Smartypig.com: Interfaces with financial institution savings accounts to help users set and work toward savings goals.

"Get members for life and hold on to them," Klososky urges. "Start at five years old."

Try to retain those members past the age of 18, he says, because at that point they're more likely to stay with your credit union as their primary financial institution.

Klososky says it's critical to stay current with technology trends because members of Gen Y will:

• Represent a large percentage of your credit union's potential members in the next several decades
• Make decisions (including financial ones) based on technology convenience.

Technology provides a new set of tools credit unions can use to attract kids, intrigue teenagers, and satisfy adults, says Klososky. The Internet and internal digital infrastructure can be used to build new types of relationships.

This story first appeared at www.creditunionmagazine.com and is reprinted with permission.