“The biggest efficiency we gained is around segmentation. Previously, it would take about 25 hours of work time, usually about two calendar weeks, to identify an audience and get an approved audience back. Now, we do it in minutes.”
Ent Credit Union partnered with Blueshift to unify and activate all of their rich member data. With unified member profiles and marketer-friendly tools for audience targeting and cross-channel campaign orchestration, Ent Credit Union delivers personalized digital experiences that resonate with each member, leading to a 32% increase in member engagement.
Joan Jenkins (Chief Marketing Officer, Blueshift):
Welcome, Ben. It’s great to have you here from Colorado. I heard you spent the weekend in wine country—any favorites?
Ben Savage (Director of Digital Marketing, Ent Credit Union):
Yes! Iron Horse is our favorite—especially if you like bubbles. It was a lovely time, and I’m glad to be here.
Joan:
To start, can you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about Ent Credit Union?
Ben:
Ent Credit Union is the largest credit union in Colorado, with around 500,000 members and nearly 60 locations. We’ve been around for about 70 years. As Director of Digital Marketing, I oversee all unauthenticated digital experiences—our public website, ad syndication, marketing automation, and digital signage. I don’t get near the online banking—no one wants me near their money!
Joan:
What are some of the top challenges you’re facing as a marketing leader in the financial sector?
Ben:
When I joined, our tech stack was a strange mix—some advanced components, but a lot of legacy systems. Our data was siloed, and we couldn’t benefit from what we already knew. With the rise of fintech, consumers now expect elegant, frictionless digital experiences. We're playing catch-up.
Credit unions, by nature, focus on improving financial well-being over profit. So we aim to deliver that trusted advisor experience digitally. But translating that human, personalized interaction into a digital context—without it feeling too salesy—is a real challenge.
Joan:
What led you to adopt a CDP?
Ben:
When I started, we were using an antiquated, on-prem email system. If we wanted to run a campaign, we had to go to enterprise analytics, request a list, wait for criteria matching, then execute manually. It was time-consuming and inflexible—no behavioral triggers, no dynamic personalization.
We needed a unified view that combined banking behavior with traditional marketing data—website activity, product usage, campaign response. That kind of integration was critical to delivering better experiences. Blueshift gave us the foundation to bring that all together.
Joan:
How did you approach data collection and mapping?
Ben:
We took our time with implementation because we wanted to scale it right. We mapped over 200 data points for each of our 500,000 members. It’s not just informing marketing—it’s shaping product development.
For example, if we see a member using their credit card primarily for groceries, we can think about offering a rewards product specifically for that use case. Having all of that in one place feels like a brand-new sandbox. It’s been fun!
Joan:
How has this changed your ability to identify and reach your audience?
Ben:
It’s night and day. We used to take two calendar weeks and about 25 hours of work time just to define and approve an audience segment. Now, our product marketing team can sit down with a marketer, say “what if,” and get results instantly.
We’re also doing more strategic campaigns. One example: positioning certificates of deposit (CDs) as viable savings tools again. Now we can identify when CDs are about to mature and reach customers proactively with personalized renewal options. That one change led to a 250% increase in email engagement—because it felt helpful, not salesy.
Joan:
What kinds of efficiencies have you gained?
Ben:
Segmentation is faster—done in minutes instead of weeks. But we’ve also reduced “reinventing the wheel.” We’re not a company with thousands of products. We’ve got about 20 core banking products. Now, instead of building a journey from scratch every time, we pause campaigns, analyze past performance, tweak and reactivate them.
That saves time and allows us to continuously improve through A/B testing and incremental optimization.
Joan:
How are you approaching cross-channel engagement?
Ben:
Email is still our primary channel, and with Blueshift, we've seen a 32% increase in engagement. Conversion attribution is also way up—about a 1200% increase—because we can now personalize content and measure impact more effectively.
Beyond email, we’re using:
Live content personalization on our website (15 placements planned)
Programmatic print triggered from behavior-based journeys
Abandoned cart sequences from third-party application domains
Plans for syndication and ad placement
AI-driven personalization and churn prediction
Joan:
Can you share a favorite campaign example?
Ben:
Our fall checking account campaign was the first we ran on Blueshift. We had run the same campaign the previous year, so we used that as a baseline. We personalized the content, tested subject lines with AI, and improved the conversion rate by 259%.
We paused the campaign, then ran a slightly optimized version at the end of the year—and saw another 47% lift. Testing things like the promo’s position in the email taught us what really resonated.
We also revamped our onboarding journeys. Before, they were generic. Now we look at behavioral data—whether someone has already set up online banking, for instance—and tailor messages accordingly. It feels much more personal, and we’ve seen better engagement as a result.
Joan:
You’ve accomplished a lot in just seven months. What’s on the roadmap?
Ben:
A lot! We’re:
Implementing churn models from both our BI team and Blueshift to compare performance
Launching personalized onboarding across all products
Expanding AI-driven website content
Integrating next-best actions and product offers into our online banking platform
It’s a big year ahead, but we’re excited about what’s possible now.
Joan:
Incredible work. Thanks for sharing your story, Ben!
Ben:
Thanks for having me!