Formerly WebStrategies Inc
Chris Leone
Mar 18, 2025
Why Tracking Members vs. Non-Members Matters
Many credit unions wonder, "Are most of our website visitors already members?" The answer depends on your particular credit union. Knowing this is powerful for setting and measuring performance goals for your marketing campaigns.
So, how can you tell how many site visitors are members or not? Many credit unions rely on the "new and returning visitors" distinction to assess this. However, this method has major flaws.
A better method is to track logins and non-logins as a baseline. Then, add behavioral insights to improve the analysis.
Many credit unions try to compare members and non-members using the new vs. returning visitor metric in Google Analytics. However, this can be misleading for a few reasons:
GA4 added a "New vs. Established Users" dimension. This shows users who engaged for the first time in the last seven days and those who have been active longer. However, this metric isn’t widely used in Google’s default reports, meaning many credit unions may not be leveraging it effectively.
Simply put, a “new” visitor according to Google Analytics isn’t necessarily new to you. It just means that the tool doesn’t recognize them from a previous visit for a variety of reasons.
Because of these limitations, relying on "new vs. returning visitors" creates an inaccurate picture of actual member and non-member activity. A better approach begins with tracking logins vs. non-logins.
Tracking online banking logins is a better way to tell members apart from non-members. Here’s why:
Our data shows a big difference between 'new vs. returning' visitors and 'logged in vs. not logged in' visitors. One client showed a close correlation, with 30% of visitors being returning and 33% of users logging in.
However, we've also seen cases where 70% of users were classified as 'new,' yet 67% of visitors logged in to online banking.
This variation is largely influenced by factors such as the credit union's market, the demographics of its membership, and the user experience of its mobile banking app.
While online banking logins are a strong indicator of membership, many existing members use the credit union’s website for reasons other than banking. This means that simply counting non-logins as non-members doesn’t provide the full picture. Instead, credit unions should take a more strategic approach that considers their specific marketing goals.
To get a more precise view of non-member activity, credit unions can also track behaviors that suggest someone is considering membership. These include:
Segmenting visitors by their behaviors helps credit unions distinguish between current members browsing the site without logging in and potential members checking out services.
At the end of the day, while it's true that most of your website visitors are already members, that’s not inherently a bad thing. Financial institutions have special websites. They attract new members and help current ones. These sites are marketing tools and utilities for online banking and account services.
The key is ensuring the website does more than serve current members. It should also attract new members and help them convert.
The best approach combines many data points rather than relying on a single metric.
With this tracking strategy, credit unions can improve their goals for acquisition campaigns. They can focus on boosting not just site traffic, but the right type of traffic.
HubSpot offers helpful tracking to identify website visitors as members or non-members. However, there are important differences to note. The ability to recognize a visitor depends on whether they are already a contact in HubSpot.
If a visitor interacts with the credit union, it creates a contact record. This can happen by filling out a form, signing up for an email, engaging with a chatflow, or being added through an import. Then, HubSpot can track their website activity and link it to their contact profile. This includes logging page views, session duration, and return visits.
If the visitor isn't an existing contact in HubSpot, we can track their behavior anonymously. We can see page views and session data, but we can't tell if they are a member or a non-member just from this information.
For contacts already in HubSpot, tracking works by assigning a unique tracking ID when they submit a form or engage in a conversion event. This enables HubSpot to recognize them when they return to the website, even if they don’t log in to online banking.
For example:
Credit unions can gain better insights into visitor behavior by setting up custom properties, workflows, and reporting dashboards.
HubSpot’s automation tools help find and nurture visitors who show strong interest. You can set clear criteria for their engagement. Credit unions can:
HubSpot is a powerful tool for understanding how members and potential members engage with a credit union’s website—but it works best when contacts have already been identified through a form submission or another conversion event.
By integrating email engagement, web activity, CRM data, and automation workflows, credit unions can build a data-driven marketing strategy that not only tracks visitors but also guides high-intent prospects toward conversion.
Understanding the difference between members and non-members on your credit union’s website is essential for optimizing marketing strategies. While traditional analytics metrics like "new vs. returning visitors" can be misleading, a more accurate approach starts with tracking online banking logins. From there, layering in behavioral insights—such as engagement with membership pages, loan applications, and marketing campaigns—provides a clearer picture of visitor intent.
By leveraging tools like HubSpot, credit unions can go beyond basic website analytics, using CRM data and automation to track, segment, and nurture high-intent visitors. The ultimate goal isn’t just more traffic—it’s attracting the right kind of traffic and guiding prospective members through their journey.
With a multi-layered tracking strategy, credit unions can make smarter decisions, refine their acquisition efforts, and create a website that serves both current and future members effectively.
Let's build something measurable together.